We’re going postal on you this week. Songs about letters and mail abound, and no wonder, with over 570,000 workers, the US Postal Service is the second largest employer in the US, behind Wal-Mart.
Here’s one of the very best known songs about mail carriers, it’s The Marvelettes from 1961, when TV was still black and white:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2alZrNstGU&feature=related
Turns out we’re writing fewer letters these days – with email, texting, twitter. As a result, First Class mail has declined by about 30percent in the last decade. Also contributing to the decline in mail is Pat Boone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEsjo8gt2VY
Mail figures prominently in this Beatles classic – valentines, birthday greetings, postcards ... this one’s got it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3chFhCP5mQ
Well, speaking of “postal,” nobody does it better than Newman from Seinfeld:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChJLDqDKMqY&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL25C0F4AAA4285508
Every week on “Record bin Roulette,” KPLU’s John Kessler and John Maynard put an insightful and fun spin on a century's worth of discarded vinyl. The feature is published here and airs on KPLU 88.5 every Thursday during Morning Edition, All Things Considered and on Weekend Saturday Edition.
