This past week, I was at a folk music festival, and a singer-songwriter sang a song about social networks. The references to Facebook and Twitter were obviously intentional, and they were clearly to make a point, but it got me thinking about when topical and tech references work, and when they don’t.
Some references are timeless, even though they’re timely. Folk music has a lot of these, particularly in the form of “topical songs.” The best example I can think of is one of Bob Dylan’s early, pulled-from-the-headlines songs, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” which details the 1963 killing of a black barmaid by a rich, drunk, racist 24-year-old tobacco farmer. Though the story was taken from the news of the day, its rich storytelling and vivid emotion make it a song that can be listened to and empathized with even now, almost 50 years later.
But this isn’t the case for all the arts. Take, for example, the 2009 book The Song is You. It’s the story of a man “in love with his iPod,” as the book blurb tells us. I find relying on technology a huge mistake if you’re shooting for a timeless feel to your story (let’s try replacing the iPod with a Sony Walkman and see how this reads). The book goes on to talk about emails and text messages sent between the protagonist and his love interest. In my opinion, the best thing this book can ever hope for is recognition as a period piece.
And if novels are being written that rely on Sony Walkmans—I mean, iPods—then songs have even more throwaway references in them. Here’s a great list of songs about Facebook, all of which should be obsolete in the near future. If you think Facebook is worthy subject matter, maybe we could take a trip in our time machines back to 2006 when the Gym Class Heroes were composing the completely topical lines “But its hard for me to not hate/When I’m on myspace I never see my face in your “Top 8″.” Remember the Top 8 and how it was so much a part of daily life? And now is completely laughable.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not always out to create something for the ages (see the song I wrote and posted here with my partner, musician Jeremiah Birnbaum, about when Rick Santorum was a presidential candidate), but if you’re going to create something, it seems worthwhile to at least sometimes put time and effort into it and try to touch on things that are human rather than the latest trend or tech gaget. It’s the difference between being a Bob Dylan and a Gym Class Hero. It’s the difference between a classic and a fart joke.
I love Leonard Cohen too.
Me, too! “You held onto me like I was a crucifix.” SO GOOD!
Ah, love this take on timelessness vs. timeliness, and your use of a topic I know not much about — song writing — to drive it.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
There’s also the dilemma of wether or not to refer to an electronic device by its current most popular brand-name, versus it’s generic descriptive term. ( ex: “Ipad” vs “electronic tablet” ) .
Ohhhh, that is a good point. I guess I try to avoid either, but if I had to, I would probably go by it’s most popular brand name.
I guess It depends on the writer’s style, what they’re writing about, and in what format. Like you say, in fiction dropping the name of a device is a huge risk when it comes to making your work look dated. But, if like me, you write a blog on technology …
http://technology4democracy.com/
… then it’s easier to get away with it.
(( Sorry for the shameless self-promotion ^_^ ))
LOL LOL LOL top 8. HAHAHA I forgot, yes that was terrible.
Are you familiar with the Elton John song “Writing”? That instantly came to mind when I saw this post on Freshly Pressed.
Actually I’m not familiar with that song, which is surprising as I went through a slightly embarrassing phase of Elton John loving in high school. I will have to look it up!
Nice post. I think it would be what many would consider – timely. : )
Ha! Thanks for reading and commenting!
Surprised you didn’t mention the queen mother of instantly dated fiction – the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail. It wasn’t a bad idea – update a film about lonely hearts letter writing into a story about Internet dating. Problem was, they actually made a film about dating via AOL Instant Messenger over a 64k modem. The more your writing is about a gadget – as opposed to including gadgetry as a sign of the times – the faster it’s going to age.
The quality of the writer helps, though. The other day, I was listening to an old Tom Lehrer LP which included a song about George Murphy. I had no idea who he was at the time (the first actor to make the jump to politics, for what its worth), but it was funny all the same.
thanks for this really great, insightful comment. I have never seen You Got Mail, but it sounds pretty funny by today’s standards.
I like how you pointed out Dylan’s ability to take something of the moment and make it timeless. It helps me see art and writing in a different way, as a sort of method of transcending the momentary obsessions and seeing the universality of the experiences we have of them. Great song, too
Isn’t it a great song? Dylan’s amazing at that, and, in my opinion, was one of the best at topical song writing.
Thanks for commenting!
I’m sure you’ve heard “Hurricane,” that one is probably my favorite. “Idiot Wind” has been in my head for days, he has so many powerful ones!
“Hurricane” is a really good one. “Idiot Wind” off of the bootleg version of Blood on the Tracks is one of my favorites. Always nice to find another Dylan fan!
You got it just so right, Baffled Queen. I’m baffled (too)
Floreva
I would have never known about Hattie Carroll if not for this blog. Great read !
Wow, that’s kind of amazing to hear! Thanks for the comment!
thank you
Thank you for reading!
Timeless songs definitely have lasting appeal. Your reference to MySpace and Top 8 made me laugh! I’d totally forgotten.
If you can listen to a song 20 years later, not relate to the references, but still get the gist of the song and the intention then it’s conveyed its message well. Dylan does this well, as does Leonard Cohen or Paul Simon.
Nice (and timely) post!
Cheers,
iRuniBreathe
Right? Bob Dyan’s “Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues” made me want to look up every reference I didn’t get.
Thanks for the comment!
Reblogged this on Zero Reading and commented:
reblog because it has some interesting thinking. However I think is not always the case.there is no rule saying that you cannot compose songs or write or talk about our ordinary or a simple thing in your life. Evev If a compose is 1 dimension, it’s still can have entertaining value.
(I’m typing this with the help of speech recognition in jelly bean android)
This post is really interesting and makes some great points. I remember watching an interview with Malcolm Jamal Warner (Theo from The Cosby Show) in which he said that Bill Cosby didn’t want the cast to use slang or make certain references because he wanted the show to be “timeless,” and I definitely think he succeeded. At the same time, I think it can be good to make time-specific references just because it can create a sense of nostalgia for some readers and it can force other readers to educate themselves on things that they may not know about. I feel like there are tons of references made in classic works (literature, music, and television) that I might not necessarily know about personally, but it at least made me curious, and I can still relate to the general message.
I feel like making references to classical works is a totally different ballgame. You can refer to Shakespeare until you’re blue in the face and it never gets old. And oftentimes those things will provoke interest in readers (I’m thinking in particular of how many literary references there are in the Lemony Snicket books, and how that probably went over a lot of kids heads, but made others look into those things).
Thanks for the thoughtful, insightful comment!
Interesting post. Take it from someone who lived through (and barely survived) the incredible Sixties… Dylan can’t be topped.
Hahaha, yeah, he’s pretty great!
I can’t believe no one mentioned Kate Miller-Heidke’s song, “Are You F***ing Kidding me.” It’s the ultimate Facebook song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7MuwPlOiNQ
It’s already got out of date bits (who sets their language to Pirate anymore, or pokes people?) but it’s fantastic anyway. It’s like watching the movie Hackers, or Wargames. Still awesome, even if the tech is laughable
Ha! Amazing!
As both a writer and a musician I’m intrigued. I can write or say anything I want on a blog site or in a song and that’s free speech and OK. It may or may not say anything worth- while but it counts as free speech. It’s not moderated or judged. Time or timeless. But social media these days, especially facebook is watched and judged all the time. They are all about money. This is societies poison. If you shout out to mass people about something relevant they call it advertising and ban you or ground you because they didn’t get paid. Back in the day who got paid when Bob Dylan sang “like a Rolling Stone”? The modern age of computers and social media is killing the music industry and the brick and mortar book stores because people are ready and willing to cut out the middleman. This makes the CEO’s very mad. Controlling free speech in the name of monetary gain should be a crime in and of itself. I thought social media was supposed to mimic free radio in that it was to bring free speech and free ideas into a positive meeting place. I am glad to hear any musician speaking what is relevant to them. Most music isn’t timeless, but if it says something meaningful then it’s worth listening too. Even if just for the moment. We truly live in a time of smart phones and dumb people. I have lots of short little stories I think you’d appreciate, especially being a server. Please check out my e-book “A Fly On The Wall, A Bartender’s Perspective” at http://secretsofabartender.wordpress.com/ and thanks for the great blog.
I will definitely check out your work. Lots of this comment goes a bit over my head, though, because I’m not a song writer, but I can definitely appreciate how industry makes money instead of artists. Thanks for your thoughts on the topic!
I’m not sure there is such a thing as a timeless novel or song. If it refers to communication and it’s all in writing (maybe even mentions cursive, which some schools aren’t even teaching anymore!), then it’s dated, too. Everything is a period piece, even fantasy.
I don’t think many things can be totally timeless, but some do achieve something like it. Lots of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” then there are stories like “the Metamorphosis” or “what We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” usually stuff that deals with big human things. It can be totally descriptive, too, just in a more general way.
I agree that those songs have enduring appeal because they relate to “big human things,” as you call it, but they are the products of their time and many refer specifically to historical events that date them (the topical references you mention). There’s no reason to assume that a book or song referring to myspace or an ipod is any different. It could still be about “big human things,” and thus have enduring appeal despite referring to a fad of a particular time period.
Good point. This Facebook song is possibly obsolete soon, but I still love it… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_QePidL750
Thanks for posting that!
While I agree with your premiss, I also believe that some “topical” songs stand the test of time also because of the artist the song is associated with. Would the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” still stand if someone besides Gordon Lightfoot sang it?
I agree that the artist has something to do with it, but folk music’s strength is that the artist is often irrelevant or unknown, and the song still endures.
Thanks for your thoughts on the topic!
difference between a bob dylan and a gym class hero. so much yes.
Haha! Glad you liked that!
Such a difficult balance to find, and quite remarkable skill when it comes to making topical issues timeless. Great post
Thanks for commenting! It is a topic I think about a lot. I try to opt out of throw-away references and stick to the stuff that I think will last, but certainly don’t always succeed!
Facebook will die someday, good music will not.
Check me out at: http://awesomerockreviews.wordpress.com (Leonard Cohen reviews pending)
Check out Facebook Phoney – A song on youtube by codyvisual
That’s a really good point. I just feel that some things resist those notions. It can be tricky to make those things (big concepts usually) new and fresh, but all new and fresh doesn’t work, either.