Titles or lines in songs that aren't applicable if at all today. Phones not included

And by the same token, "1984" by Spirit.

(Paul Williams' early band Holy Mackerel also had a different song by that name.)

 

Outlaw Women
Hank Williams Jr.
"Ridin High In 79"

ABBA
Happy New Year
"What lies waiting down the line
In the end of 89"

Paul McCartney
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

 

You can keep the dime..

 

I was thinking of 1984 but the song is clearly referencing the Orwell-ian totalitarian superstate and not the year. The song is arguably more relevant now than ever.

With Spirit I'd make the case for not a song, but the cover of 'The Family That Plays Together' album which shows the band on the staircase of the Sunset Highland Motel with rates posted of $6. a night and up. The motel is still there across from Hollywood High as The Budget Inn Hollywood and the Stairway is still there if you want to replicate the photo. But its now generally $110 a night and up for rooms with some of the poorest online reviews you could find on the internet! Oh and (though it doesn't count in this thread, per the OP, the phone booth is gone now ).

 

The first line is applicable (more than ever) but after that not so much..

"The pound is sinking
The peso's falling
The lira's reeling
And feeling quite appalling
The mark is holding
The franc is fading
The drachma's very weak
But everyone's still trading"

McCartney - The Pound Is Sinking

 

I'm sure somebody has mentioned this but... Back in the USSR.

Moreover "Georgia" and "Ukraine" are now independent nations - notionally at least.

 

'...you can always go on Rikki Lake' - The Offspring's Pretty Fly For a White Guy. Pure 1990s.

 

Well, it seems quaint now to listen to that song and think first of all of how distant in the future the year (and the description of it) seemed when it was released. And while the world was no picnic when that year did arrive, the predictions were still at least somewhat at odds with the reality when it did. I agree that the song (and the novel) still have plenty of relevance today.

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one. I suspect much of the late-night audience today knows him (if at all) just as a vague name from the dim past.
The Beach Boys – "Johnny Carson"

 

In a similar vein and one where I genuinely had no idea who the person was is The Kinks' "She Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina". To be fair, the song is historical and is obviously about Ray Davies' parents generation rather than his own but I imagine Princess Marina must have been familiar enough to be some 60s equivalent of a meme (having googled her it seems she died the year before the song recorded).

 

"Jet Airliner" Steve Miller Band

"But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Ridin' high I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell
Before you get to heaven"

Boeing 707s were the first widely used passenger airliners. They were built from 1958 to 1979.

They're no longer used for commercial passenger service and haven't been for years.

 

And there's also this great Roseanne Cash non-LP B-side:



ETA: Although upon further listening, it sounds like this is about a train rather than a plane! Still a great song though.

 

Asia - "Heat of the Moment"

It was the heat of the moment
Telling me what your heart meant
The heat of the moment shone in your eyes

And now you find yourself in '82
The disco hot spots hold no charm for you
You can't concern yourself with bigger things
You catch the pearl and ride the dragon's wings

 

Believe it or not, roller rinks are still around and people still roller skate. It wasn’t too long ago that my kids have gone to birthday parties and school celebrations at a roller rink.

 

True. But I'd be surprised to learn that the skates those rinks rent out come with keys. Keys tended to be a feature of skates bought for neighborhood use. The keys were used to adjust the straps so they would fit many different foot sizes properly.

 

Big 10 Inch Record (Bull Moose Jackson.......or Aersosmith's cover)

What's a record, grandpa?

 

It pays to read....

 

In My Merry Oldsmobile

 

“Summer” by War

Ridin’ ‘round town with all the windows down
Eight track playin’ all your favorite sounds
...
Rappin’ on the C.B. radio in your van
we’ll give a big ten four to the truckin’ man

 

... that reminds me.

The Fall, "I'm Into C.B."

 

Jefferson Starship- "Hijack" from Blows Against the Empire (1970), about hippies hijacking a star ship being constructed in Earth' orbit

"You know - a starship circlin in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990
They'll be buildin it up in the air even since 1980
People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty
And hijack the srarship
Carry 7000 people past the sun
And our babes'll wander naked thru the cities of the universe"

 

Bruce Springsteen -- Darlington County

Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers
For a kiss and a smile, I'll give mine all to you

 

My name is Michael, I've got a nickel, I've got a nickel shiny and new
I'm gonna buy me all kinds of candy, that's what I'm gonna do

From "Playground in My Mind" by Clint Holmes. You certainly can't buy much, if any, candy with only 5 cents today. I don't even think you could get "all kinds of candy" other than maybe 5 pieces back then when that song was released in 1972.

 

Man,
that's so sad but true.

 

Just realized my phone mistakenly added BBC to the comment lol