No postal-related songs were nominated for Grammys this year, so if you want to hear music about the mail before the Feb. 15 ceremony, you’ll have to select tunes from the past.
Fortunately, you have plenty of options.
Several songs have highlighted the Postal Service’s important role in delivering letters from the heart.
Fats Waller said, “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” in 1935.
“Wait a Minute Mr. Postman,” the Marvelettes pleaded in 1961. Later that decade, Elvis Presley lamented how his love letter was marked “Return to Sender,” while R.B. Greaves wanted to “Take a Letter Maria” to end his marriage.
In 1970, Stevie Wonder proudly declared he was “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” Seven years later, a fruit-scented note inspired the hit “Strawberry Letter 23” from the Brothers Johnson.
Tupac described the nation’s mid-90s struggles in “Letter to the President” and a posthumous track, “Letter 2 My Unborn Child.”
In 2009, the mail-themed song “Please Read the Letter” by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss was named Record of the Year at the Grammys.
Want more?
The National Postal Museum’s blog offers a history of mail music from the past 100 years.