---
title: Old songs in my music library
date: "2022-06-06T16:02:05Z"
lastmod: "2022-06-06T16:15:31Z"
categories:
  - data
  - how-i-do-things
wp_id: 3344
description: "Tagging a thousand songs by year revealed an unexpected 1960s spike, highlighting how family influence and digitization shape personal music archives across decades."
keywords: ["music library", "old songs", "Tamil songs", "Hindi songs", "nostalgia", "data analysis"]
---

![Old songs in my music library](/blog/assets/image-72.webp)

My [music library](https://gist.github.com/sanand0/877637165b17239aa27beac03749c9a6) has around 1,000 songs (mostly Tamil and Hindi, with some Telugu and English film songs).

I spent this morning tagging them by year with [mp3tag](https://www.mp3tag.de/en/). (Manually. You don't automate the pleasures of life.)

![](/blog/assets/image-74.webp)

I thought my 1990s collection would be the largest. I was in college, listening to lots of music then. But surprisingly, my collection has grown post the 1990s.

![](/blog/assets/image-72.webp)

I have 3 guesses why.

1. **Recency bias**. I re-built this collection recently. Maybe I forgot older songs?
2. **Digitization bias**. Maybe I listened to more songs as the cost of transmission/storage fell?
3. **Worsening standards**. Maybe I used to be choosier about music?

Though I'm not sure of the above, there's another interesting anomaly.

**There is a spike in the 1960s.**

I don't need to guess this one. I know why. Those are the songs my parents liked. I grew up hearing them.

The oldest song Tamil song is from [Thiruneelakantar (1939)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruneelakantar). It's from my father's collection. I've heard it often enough to still enjoy it.

<div class="video-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p1jaZaPudpw" title="YouTube video" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

The oldest Hindi song is from [Jaal (1952)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaal_(1952_film)). He has a fondness for Dev Anand's songs. So do I. This one is a beauty.

<div class="video-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-6I1JahC6VE" title="YouTube video" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

The oldest Tamil song my mother introduced me to is from [Parasakthi (1952)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasakthi_(film)). She used to dance to this song when young.

<div class="video-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3w4MAmf7Pog" title="YouTube video" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

The earliest Hindi song she introduced me to was from [Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhanak_Jhanak_Payal_Baaje). It's the song I grew up on, and it's still among my favorites. What a melody!

<div class="video-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L6kNKzN3zPo" title="YouTube video" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

---

My wife prefers newer songs. But I have low standards and few preferences. It makes my life rather happy.

So, in celebration of [Make Music Day on 21 June](https://www.makemusicday.org/), I'm treating myself to 2 weeks of my collection from the 1960s!

PS: My full collection is at <https://gist.github.com/sanand0/877637165b17239aa27beac03749c9a6>