Must find this song!

February 9, 2008 10:10 PM

[Name that tune filter] I know it's quite difficult to give a good idea of a tune over the internet... but I've got this one buzzing in my head.

It's a song from the 60's, and is very psychedelic. The music almost sounds like Strawberry Alarm Clock, with the organ and sorta stompy drums... but there's a woman singing. The bulk of the song is in 4/4, I believe, and sort of fast/mid tempo.

The main verse of the song is repeating stanzas with a rhythm sort of like: Ba-da-da-da Dum Dum Ba. Da. Dum, and it starts out high and descends.

Maybe like:

----Ba-da-da-da--------------------------------------------
----------------------Dum Dum------------------------------
--------------------------------------------Ba-da-------------
------------------------------------------------------------Dum


Any ideas? I'm stumped, and must find it!

posted by kaseijin to media & arts (10 comments total)

The first ba-da-da-da-dum-dum sounds (in my head) like "Monday, Monday" by The Mamas and The Papas.
posted by amyms at 10:16 PM on February 9, 2008

Nope... Not that one - thanks, though! Tempo's a good bit faster (maybe twice as fast?), and more psychedelic vs. folksy. Not a vocal group, either, but one singer. If it's any help, the descending scale starts out pretty high...and she's belting it out.
posted by kaseijin at 10:21 PM on February 9, 2008

Okay... Are the "ba da da da"s actual vocalizations of "ba da da da," or is she singing words that approximate the rhythm of the "ba da da da"?
posted by amyms at 10:28 PM on February 9, 2008

Approximate rhythm. Sorry - I should have clarified that. I want to say that at least one iteration of that rhythm starts with the words "every single...", but I could be woefully wrong there.
posted by kaseijin at 10:31 PM on February 9, 2008

Uh...maybe this is working for somebody, but I think this could any one of at least a hundred songs. I dunno if you have whatever it takes to make an mp3, but I really think actually hearing this would go a long way for most people re: figuring out what it is.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:58 PM on February 9, 2008

It might help to know where you heard it--do they play it frequently on the radio, or do you hardly ever hear it? Are you more likely to find it on an "oldies" or a "classic rock" station?
posted by equalpants at 12:18 AM on February 10, 2008

I don't recognize it from your description. I agree that if you can record the beat on a .wav file or mp3, hum the melody, anything like that would help! Alternatively I'm going to recommend you try http://www.songtapper.com in the meantime, it's worked for me a few times in the past when other avenues failed. You just tap out the beat and it'll run it against a song database and offer best guesses.
posted by empyrean at 12:53 AM on February 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

First, are you certain she's from the sixties?
Could she possibly be later, like Siouxsie & the Banshees?

I think we could count the number of fairly well known '60's psychedelic female singers on one hand. You seem to know Strawberry Alarm Clock, would you recognize Grace Slick's (Jefferson Airplane) or Nico's (Velvet Underground) voice?
posted by artdrectr at 12:53 AM on February 10, 2008

Seconding song tapper, which I came in to suggest, since I think you'll have trouble conveying a beat over text! :)

Let us know how you go if you try it...
posted by ranglin at 3:56 AM on February 10, 2008

Thanks, everybody for the help. Songtapper didn't do it (wow, but what a great resource!), but after sleeping on it, I remembered the refrain (which is the name of the song).

I was a bit off on it being as psychedelic as I remembered...it's firmly Motown/Northern Soul with the horns and whatnot, but that makes a certain sense, too. I would hear it played frequently at mod/psych dance nights...so it still fits in that milieu.

It was "Nothing But a Heartache" by the Flirtations.
posted by kaseijin at 8:01 AM on February 10, 2008