diff --git a/stepmania/src/Background.cpp b/stepmania/src/Background.cpp
index 3f8ef526ca..b9da228f87 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/Background.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/Background.cpp
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 #include "XmlFile.h"
 #include "BackgroundUtil.h"
 #include "song.h"
-#include "RageFileDriverMemory.h"
 
 ThemeMetric<float> LEFT_EDGE					("Background","LeftEdge");
 ThemeMetric<float> TOP_EDGE						("Background","TopEdge");
@@ -768,9 +767,7 @@ void BackgroundImpl::Layer::UpdateCurBGChange( const Song *pSong, float fLastMus
 		if( iter == m_BGAnimations.end() )
 		{
 			XNode *pNode = change.m_def.CreateNode();
-			RageFileObjMem f;
-			pNode->GetXML( f, NULL );
-			LOG->Warn( "Tried to switch to a background that was never loaded\n" + f.GetString() );
+			LOG->Warn( "Tried to switch to a background that was never loaded\n" + pNode->GetXML() );
 			SAFE_DELETE( pNode );
 			return;
 		}
diff --git a/stepmania/src/XmlFile.cpp b/stepmania/src/XmlFile.cpp
index 7c143889a3..1ac26a040d 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/XmlFile.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/XmlFile.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "DateTime.h"
 #include "Foreach.h"
 #include "arch/Dialog/Dialog.h"
+#include "RageFileDriverMemory.h"
 
 
 static const char chXMLTagOpen		= '<';
@@ -613,6 +614,22 @@ bool XNode::GetXML( RageFileBasic &f, DISP_OPT *opt ) const
 	return true;
 }
 
+//========================================================
+// Name   : GetXML
+// Desc   : convert plain xml text from parsed xml node
+// Param  :
+// Return : converted plain string
+//--------------------------------------------------------
+// Coder    Date                      Desc
+// bro      2002-10-29
+//========================================================
+CString XNode::GetXML() const
+{
+	RageFileObjMem f;
+	GetXML( f, NULL );
+	return f.GetString();
+}
+
 //========================================================
 // Name   : GetValue
 // Desc   : 
diff --git a/stepmania/src/XmlFile.h b/stepmania/src/XmlFile.h
index 0b5d1fec0f..b660f144d2 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/XmlFile.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/XmlFile.h
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ struct XNode
 	char*	Load( const char* pszXml, PARSEINFO *pi );
 	char*	LoadAttributes( const char* pszAttrs, PARSEINFO *pi );
 	bool GetXML( RageFileBasic &f, DISP_OPT *opt ) const;
+	CString GetXML() const;
 
 	bool LoadFromFile( const CString &sFile );
 	bool LoadFromFile( RageFileBasic &f );