Sad Songs takes place in Dallas, Texas, which is one of the five cities that are left in the United States. While Sad Songs is modern, it runs along a separate timeline with drastic changes to the world. During World War II is when the split occurs. Things are going along according to plan, with the United States successfully making the first atom bomb. Rather than getting the chance to drop it on Japan, though, the information is rather quickly sold to Germany by a man desperate not only for money but also for recognition. Ironically enough, his name is lost to the history books, but the effect he has on the world is devastating and lasting.

Although Germany was rather hopeful that the United States wouldn’t get wind of the fact that they were making their own atom bomb, loose lips are everywhere apparently, and the secret would quickly be spilled. The two countries made plenty of threats to one another, but in the end Germany finally made good on their promise to drop a bomb on the United States and Russia. In turn, the United States sent a bomb to Germany, Italy, and Japan. The devastation this wreaked on the world was almost unimaginable. Millions of people lost their lives and homes. The war was undoubtedly over, if only because there wasn’t anyone around to fight it anymore.

The attentions of all of these countries were turned inward as they desperately tried to save themselves. Fifteen years after the bombs were dropped, Dallas and San Diego had managed to rebuild a bit. Following them would be New Orleans, then Denver, and finally Boston. However, the world they rebuilt in was drastically different and more dangerous than the one they’d known. Plants, animals, and even humans were mutated. The humans who were mutated grotesquely were often cast out into the wilderness, where they were more than likely devoured by the beasts who now roamed it. Walls and fences were slowly erected around the cities, and people soon learned that even they weren’t mutated outwardly they were still… different. Some people could move things with their minds, some could manipulate the very elements. Yes, everything was different and it seemed that every human born in later generations was born with some sort of strange ability.

By the seventies, things were more or less back on track. Some of the larger walls in the cities hadn’t been erected yet, but that would come with time. Technological advancement continued, seemingly only slightly delayed by the devastation the bombs had brought. The first thing to be focused on was communication, so that the cities could be in contact with one another more easily. Once that hurdle was jumped, the hurdle of how to transport goods, services, and people between the cities was focused on. By 1985, the railroad that connects all of the cities was built. However, it was built at a huge cost. Those in the lowerclass were the ones forced to endure the wilderness and attempt to fight off the monsters while they laid the foundation for it. The only good thing that came of this was that one or two of these families were able to rise into the upperclass as a result, because they were needed to maintain the railroad and pass on their knowledge of it.

By this point in history, the vicious class system known in modern days was already firmly established. There were those who had money and those who did not, and it was nearly impossible to move up in the system. The families who were in the upperclass or the highclass in the eighties are the selfsame families who are in those classes today. The same can be said, unfortunately, for the lowerclass and the mid-lowerclass. Very few families in these bottom two rungs have managed to work their way out of them. However, fear keeps most people from trying to change. Things have been working for decades in this way now, why would anyone change it?