Wednesday 21 March 2012

How Do I Find the Name of a Song That I Only Know a Few Lyrics To (Of)?


Doesn’t this start to bug you after awhile?  It sure does me.  I hear a song and I really like the melody or the lyrics but for one reason or another I can’t find the Name of The Song.  It could be that it’s already been announced by the DJ and he sure as heck isn’t going to repeat it. Sometimes it’s something far more nefarious and the songwriter instead of using the obvious lyrics for his song’s title has opted instead for some obscure lyrics found only once in the song.
I’ve done the ‘wait till the next break in the songs’ in the hope that they might just say what was just played but all too often that hasn’t happened.  And if you’re at all like I am, there are occasions when I’ve heard the name of a song once but cant for the life of me remember it again until the next time I happen to hear it. I find it frustrating and just one more little annoyance that feels so good once you overcome it.
What I’ve done here is to collect up an assortment of resources that I have found to be helpful, along with a few offbeat and unusual methods that may prove useful to you in your search for that elusive Name of a Song.  I hope that it turns out to be of some value and maybe even makes you smile. With each resource there is a short summary to help you weed through the ones most likely to be of benefit to you.
Bored.com   This is an interesting concept where you are given an opportunity to tap out the beat of your song on your keyboard and have potential names of songs suggested to you. There is even a short tutorial video on the site that walks you through the process.  If the system doesn’t know the name of your song you can teach it to the system for the benefit of others.  That could turn into a ‘you vs. the system’ kind of game which is the intent of the bored.com site.  They appear to be in a undeclared war on boredom, a laudable goal if ever I’ve seen one.
Lyrster.com   This site is one of the best especially if it is a fairly mainstream song.  I will also add that if it was recorded in the last fifty years and is more than a year old you will enjoy greater success in finding it as well. If the song you are looking for is of extreme vintage or an obscure screamo hit by the Bleeding Daisies then this may not be the best sight for you. And sorry I don’t have their latest album.
Elyrics.net   They proudly brag that they have the lyrics from 500,000 songs from 30,000 artists and once I figured out how to use the site properly I was truly impressed.  The key here is to use the drop-down selector on the search bar (where you type in your song lyrics).  Make sure that you set it to ‘text in song’ rather than the default which is ‘band name’.  A little more clarity on this site wouldn’t go amiss. As advertised, they do have a prodigious library of lyrics. This is my top choice and first site I go to now.
Lyrics.com   If you are looking for an exercise in extreme frustration may I humbly suggest this site.  Although it has a goodly amount of top 30 tunes you will be hard pressed to find correct answers to partial lyrics to a song.  If you already know the name of the song , then all is well but that sort of defeats the purpose don’t you think?  If you’re looking for other similar aggravations I would refer you to golfing and fly fishing on heavily treed stream banks/
www.midomi.com    Another unique approach is found on this site.  In order to provide the prompts for the search engine that will locate your song here you are asked to sing or hum about 10 seconds of your subject song.  Karaoke, except it’s on a whole new level.  In fact, if you feel so inclined you can have your voice recorded and then posted for all to hear. Clearly you would have to have musical talents that exceed mine in order to be in serious demand as a ‘star’.
Findmeatune.com    Another very disappointing site with a very restricted song base.   Also reliant upon other users of the site to provide the correct answer either right on your search or else on a message board.  I’ve tried a number of genres and songs of varying vintages but without significant success.
Namemytune.com   This site relies entirely upon the altruistic nature of others or perhaps they know that some smug know-it-alls can’t resist showing the rest of us how smart they are? The basic premise here is that you hum or sing into your microphone and your recording is posted.  People that hear your recording and think they know the correct song name and artist can email you the information.  It’s an interesting, although somewhat less exacting, method of finding out the name of a song. Of course you also have the option of listening to others recordings and returning the favour.  Hard to diss a site that at least recognizes the value of co-operation.
There are countless other sites besides these and you can always defer to another method that I have found to work well over the years. Just ask a friend that has a good appreciation and love of music.  It could be one more thing that you have in common.

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