# Songs which date themselves by mentioning the current year. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677 "2008-10-26T20:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/41 "2008-10-27T16:53:02Z")
Add (perhaps): Yaz - Goodbye '70s (released 1982) And of course, Killing Joke - Eighties ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/42 "2008-10-27T17:27:52Z")
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” states clearly that the narrator is 35 and was in high school in 1965. That places the song squarely in the mid Eighties. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/43 "2008-10-27T17:33:13Z")
“Hotel California” could be thought of as dated, or just out of wine for a really long time: “We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969” “American Pie” dates itself, though it never mentions the year explicitly. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/44 "2008-10-27T17:37:30Z")
Yeah, nine-deuce…Death Row records, creepin’ while ya sleepin’. ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/45 "2008-10-27T17:55:26Z")
Oingo Boingo - Wake Up (It’s [1984](http://oingo-boingo-wake-up-it-39-s-1984--lyrics-mp3.kohit.net/_/64888)) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/46 "2008-10-27T18:00:00Z")
The Blues Brothers’ “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” has an extended spiel by Dan Aykroyd: “Here it is, 1980, coming up on 1984.” I think it was actually performed in1978 and released in '79, though. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/47 "2008-10-27T18:10:00Z")
_Mustang Sally_ by Wilson Pickett “I bought you a brand new Mustang A nineteen sixty-five Now you come around Signifyin’ a woman That don’t wanna let me ride” ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/48 "2008-10-27T18:54:09Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > “Hotel California” could be thought of as dated, or just out of wine for a really long time: > > “We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969” Not to mention the general stupidity of the line. Wine is NOT a spirit. It’s not distilled! ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/49 "2008-10-27T18:58:52Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > The only thing I can think of is something by Public Enemy that mentions the year 1989 - “Fight the Power,” or maybe “Welome to the Terrordome.” I’m not sure. > > Joe Hell, they had an entire album that was dated that way: _Apocalypse '91: the Enemy Strikes Black_. Still a great album, and very representative of its time, but wow. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/50 "2008-10-27T19:27:35Z")
“Black Stations/White Stations” by **Martha & the Muffins** : _Black stations, White stations break down the doors stand up and face the music, this is 1984 Black stations, White stations feet on the floor dance on the ceiling with us, this is 1984, Ha!_ ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/51 "2008-10-27T20:06:18Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > I’m sure if mankind is still alive in the year 2525… Well, at least that song’s got another 517 years before it becomes quaint, hokey and ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Clivas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clivas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clivas)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/52 "2008-10-27T20:08:55Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Salt N Pepa, “None of Your Business”: > > Nineteen ninety three, S and P, packin’ and mackin’ > Bamboozlin’ and smackin’ suckers with this track > Throw the beat back in! > > Ice Cube (featuring George Clinton): “Bop Gun” > > 1993, much more ba-e-ya-e-younce > Ice Cube comin’ with the half ounce > Not Just Knee Deep, jeep fulla smog > A, To, mic, Dog . . . > > What was it about 1993, anyway? Also Snoop. “Nine trizzay’s the yizzear…” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/53 "2008-10-27T20:37:57Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > In “Heat of the Moment” it’s “And now you find yourself in '82.” Consider, too, the next line: “The disco hotspots hold no charms for you.” ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/54 "2008-10-27T20:54:38Z")
“Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970s”/Neil Young, After the Goldrush Not that the year is mentioned in the lyrics, but the title: Teenage Lament '74/Alice Cooper ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/55 "2008-10-27T21:01:27Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Yeah, nine-deuce…Death Row records, creepin’ while ya sleepin’. Seven years later, Snoop Dogg again: “Nine-five plus four pennies! Add that s@#t up.” ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/56 "2008-10-27T21:17:11Z")
Transplants, “Diamonds And Guns” (released in 2002): _"Yo, representin O-town 2002 Baby Transplants_" ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/57 "2008-10-27T21:25:20Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Todd Rundgren > … > \* > Initiation\* “…cause, in 75 something comes alive” Didn’t Jefferson Starship have an almost identical line in “Ride the Tiger”? ETA: Genesis: “Broadway Melody of 1974” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/58 "2008-10-27T22:45:06Z")
While it doesn’t mention a specific time, Joan Jett’s song “I love rock & roll” certainly has a dated reference… “I love rock & roll, Put another _dime_ in the jukebox baby!” When’s the last time you could play a jukebox tune for a dime? ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/59 "2008-10-28T01:44:32Z")
I believe that when Ruben Studdard won American Idol, he put out a song that very clearly dated itself in 2004. And it also wasn’t very good, so two strikes against anyone remembering it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677/60 "2008-10-28T05:18:46Z")
“She had a picture of a cowboy tattooed on her spine, saying ‘Phoenix, Arizone, 1949’” Little Egypt by, I think, the Coasters [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-date-themselves-by-mentioning-the-current-year/469677.md?page=4)