Music isn’t just entertainment. It activates a different part of your brain where interesting things can happen. Add technology and it’s even more so.

Streaming services like Spotify combine your listening history with their own algorithms to guess what you like. In my case, they’re often hilariously wrong. But every once in a while, Spotify plays me a once-favorite song I haven’t heard—or even thought about—in decades.

For example, a few months ago it played Love Takes Time, a 1979 hit by the band Orleans. That song spoke to me when I was a high school student with dim romantic prospects. I recorded it from the radio onto cassette tape (remember those?) and played it over and over again. The lyrics were reassuring: Be patient, you’ll find love one day.

I had completely forgotten all that. But when I heard the song’s opening notes, it all came rushing back. A magical moment reminded me I had found love, and it was worth the wait.

Sometimes music provides economic lessons, too.

Source: pxhere

Last week, Spotify played another song I hadn’t heard in many years: Sheena Easton’s Morning Train. The lyrics are about a young woman describing life with her partner. Here’s the chorus:

My baby takes the morning train
He works from nine to five and then
He takes another home again to find me waitin' for him

They seem to have a wonderful life together:

He takes me to a movie or to a restaurant
To go slow dancing, anything I want
Only when he's with me, I catch light
Only when he gives me, makes me feel alright

Let’s think about this.

British songwriter Florrie Palmer wrote Morning Train for Easton to record in 1980. Those weren’t great times, economically. UK inflation averaged 16.4% that year. Unemployment was over 8% and rising. Once-prosperous industrial cities were facing calamity. An odd time to sing about your partner’s apparently well-paid 9-to-5 job.

Source: Economicshelp

But not really. Music is often aspirational. We sing about the world as we wish it could be, not as it is.

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In 1980, the idea that a young couple could live a carefree, happy life on one income was often just a dream. I imagine songs like Morning Train helped give people hope—both the lyrics and the happy tune.

But here’s the economics lesson: 44 years later, the kind of life this song describes is still just a dream for many. The reasons are different now, but it remains an ideal, not a norm.

Start with taking the “morning train” to work.

This was once common and still is in some areas. But overall, fewer than 5% of US workers use public transit to reach their jobs. Their area doesn’t have trains or buses, or it doesn’t match their work hours. Most workers have to drive, which means they need some kind of vehicle, which costs money.

And it’s costing more money than ever. Here’s a recent Wall Street Journal headline:

Source: WSJ

Citing data from AAA, the story reports the average cost of owning a new car (including expenses like fuel and insurance) climbed to $12,182 in 2023. Maybe you can drive an old clunker and cut that in half. But it’s still easily $500 a month, or roughly 10% of average earnings. Then you have rent, food, and everything else.

That’s one reason working from home is so appealing. But many service jobs—retail, healthcare, restaurants—still require physical presence.

Think, too, about those “9 to 5” hours.

In the song, the man can work all day, then play all night. How common is that now? Many jobs have irregular, on-demand hours that change all the time. Some people like it that way, but relaxing is hard when you can get called into work at a moment’s notice.

Then there’s the fun life Sheena Easton sang about: movies, restaurants, dancing, “anything I want.” Those are all wonderful, but they’re expensive and getting more so.

That’s why I think the song was meant to be aspirational instead of realistic. Couples with the kind of life it describes do exist, but they weren’t common in 1980 and still aren’t in 2024.

Why not?

These people aren’t living on handouts. One has a job and works hard. The other supports their relationship in non-financial ways. They’re a productive team, contributing to society as best they can.

Why don’t we have an economy where people like them can enjoy their lives together?

That’s a big question I can’t answer here. The good news is, this life is getting more feasible. Not because we knowingly changed anything… but because millions spent decades working so hard, they forgot to have children. Hence the current labor shortage.

The higher wages and better conditions now needed to attract workers are proving to be a hard transition for some older managers.

As much as they might wish to just hire robots, that’s usually not an option yet. Humans are the only choice in many industries. And humans are more productive when they’re relaxed and fairly paid.

Find ways to do that… and musical magic can happen.

See you at the top,

Patrick Watson
@PatrickW

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P.S. If you like my letters, you’ll love reading Over My Shoulder with serious economic analysis from my global network, at a surprisingly affordable price. Click here to learn more.

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