Bing Crosby

I'm not talking about songs that have a dated sound (there's more than I could ever list). I'm referring to songs with a specific date or year in the lyrics, that are mentioned as the present or future. Like Prince's "1999" (which will not be played as much now that it's date has come and gone). These are songs for which the present or future they refer to, has come and gone. 1999 was the future in 1982, 1999 has now passed.

What I am NOT looking for, are songs like Bowling for Soup's "1985" which are written after the date they are talking about. This song is looking back, or written from the point of view of after the date mentioned.

We also accept lyrics that mention prices that are now dated, such as 10 cent pay phone calls. Lyrics that mention a persons age at the time and that person is now past said age, and lyrics that mentioned events that were current at the time of the song but have now passed are also accepted.

Basically anything that definitively dates a song by any means other than the way it "sounds". Words/phrases/singing styles or instruments that were used commonly in a time period but are no longer used that much today are not accepted.

Dated References, Bing Crosby

Check out the index or search for other performers.

A Centennial Anthology of His Decca Recordings album at Amazon.com

Bing Crosby's, "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas"

The dated Lyrics:

Take a look in the five-and-ten,
Glistening once again.

Why They're dated:

Five-and-ten cent stores (called 'five-and-ten' for short were an abundant thing (in the U.S. at least) when this song came out. Back then they even lived up to their name by having various items for five or ten cents. Hardly anyone back then in the U.S. could have been unfamiliar with such establishments, as even a rather small town might have several within its central business district. Then as suburban shopping centers became an in place to shop, most any good sized shopping center might have one or more such store, and even small shopping centers might well have one. For awhile after inflation made them unable to live up to the name 'five-and-ten' some such stores remained around, under other names such as 'variety store'. But today, they have almost entirely disappeared and surely some of today's young people have no conception of such places. While they could well be the focus of glistening Christmas displays coming to most any neighborhood once upon a time, now the remnants of what were once 'five-and-ten cent stores' are rare and many a young listener might have no idea what these lines are talking about.

Submitted by: Meredith Corpening

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