Montezuma's Revenge

January 7, 2008 2:24 PM

Where can I find a downloadable version of Michael Murphey's classic, "Temple of the Sun" to download? Of course I am willing to pay for the copyrighted, legal, etc. version. But I would rather not have to buy the entire Swans Against the Sun CD to get this one song. Also, HUGE Bonus Points if you can lead me to similar(?) songs which might interest my sons (see inside for more on this challenge).

I want to download "Temple of the Sun," by Michael Murphy, which is a cherished song of my own childhood, to introduce to my kids, who are now old enough to enjoy it. I'd rather not pay for the entire CD, but Itunes doesn't have the song for download. Any suggestions? (I'm on a Mac, and I have an Ipod Shuffle and an Iphone, so I would prefer Mac friendly versions).

Also, bonus points if you can think of other works to interest and educate us. This is tough, because what I am looking for are songs that have an impact on a greater scale than just, "Huh. Nice lyrics and you can dance to it, I give it an 8." I'm looking for songs that have...how do I put this? Cultural significance? Historical relevance? A "Eureka" moment? I guess the best way is to list a few:

'39 from A Night at the Opera (Queen): Blew me away when I was a kid and actually understood, after this song, what "time is relevant" means.

Phantom of the Opera: Faust set to music, with an evil parody that appealed to a young teenager, much better teaching method than telling me to read"Dorian Grey" would have been at that age.

Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado: Political satire couched in witty, alliterative lyrics.

See? I told you this would be difficult. Thanks in advance, Hive Mind!

posted by misha to grab bag (8 comments total)

dios: There are albums on itunes where some songs are "album only". I am guessing this is such a case (although I can't seem to find this album on the US itunes store to confirm that). I can totally understand this kind of situation where itunes makes the most popular song album only thereby forcing you to download a bunch of crap for just one song.

I think the question is: What music store will allow me to buy just this one song but not the whole album?

I did a cursory check on Amazon's mp3 store and didn't find it.
posted by special-k at 3:09 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Any chance we can just delete this question and be done with it? So far, it's pretty much all derail.

And the first part of the question can be simply answered (check the usual mp3-sale sites like itunes and emusic; if it's not there, you can either go the p2p route or the gemm/ebay/amazon marketplace one. Also, maybe there's a greatest-hits album which includes the song, and which you can buy for less money), and the second part, geez, it's a baffling ordeal to just figure out what he's asking for.

My suggestion: if it's really a cherished song from your childhood, just buy the record. It seems to be going for about five bucks. Since you mention your Mac, your iPod and your iPhone, I have a feeling you can afford it.
posted by box at 3:12 PM on January 7

I'll give the poster the benefit of the doubt here and assume the question is where the individual track can be purchased. The poster already said it wasn't on iTunes. So the alternatives are as follows:
Walmart.com, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, Amazon and Yahoo! Music.

Otherwise, you need to buy the whole album.
posted by dios at 3:13 PM on January 7

I missed but Itunes doesn't have the song for download.

But the rest of my previous comment still stands.

box: I agree. Delete the question or all the comments thus far. I already flagged it.
posted by special-k at 3:13 PM on January 7

Okay, so, according to allmusic, you can forget about the greatest-hits route.
posted by box at 3:15 PM on January 7

[confusing derail removed, carry on]
posted by jessamyn at 4:03 PM on January 7

Hopefully this will help clarify the issue: I do NOT want some illegal, torrented version of the song. I can certainly afford to buy it. I just would rather buy only the song, and not the entire CD, which is all I could find available on Amazon, and Itunes doesn't even have that much.

Hope that helps clear up any confusion.
posted by misha at 4:52 PM on January 7

My suggestion: if it's really a cherished song from your childhood, just buy the record. It seems to be going for about five bucks. Since you mention your Mac, your iPod and your iPhone, I have a feeling you can afford it.

I'd love to do this, but as I don't have a record player, and the CD veresion is going for almost $80 when Amazon shops even has it, I'm still looking.
posted by misha at 4:39 PM on January 10