If asked to find a true story on the internet today, the comment section under a YouTube video is hardly where you would think to look. YouTube has an often-justified reputation as something of a cesspit, with bots, banality and extreme political content abounding. But, like Walt Whitman, it contains multitudes. During my PhD research on political music history, the site was an indispensable source for rare songs and performances.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the unusual tone of the comments underneath popular songs of the last century. A genre has arisen without anyone deciding it: the nostalgic, confessional paragraph recalling some deep sense memory from the author’s past, triggered by the music. These connect to the circumstances of the song’s creation and content in ways both straightforward and complex.

The comments section of Peter, Paul and Mary’s Leaving on a Jet Plane contains stories from people who were drafted into the US military during the Vietnam war. Luke Kelly’s Scorn Not His Simplicity has many personal narratives of disability and parenthood. Elbow’s One Day Like This triggered memories of countless weddings, Christenings, and illnesses overcome. The writer Mark Slutsky dubbed the genre “Sad YouTube”, and for some years maintained a blog gathering some of the best examples.

The stories are startling in their rawness and honesty. Struck by the music, people are spontaneously sharing the most precious memories of their lives with any stranger who cares to listen. Mostly........

© The Irish Times