I'm so old that in my younger days we didn't even have writing. We just put all our important stories into a rhyming, epic poems along with a catchy tune so we could remember it.

But seriously I guess that wouldn't work now in our modern age. For example, ask almost anyone to correctly recite all the lines to almost any rock song. Chances are they won't get it correct. I suspect that is because we now rely so deeply on writing.