Townsman chuckflack passed along the following thoughts for us to ponder.
Quick: Why is today, September 3rd, an important date in musical history?
Hints: Motown, strings, death.
Time’s up. “It was the third of September. That day I’ll always remember. Yes I will. ‘Cause that was the day, that my daddy died.” Papa, who was a Rolling Stone, rolled no more after September 3rd.
Hearing this great Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong song via The Temptations recently, and slogging away at my job in a bookstore where the onslaught of calendars these days is killing me, got me thinking: How many songs actually mention a specific date (beyond the usual holidays, Christmas, July 4th, etc.)? I couldn’t come up with that many. Bob Dylan‘s “Isis” (“I married Isis on the fifth day of May”–cinco de mayo, yes, but the holiday is never mentioned or alluded to in the song, so I’ll give Bob a pass); Kristin Hersh‘s “The Letter” (“September twenty-ninth, nineteen eighty-four”–kudos for the year, Kristin); John Lennon‘s “Remember: (“Do you remember, the fifth of November?!” –Guy Fawkes Day, I suppose, but that’s hardly a real holiday unless you’re a Jesuit terrorist) and, and…I’m not counting U2‘s historically inaccurate “Early morning April four” since it refers to a specific event in history.
Anyway, I’m looking for other songs with specific, non-historical/holiday dates in them. I’m thinking if Stephin Merrit or Sufjan Stevens or some other nut realizes the opportunities in writing a song for every calendar date, we might just get a magnum opus 366 Days title out of them.
The first verse of Dylan’s Clothesline Saga, from The Basement Tapes:
After a while we took in the clothes,
Nobody said very much.
Just some old wild shirts and a couple pairs of pants
Which nobody really wanted to touch.
Mama come in and picked up a book
An’ Papa asked her what it was.
Someone else asked, “What do you care?”
Papa said, “Well, just because.”
Then they started to take back their clothes,
Hang ’em on the line.
It was January the thirtieth
And everybody was feelin’ fine.
“Do you remember – the 21st of September?”
Earth, Wind & Fire
Gotta give it up for Dylan — something I don’t do very often. That’s a GREAT lyric.
HVB,
The delivery is even better. I swear.
May 1, 1990 — Adrian Belew
July 13th 1985 was the day we watched Live Aid /The Global Jukebox came alive/
We fed the world that day/We fed the world that day – John Wesley Harding
Building on Big Steve’s choice: “It was the third of June” when Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
October 31st
that is my date of birth
i got to the party
and i did the smurf.
Adrock-Licensed to Ill.
Remember the 5th of November.
Gotta like a good Guy Fawkes reference.
Thanks. Can’t believe I missed “Clothes Line Saga” and “Billie Joe.”
I’m guessing the twelfth of never doesn’t count?
Damn, I just booted up in hopes of being the first smartypants to type “I’m guessing the twelfth of never doesn’t count?”
Hey baby, it’s the 4th of July. X.
This one from Nick Lowe just popped into my head:
Mary Provost did not look her best
The day the cops bust into her lonely nest
In that cheap hotel up on Hollywood West July 29
I’m surprised no one else thought of this one. I am the Last Man St….. oh sorry, never mind.