I can't get this song out of my head.

October 21, 2006 3:32 PM

Can you help me find a song?

I can't remember any definite lyrics to this song. I know it has a very "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" feel as well as reminding me of "Son of a Gun" by the Vaselines/Nirvana. I maybe remember something about whiskers and the sun coming up and birds flying overhead as images from the song.

It has a man singing, I think and a happy, whimsical summer day feel.

I know this is a long shot but it has been bugging me all day and if anyone can identify the song, it is the collective power of AskMeFi.

posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel to media & arts (19 comments total)

Blue Skies by Willie Nelson?
posted by iconomy at 3:35 PM on October 21, 2006

The song I am thinking of is faster and I think the singer has a rougher voice. I think.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 3:46 PM on October 21, 2006

B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"?
posted by Carol Anne at 3:51 PM on October 21, 2006

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head is too obviously happy and not fast enough or rough enough. The song really really reminds me of "Son of a Gun" sung by either of those two bands.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 3:58 PM on October 21, 2006

Tom Waits' "Ol' 55"? (Not that he's very cutesy wootsey...)
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:59 PM on October 21, 2006

The song also reminds me of Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock. It is not really cutesy. Tom Waits is too slow.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 4:06 PM on October 21, 2006

Well, if there's anything in there about "brown paper packages tied up with string," it may be a cover of My Favorite Things, originally (I think) sung by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.
posted by bricoleur at 4:50 PM on October 21, 2006

I assumed OP was trying to say "it reminds me of "My Favorite Things,"," but maybe it really is a cover of that song; I can sort of vaguely remember hearing a punked-up version which might sound as mustcatchmooseandsquirrel describes. Wikipedia says "MFT" was covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes -- maybe this is what you're looking for?
posted by escabeche at 4:57 PM on October 21, 2006

I don't think it is a cover of My Favorite things, but yeah - it has a bit of a punky feel and favorite things feel. It is just very frustrating because I would know it if I heard it but it is just not coming.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 5:19 PM on October 21, 2006

You should hum a few bars. If you can't remember the tune or any of the words, specific subject matter or even genre, then this is probably a stumper.
posted by dhammond at 6:01 PM on October 21, 2006

And not possibly a cover of "The Rainbow Connection," which MF and the GG also do?
posted by escabeche at 6:19 PM on October 21, 2006 [1 favorite]

Sunshine, by Screeching Weasel?

Generator, by Bad Religion?
posted by 23skidoo at 6:21 PM on October 21, 2006

I'm not just saying this because you mentioned the Vaselines (or am I?) but what about Vaseline
by The Flaming Lips?
posted by Kloryne at 7:33 PM on October 21, 2006

Jawbreaker: Indictment? (No actual roses, but it's a "stupid happy song," and so is Boxcar, and they both slightly remind me of that Nirvana song.)

Is it a cover of another song? There are punk covers of a lot of "raindrops on roses" songs. (Somewhere Over The Rainbow, 99 Red Balloons, I Can See Clearly Now, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Brown Eyed Girl, Walkin' on Sunshine...)
posted by salvia at 9:34 PM on October 21, 2006

Maybe "Stars" or "Why I like the Robins" by Hum?
posted by holdkris99 at 1:00 AM on October 22, 2006

Could it be the cover of My Favorite Things by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes?

You can find a short sample of it at the Amazon page for their album here
posted by jozxyqk at 8:25 AM on October 22, 2006

(on actually reading previous responses, I guess that this has been suggested already, sorry)
posted by jozxyqk at 8:27 AM on October 22, 2006

Perhaps "First Day of Spring" by The Gandharvas?
posted by ourobouros at 8:34 AM on October 22, 2006

If nothing else seems to be working, you might browse the Billboard (or CMJ, for that matter) charts from the approximate era, hoping that something jumps out at you.

If I'm reading correctly, the only things you've revealed about it are that it reminds you of 'Son of a Gun,' it also reminds you of 'Incense and Peppermints,' and that the lyrics are kinda 'My Favorite Things'-ish, but you don't think it's 'My Favorite Things.' Oh, and it's not 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head,' and that it's too fast to be Tom Waits and too rough to be Willie Nelson. If that's really all you remember, I wouldn't be optimistic. But I don't think it is.

If this was a teevee detective show, this is the part where they'd take you into the interrogation room. Roughly how old would you say the song is? Where did you live at the time? Was this a local, or semi-local, group? Radio song? Major label, or indie? Full-length album, or more likely just a 7" or something? Were you a hip, dive-bars-and-college-radio-shows indie kid at the time, or more of a drivetime AOR listener? Do you remember anything at all about the instrumentation, or the production? Can you remember a phrase, even a two-word one, from the lyrics?
posted by box at 10:16 AM on October 22, 2006