Obscure and dated references in lyrics

[Munster]

I was listening to Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly and in the song The New Frontier he sings: ‘Introduce me to that big blonde / She's got a touch of Tuesday Weld …’ I remember Tuesday Weld as an actress (just), but I bet anyone under the age of 40 (perhaps 50) would not know of her at all. It got me thinking about how many songs there are that refer to something/someone that anyone under the age of 30 now would not know a thing about (even though they may be able to guess from the context what it is; i.e., Tuesday Weld was a ‘big blonde’ so presumably they could work out she was a celebrity of some sort).

In Tommy, there are the lines ‘Extra, extra. Read all about it / Pinball Wizard in a miracle cure.’ Even I cannot remember any newspaper seller shouting ‘extra, extra’, but they would have done so once. Again, in Tommy, how many people will remember holiday camps, such as ‘Tommy’s holiday camp, the camp with the difference / never mind the weather / When you come to Tommy’s, the holiday’s forever.’

The Beatles, in Polythene Pam, sing: ‘Get a dose of her in jackboots and kilt / She’s killer-diller when she’s dressed to the hilt / She’s the kind of a girl that makes The News of the World / Yes, you could say she was attractively built.’ The sensationalist News of the World was axed in 2011, and, while it is clearly a newspaper, I wonder how many people will actually remember it in years to come. Even the phrase ‘killer-diller’ is no longer used.

Roy Harper needed sleeve notes to explain he was referring to cricketers John Snow and Geoffrey (‘corridor of uncertainty’) Boycott in the lines: ‘When an old cricketer leaves the crease / you never know whether he's gone / If sometimes you're catching a fleeting glimpse / of a twelfth man at silly mid-on / And it could be Geoff and it could be John / with a new ball sting in its tail …’ (and after 50 years of watching the game I still am not sure where silly mid-on stands). Incidentally, Harper’s interview with Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special’s View from the Boundary is excellent, available on YouTube.

There must be many such obscure/dated references out there. It would be interesting to see others.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I'll be 49 in a week's time and I know Tuesday Weld just fine. Remember her from a bunch of movies, notably Who'll Stop the Rain.

But then again I'm a filmbuff and espec everything in regards to the New Hollywood era (1967-83).

However, ask people under 40 about Karl Malden and they won't believe you even if you get to prove your point.

[Garden Dreamer]

Probably any topical song about current events would apply. Would anyone today know what Neil Young's "Ohio" is about?

[Mister Triscuits]

I was listening to Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly and in the song The New Frontier he sings: ‘Introduce me to that big blonde / She's got a touch of Tuesday Weld …’

Of course that song is full of intentionally dated references. The title itself refers to the Kennedy administration.

[SunRunner2]

"Hey, nineteen
That's 'Retha Franklin
She don't remember the Queen of Soul
It's hard times befallen
The sole survivors
She thinks I'm crazy
But I'm just growin' old"
(from Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan)

"on time, you smiled
Since then, oh I'm, beguiled
So pure, your skin, tiptoe
I'm sure, you win, don't go
Like Gina Lollobrigida in "Belles de Nuit"
(from Lollobrigida by Cinerama)

"This ain't double dutch,
Kick the can, hide and seek, or hopscotch
So get yourself a platypus and a Dean guitar
'Cause if you think this summer's been great so far, just watch
We'll kick it up a notch"
(from Kick It Up A Notch by Slash)

[Dave (in MA)]

He got a chauffeur that's a genuine dinosaur
Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop
And he can knuckle your head before you count to four
Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop

[bigbassdrum]

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
But Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around

Whose mother? In Montreal? I don't understand

[syncopatico]

To make records with a mobile

recording music on a smartphone with an app is modern technology!

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Then there are large hunks of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, especially the song "Broadway Melody of '73", that I suspect your average modern audient wouldn't get:

Echoes of the Broadway Everglades
With her mythical Madonnas still walking in their shades -- how many kids will get that this isn't about Madonna?
Lenny Bruce declares a truce and plays his other hand
Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand
There's sirens on the rooftops wailing, but there's no ship sailing,
Groucho, with his movie trailing, stands alone with punchline failing

Ku Klux Klan serves hot soul food
While The Band plays "In The Mood"
The cheerleader waves her cyanide wand
There's a smell of peach blossom and bitter almond -- okay, not really dated, but how many people actually get these two lines, or connect them to Caryl Chessman?

Caryl Chessman sniffs the air, and leads the parade
He knows in a scent you can bottle all you made "In a scent"? Chessman innocent? Pfff.
There's Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes
smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston cigarettes

And as the song and dance begins,
The children play at home
with needles
Needles and Pins

[Lopez]

Then there are large hunks of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, especially the song "Broadway Melody of '73", that I suspect your average modern audient wouldn't get:

Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand

There's a McLuhan reference in the song "Oh Dear, Miss Morse" by Pearls Before Swine:

Don't blame me dear
Blame McLuhan
His media
Was your ruin

And who they heck uses Morse code these days?

[moecurlythanu]

That Genesis track was the first one that came to mind.

[proggy_jazzer]

Pretty much the entirety of Billy the Mountain, right? Much as I love the JABFLA recording, that's the biggest impediment to turning other people on to the greatness of the piece. We didn't care in the midwest in 1977, but the references are nearly 50 now!

[Mister Triscuits]

smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston cigarettes

How is that a dated reference? They still make Winstons.

Pretty much the entirety of Billy the Mountain, right? Much as I love the JABFLA recording, that's the biggest impediment to turning other people on to the greatness of the piece. We didn't care in the midwest in 1977, but the references are nearly 50 now!

Not only dated, but half of that album you won't get anyway if you didn't live in southern California at the time.

[progmatist]

Pretty much anything political will absolutely sound dated in the future. If you listen to a standup routine from 20, 30, or more years ago about anything other than politics, or other current events, it still sounds fresh today. Political and/or current events humor, anything but.

[JJ88]

Agreed on 'Billy The Mountain'. TV evangelists were another favourite target of Zappa's in later years, that was never a 'thing' in the UK.

Certain tracks on Lennon/Ono's Some Time In New York City are, lyrically, total time-capsules. 'John Sinclair' and 'New York City' for instance. I think Ono came up with some better songs than Lennon did ('Sisters O Sisters', 'We're All Water')!

I suppose there's also the 'Meet The Wife' reference in 'Good Morning Good Morning'. This was the title of a radio show from the time, I just thought he meant it literally!

And then you have the novelties linked to films/TV shows like, I don't know, 'Kookie Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)'. That one really means nothing to me as I've never seen the TV show.

[Vic2012]

recording music on a smartphone with an app is modern technology!

........

[GuitarGeek]

Probably any topical song about current events would apply. Would anyone today know what Neil Young's "Ohio" is about?

Yes, because the Kent State massacre is still talked about regularly.

Then there are large hunks of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,

Neon Leon, in The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway itself. I'm not sure if anyone outside of a small circle in NYC even knew who Neon Leon was, but I'm sure all these years later, there's even fewer people who know that one.

Also, the line about Evel Kenevel in Riding The Scree. I'm just barely old enough to know who he was (I had an Evel Kenevel lunchbox when I was in the 1st grade), I imagine anyone even just a few years younger than me has no idea about him.

How many know today who "that old man in that book by Nabokov" that Sting was singing about in Don't Stand So Close To Me? It was probably an obscure allusion even in 1979.

Then of course there's Vera on The Wall. How many people who bought that record in 1979 knew who Roger Waters was singing about? How many who hear it for the first time now know?

[Mister Triscuits]

Neon Leon, in The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway itself. I'm not sure if anyone outside of a small circle in NYC even knew who Neon Leon was, but I'm sure all these years later, there's even fewer people who know that one.

I have no idea who Neon Leon was, but the lyric in LLDOB is "Money - honey - be on - neon."

[GuitarGeek]

I have no idea who Neon Leon was, but the lyric in LLDOB is "Money - honey - be on - neon."

Next you're going to be telling me that Jimi Hendrix didn't really sing "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" on Purple Haze. I suppose Bob Weir isn't singing "Flashing my keys down on main street" on Truckin' either, huh?

Oh and Neon Leon was a rock musician in NYC back in the 70's. I ghather he was an early punk scenester, playing at places like Max's Kansas City. I always assumed the line in the song was an allusion to him (or at least I did after I found out about Neon Leon).

[Mister Triscuits]

I suppose Bob Weir is singing "Flashing my keys down on main street" on Truckin' either, huh?

Sure, right after the bit about Arrows of Leon.

[moecurlythanu]

Guess Who -"Clap For The Wolfman" would be a complete mystery today.

[spellbound]

Tuesday Weld is still alive, and will be remembered for her movies and beauty for a long time to come.

I don't recall hawkers selling newspapers by shouting "Extra! Extra!" but I know they did so because I watched plenty of old movies.

We in the states assumed holiday camps were an English thing. Never had them here, AFAIK. I like to think we learned a little as teenagers listening to the songs of the Kinks and The Who. The more curious among us could increase our anglo-knowledge by reading and by talking to English people, if we met any in the days before internet. The less curious became politicians, as described to us in a song by Cream.

2011 was fairly recent. But you are correct that few will remember News Of The World in the future. Few remember actual newspapers now, even though a handful still put out print copies. Our local free weekly bought the farm due to the pandemic. Hope it returns someday. Knowledge of current events, and literacy, should not go the way of common sense in this country.

Even though Harper's HQ album was released in the states as When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease (for reasons unknown to me), few in the US knew much about cricket, other than that it was a baseball-like English game. In 1975, few of us had even seen a game televised. Fewer still could understand it. Still enjoyed the album. Never knew the 'Geoff or John' referred to real people. Never made out the lyrics "silly mid-on." That part was unintelligible to me.

I'll see if I can scare up a few examples of obscurities and anachronisms.

[Progbear]

Funny you should mention this, but I was just thinking of this very subject as I was listening to the self-titled third album by Babe Ruth, which had an annotated lyric sheet explaining the obscure references to dance/choreography in “Dancer” and the Victorian-era slang terms in “The Duchess of Orleans.”

What was the song where Donald Fagen name-dropped experimental singer Cathy Berberian?

[spellbound]

I remember the wolfman

[spellbound]

What was the song where Donald Fagen name-dropped experimental singer Cathy Berberian?

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