Do you remember… song lyrics in your MSN name?

Before there was a status update, there was your MSN display name, and it was never just your name. It was your name wrapped in symbols, followed by a line from whichever song had got under your skin that week. Everyone on your list could see it the moment you changed it, which was rather the point.

A lyric could be a mood, a hint, or a message aimed squarely at one person, who’d know exactly who it was about. Changing it back the next morning said even more.

In 2005 MSN Messenger 7.0 added the personal message, a separate line beside your name with room for the lyrics, and it could even show the song you were playing in Windows Media Player as you listened. It made the whole thing official, and somehow a little less dramatic.

For a few years, though, a song lyric in a display name was how a generation said the things it couldn’t quite say out loud.