The Four Preps

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, The Four Preps

Check out the index or search for other performers.

Best of the Four Preps album at Amazon.com

The Four Preps', "Down By The Station"

The dated Lyrics:

Down by the station early in the morning,
See the little pufferbellies all in a row.

Why They're dated:

"Pufferbellies" is a colloquialism for steam locomotives. Once upon a time, perhaps active passenger train stations had numerous "pufferbellies" in a row to be seen, either early in the morning or at other times of day as well. But passenger train travel has since declined to the point that relatively few cities or towns have highly active stations where a lot of locomotives would be seen in a row. Furthermore, steam locomotives have been nearly all been replaced by diesel locomotives for regular train runs, either passenger or freight. The only places where pufferbellies may still commonly be seen include: (1) inactive ones preserved as monuments to bygone days, such as near old depots or in museums., and (2) Active ones running on historical railroads, preserved for scenic excursions and the like, rather than regular intercity transportation. And even in those cases, seeing several pufferbellies in a row would not be likely.

Submitted by: Tess O. Gosset

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