The relentless retreat of history, pop music edition

I've been doing a lot of nostalgic music searching lately, downloading all kinds of old stuff off of iTunes. It's gotten me thinking again about history and time, specifically how books, movies, and (especially) songs that once may have been so meaningful to individuals, eventually become lost - even in this information age - if they weren't commercially succesful or somehow popular. I just ordered Meryn Cadell's Angel Food for Thought, a fantastic album of funny and engaging songs which is now only available used. When those copies are gone, there won't be no more. So odd. Kristen Lems, a Chicago-based folk-singer whose record Oh Mama! I grew up on in the late 70's/early 80's (part of my staunchly feminist upbringing), is still selling this work on her personal website, but when that's over...where will those songs go?

Even commercially successful artists don't escape. If you try to purchase Cyndi Lauper's wonderful (but commercially disappointing) third album A Night to Remember on iTunes, it directs you to a page where you can buy "Selected Songs from" instead of the whole album. To actually get "Heading West," the song I really wanted, I had to search for it separately. Which means new fans will not discover the song on iTunes, since they won't even know to look for it.

I'm reminded of a high school friend of mine, Summer Zandrew, who performed a poem about time and history at a coffee shop back in Oak Park. I don't remember all of it, but I do remember the final bit, which talked about knowing that time would trample over all of us, but wanting to be the piece of gum stuck to its shoe. I guess what I wonder is how quickly, for all of us, the gum wears off...

From "Heading West" by Cyndi Lauper:

I said my name
Under my breath
He turned down a twisted road
I won't forget
I'm gonna fly my kite and let out all the string
Hold on to hope, let go of everything
I can't stop laughing and it's nothing you said
The altitude of freedom seems to go to my head
And if I fall down on my knees I'm gonna get back up
I'm gonna get back up again