In the midst of researching the music of the video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for a class project during my master’s in musicology, I encountered the name Carla White—a singer featured on the game’s end credits track—and wanted to learn more about her. To my disappointment, a Google search produced only a few barebones biographies, pages featuring women who share the name, and a handful of obituaries.
White died on May 9, 2007—well before the social media and audio streaming booms. She was unable to leave an easily accessible digital footprint, and her music—save for her video game contribution—remains in physical form. Her discography has never been re-printed, and her literal and metaphorical voice, for a time, was confined to a credits roll. She was not easy to find, but she unintentionally left traces of herself in currently defunct portions of the internet, only accessible through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
With this tool, I was able to uncover White’s digital footprint, from which I could then locate her in traditional archival materials. Here I demonstrate the value of utilizing a digital tool as preparation for the historical archival research process.
Context
The stealth/action game Metal Gear Solid 2 released on November 12, 2001. The game’s music producer, Rika Muranaka, wrote the song “Can’t Say Goodbye to Yesterday” for the game. Director Hideo Kojima had requested that Muranaka compose a song that represented New York City, where the game’s final scene is set. Muranaka had an unusual amount of power; in an industry that continues to be dominated by men, Muranaka stated in a 2015 interview that she had control over who was hired to write and perform the bulk of the game’s music. Where or when Muranaka met White is not clear, but Muranaka stated that she used the power inherent in her position as producer to hire a friend. The song was recorded at the Manhattan Center Studio in New York City and also featured the talents of jazz pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Eugene Jackson, saxophonist Don Braden, and trombonist Robin Eubanks, as well as the support of the Felix Ferrar Orchestra.
Muranaka’s choice to hire White unintentionally memorialized White’s voice since it became the only easily accessible way to hear her singing on the internet today. As of December, 2025, the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Music Collection version of “Can’t Say Goodbye to Yesterday” has over 1.9 million views on YouTube. Likewise, the same recording on Spotify has over 3.6 million streams. Each time a player completes this game or listens to the game’s soundtrack online, they are treated to White’s passionate voice. However, should that player wish to know more about White herself, their Google search will not provide much.
The Internet and The Wayback Machine
Entering White’s name alone into a search engine leads to her Wikipedia page. Before I made extensive edits in 2025, this profile contained basic information such as her birthdate, her teachers, and a simple list of her discography. Her Metal Gear Wiki page is equally sparse. By adding the word “jazz” into the search bar, several more relevant results appear. Her profile is fruitful; it appears to directly quote her, although does not display from where the quotes originate. Save for a few quotes from print reviews, the page overall lacks citations, making verifying the information difficult.
A webpage hosted by Columbia University is more detailed, retelling Louis Proyect’s encounters with White. Most important is a sentence at the bottom of the page as it contains a URL to her website:
I strongly recommend a visit to the Jazz Composers Collective website and to Carla’s at: http://www.jazzcorner.com/white/. It will be good for your ears and good for your soul.
Assuming that White maintained her website, it could be considered a digital primary source. The URL, unfortunately, is dead. After all, the internet is not forever.
However, there is a tool that can revive it: The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The Internet Archive describes itself as a
non-profit [organization that] is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, [they] provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, people with print disabilities, and the general public. [Their] mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.
Its Wayback Machine, which publicly launched in 2001, is a powerful piece in its arsenal: it allows a user to view previous versions of a website or access a website that no longer exists. With this tool, I can enter White’s website into its search bar, and I am met with a timeline of “snapshots” (Figure 1) as well as tabs leading to a site map and a list of unique URLs associated with the domain.
Figure 1: White’s website results through in the Wayback Machine
By selecting the first snapshot on December 1, 1998, I can peak into the first version of White’s website (Figure 2) and therefore her professional life.
Figure 2: The first version of White’s website as captured by the Wayback Machine
Her biography page appeared to be the source of most of the information on the All About Jazz profile. Her website also featured reviews, a schedule of her gigs, samples of her discography, her current projects and her “musings.”
Although she did not update this last page as she promised, the “musings” tab contained three entries clearly written by her—a most coveted digital primary source. In these short entries (Figure 3), she reflected on her theatrical pursuits before studying jazz, her transformation into a jazz musician, and the performance that altered how she used her instrument.
Figure 3: White’s “Musings” page
Relevant to this demonstration is the reviews page which contains references to publications that cite White. For example, there is a review from CODA magazine on a 2003 version of the page. Coincidentally, my music library carried this periodical. With this clue, I could engage in traditional archival research. I flipped through volumes of the magazine prior to February 2003 in search of columns by Peters Stevens, until I found the issue: December 1989. I was shocked; I could not believe White was hiding under my nose in my institution’s library.
By using the Wayback Machine to access White’s website, I was able to pinpoint her in print media. Some time was spent locating precise issues and page numbers of sources, but the clues that White left helped me better locate her. Yet like any conventional research method, there are limitations: in this case, I am beholden by the snapshots that the machine produced decades ago, and any changes to the pages outside of them are lost. Nonetheless, beginning my search for White in this way made me a more well-rounded researcher.
From this point, I was able to locate some well-designed liner notes (thank you, Ken Dryden!), and I made two visits to the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University; after searching through newspapers and archival materials, I suddenly had a mountain of information to sift through—more than I ever thought existed. I could not have done this work without the Wayback Machine.
Longevity of The Wayback Machine
The internet and Wayback Machine can clearly help students conduct research on modern topics, combining old and new archival methodologies to paint a clearer picture of yesterday. However, the Internet Archive is facing significant hurdles. In March 2023, the Internet Archive lost a case against the Hachette Book Group on the grounds of copyright infringement. The Internet Archive lost their appeal to that ruling in September 2024. U.S. law does not appear to be on the side of digital preservation and accessibility. Additionally, during my first presentation of this topic in October 2024, I was informed during the Q&A session that the Internet Archive was inaccessible; indeed, a cyberattack on October 8 caused the Archive to go down and with it, all of its materials and tools. This temporary halt in its services demonstrated in real time how vulnerable storing information on the internet can be. Most recently, CNN featured Archive founder Brewster Kahle and the work the Archive continues to do. In an age where websites go missing and artificial intelligence dominates the digital landscape, he touted the Archive’s role in record preservation; he emphasized the importance in documenting the current moment for future generations, regardless of the viewpoints.
I highly recommend visiting the Internet Archive and browsing what it has to offer; after all, the Archive suggests that simply visiting the website is the best way to help them. As researchers and educators, we should direct our students to these digital tools that not only fill in information gaps, but they can also be used in tandem with traditional methodologies to further strengthen evidence to their inquiries.
