The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet(en.wikipedia.org)
en.wikipedia.org
The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Mysterious_Song_on_the_Internet
42 comments
> One can't help but wonder how much fantastic material is out there, seen by only a small audience, only to be lost and never seen again.
A lot of BBC content like that is just gone because they used to reuse tapes to save on costs. I don't know if they were still doing it into the 2000s but entire chunks of iconic TV shows like a third of the first six Doctor Who seasons are just straight up gone [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes
A lot of BBC content like that is just gone because they used to reuse tapes to save on costs. I don't know if they were still doing it into the 2000s but entire chunks of iconic TV shows like a third of the first six Doctor Who seasons are just straight up gone [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes
They stopped doing that in the 70s, and already did a lot less of that before then. But they also don't archive every minute of what's being broadcast either (no one does, e.g. airing a film you licensed but didn't produce).
There's a fantastic subreddit for old/obscure/oddball media that is on the verge of being lost to time. You never know what you'll find there, but its always fun and tends to lead to infinite scrolls. [1]
I hate plugging Reddit right now, but there's a reason we like(d) going there.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/
I hate plugging Reddit right now, but there's a reason we like(d) going there.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/
I’ve been searching for a documentary called history of the vtr. It focused on video tape as part of the broadcast industry and showcased specific machines. More importantly it demonstrated what the imperfect artifacts viewers saw were caused by in the machines themselves.
Recently discovered that this is the song playing on the radio in the crashed car you find near the end of the Doom map MyHouse.wad - because of course it is
Given the recent MyHouse boom on youtube, I suspect that's the reason this is here now.
That's hilarious because I watched a playthrough recently and wondered if copyright is ever enforced in stuff like this when I heard that, without knowing what the song was. Now I know that it's essentially (inadvertently) public domain.
As I saw in a youtube comment: this is the only song you WANT to get copyright-struck for. If your video gets taken down for copying the song, you'll be the hero who solved the mystery of which song it is.
I play popular songs on my keyboard on youtube. I've never gotten a strike, but I have had some ContentID hits. I always enjoy that because it means I got pretty close.
Sort of reminds me the Reply All episode "The Case of the Missing Hit": https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/o2h8bx which involves a similar search for an unidentified song (though in this case, just one that someone remembers having heard, rather than an actual recording).
IMO This is the best single podcast episode ever made.
Agreed. Someone convinced me to listen to it under the guise of "just trust me, the less you know going in, the better" and they were 100% right.
I just listened for the first time, and yeah, it's well presented for a general audience, but I was completely unable to believe that they thought that the steps they took in their search made logical sense. It's like the reality TV version of a lost media search. You don't need experts to find a lost pop song, you just need the internet!
The song in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJjuBcmPCeQ
I have like a billion demo tapes from the 80s and 90s from bands I tried out for or whatever, many of which include fairly well written pop songs in the approximate quality range of this song. so... this seems like someone's demo tape with a pretty good song that caught on regardless of not being identified? one would think this occurs often, at least if we put more old demo tape songs on youtube
So many of us (myself included) have become accustomed to being able to find or identify just about anything with the right software, tools, or community. But there are just so many recordings out there like you mentioned - demos, one-offs, etc. that only one or two people would even be able to identify.
Despite the reach of global communication, there's a good chance those people never find out that others are searching for this info. They may not even be alive anymore.
A year or two ago, some friends and I had the theme of "rare or weird songs" for a monthly "bring your own music" listening party. Since the previous theme was "songs from your childhood/youth" and I like to throw in a bridge to the previous theme when possible, I brought in the recording of a practice session I did with a band back in college around 2000.
I'd since digitized the cassette tape and probably have the only copy of this recording in existence. The band played one show and it was generally just a fun project among friends. We never recorded a proper album, only set up a tape recorder during one practice session as we ran through the whole set.
There must be hundreds of thousands of similar recordings out there from bedroom projects and bands-that-never-were.
Despite the reach of global communication, there's a good chance those people never find out that others are searching for this info. They may not even be alive anymore.
A year or two ago, some friends and I had the theme of "rare or weird songs" for a monthly "bring your own music" listening party. Since the previous theme was "songs from your childhood/youth" and I like to throw in a bridge to the previous theme when possible, I brought in the recording of a practice session I did with a band back in college around 2000.
I'd since digitized the cassette tape and probably have the only copy of this recording in existence. The band played one show and it was generally just a fun project among friends. We never recorded a proper album, only set up a tape recorder during one practice session as we ran through the whole set.
There must be hundreds of thousands of similar recordings out there from bedroom projects and bands-that-never-were.
In the old days of P2P MP3 sharing, there were just a few songs that were misidentified, sometimes hilariously, and the widespread nature of MP3 sharing meant that a single user's error was propogated hundreds or thousands of times across the world.
One of those tracks was "Cry Little Sister", which was drawn from the Lost Boys soundtrack, and definitely was never performed by the Sisters of Mercy, despite what all the ID3 tags said. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_Little_Sister
One of those tracks was "Cry Little Sister", which was drawn from the Lost Boys soundtrack, and definitely was never performed by the Sisters of Mercy, despite what all the ID3 tags said. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_Little_Sister
> In the old days of P2P MP3 sharing, there were just a few songs that were misidentified
I remember (a friend) downloading Box Car Racer's new album on p2p only to find an indie band had uploaded their own songs under the legitimate BCR track listing. While immediately clear they weren't BCR, friend was intrigued and continued to listen to them for years without having any idea who they really were.
I remember (a friend) downloading Box Car Racer's new album on p2p only to find an indie band had uploaded their own songs under the legitimate BCR track listing. While immediately clear they weren't BCR, friend was intrigued and continued to listen to them for years without having any idea who they really were.
Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger not Paranoia by The Offspring
When oink and what.cd went down we lost thousands of exactly those kinds of recordings :( I myself uploaded some not-even-that-obscure Japanese stuff that I found just to improve my ratio, ratio being the main driver of all kinds of wonderfully obscure stuff popping up. Now it's all gone.
Yep, same. Also there's dozens of songs that I totally lost to time, because of lost hard drives, tapes thrown away after being converted to disk, some stuff from 2010 that I lost the multitracks when moving countries.
Some friends had some songs almost 20 years ago that was actually played in the radio by a DJ friend of ours. It wasn't any good, but I reached out to the four of them and asked if they still have it. Nope, the four of them have no idea where the songs are.
Some friends had some songs almost 20 years ago that was actually played in the radio by a DJ friend of ours. It wasn't any good, but I reached out to the four of them and asked if they still have it. Nope, the four of them have no idea where the songs are.
The main related subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMysteriousSong/
They've put in a significant amount of effort. Most of the guesses in this HN thread have been debunked already.
They've put in a significant amount of effort. Most of the guesses in this HN thread have been debunked already.
I’ve enjoyed seeing the communities that form around these songs. There is a similar song called “Fond My Mind” that has seen many re-makes and adaptations despite having an unknown origin (likely from Brazil in the late 80s/early 90s).
This reminds young me and my teenagers friends discovering an audio tape my mom's second husband made in the late sixties / early seventies (we found it two decades later)... That cassette was pure gold. We'd listen it non-stop at home, during road trips, etc. Thankfully because he was well organized, he had written down all the names of the artists. It was only reggae stuff. But he wasn't that much into reggae, so obviously it was made with the help of someone who knew about reggae.
And so we started searching for all the songs. There was one we couldn't find anywhere (this was pre-Napster days btw and back then lyrics weren't sufficient to find a song).
The hand-written text on the cassette's sleeves read:
"Zap Four - This is is reggae music".
Impossible to find.
Turns out, one day I found it. It was not "Zap Four" but "Zap Pow". For all these years I had misread the handwritten text.
Reggae fans, enjoy, because that's one heck of a good one (and not a very famous song):
https://youtu.be/-6G6PiRGCaU
And so we started searching for all the songs. There was one we couldn't find anywhere (this was pre-Napster days btw and back then lyrics weren't sufficient to find a song).
The hand-written text on the cassette's sleeves read:
"Zap Four - This is is reggae music".
Impossible to find.
Turns out, one day I found it. It was not "Zap Four" but "Zap Pow". For all these years I had misread the handwritten text.
Reggae fans, enjoy, because that's one heck of a good one (and not a very famous song):
https://youtu.be/-6G6PiRGCaU
I have my own mystery song, but a much more recent one, one of the songs that was playing at Google I/O. The soundtrack for the weekend was largely popular stuff from groups like CHVRCHES, but this one I could never identify using every technique I could think of. I put a minute-long clip of it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48gK7Krx0TQ if anyone here happens to be able to figure out its origin these days.
Still weird that they could not identify it. I often listen to recordings where I am an unique likely listener for years, as well as my own bootlegs. But it is never a problem to identify music or even find much more knowledgeable people to ask for pointers.
Not really. Stuff gets played on the radio all the time by obscure musicians.
Example: I played (along with a few others) a tune once on BBC Radio 3 for a program about the blues. Since I just gave the lead sheet to my fellow musicians before the recording and none of us (or the song) were ever credited, there's absolutely no way that anyone could track down what that song was, who wrote it, who the musicians on it were etc.
I mean: I literally couldn't do it myself and it was my song and I played on it.
Example: I played (along with a few others) a tune once on BBC Radio 3 for a program about the blues. Since I just gave the lead sheet to my fellow musicians before the recording and none of us (or the song) were ever credited, there's absolutely no way that anyone could track down what that song was, who wrote it, who the musicians on it were etc.
I mean: I literally couldn't do it myself and it was my song and I played on it.
Were you invited on the show? Did they have your names? Did they make a list of who performed in what order?
I've been amazed at how obscure recordings are often identified because someone kept a notebook or other recordings. It's not going to be 100%, but it's enough that it surprises/ intrigues folks when something can't be identified.
I've been amazed at how obscure recordings are often identified because someone kept a notebook or other recordings. It's not going to be 100%, but it's enough that it surprises/ intrigues folks when something can't be identified.
It happened while I was at music college. One of our lecturers was invited to speak and they wanted some background music so asked us to play. Noone made a list of who was playing which is why I can remember that I was there and maaaaaaybe know who the drummer was and that’s about it. Anyhow I’m not trying to identify anything I was just using it as an example of the kind of obscure nonsense that happens a lot.
There is one song that I encountered on youtube a decade or so ago, that I haven't been able to find since. It may have been deleted by the user, or something else altogether but I sometimes just think back and wish I had my penchant for archival back then. Doesn't help that the I recall the title being so vague that a search would yield like 300m results.
I’d only heard about this a few weeks ago. I’ve seen hunts for mystery songs go down before (“On the Roof”, what’s up!), but for some reason something about this one just feels off. Like that photograph of the track list - just seems a little too perfect that this is the one other bit of evidence.
For some reason, my BS detector is telling me that someone recorded a fake song a decade and a half ago, the long troll turned out far better than they ever could have imagined, and there’s no way they ever come clean about this.
For some reason, my BS detector is telling me that someone recorded a fake song a decade and a half ago, the long troll turned out far better than they ever could have imagined, and there’s no way they ever come clean about this.
there was a YouTube video by a guy, last name whang, Johnny maybe? He was going down a rabbit hole that it was this one band someone found they contacted one member who denied it but later said it was his, which is suspect. However, the lead singer is MIA, nobody knows if he's alive or dead, it's thought probably dead, but he supposedly did some stuff outside of the band.
There were some major differences in song structures. All other songs on their album were all synth and drum machine, this one has a synth but also guitar and actual drum set.
Why would they fuck around with that equipment for one song that didn't even make the cut to be on their album?
If the singer who's a dead ringer voice wise and style wise however did it on his own, maybe the other band member is trying to take credit because he's trying to release the album with extra songs, potentially this one included.
This theory struck me as making a lot of sense.
There were some major differences in song structures. All other songs on their album were all synth and drum machine, this one has a synth but also guitar and actual drum set.
Why would they fuck around with that equipment for one song that didn't even make the cut to be on their album?
If the singer who's a dead ringer voice wise and style wise however did it on his own, maybe the other band member is trying to take credit because he's trying to release the album with extra songs, potentially this one included.
This theory struck me as making a lot of sense.
Thanks for the context. I have not looked into this deeply at all, but you’re right, something like that would make a lot of sense.
Oh, I just remembered my lost media white whale. Back during the first season of “Survivor,” there was a guy who would record hilariously amateurish songs about what was happening on the show. One I remember and can still kind of hear was about how internet leaks and rumors held that Gervais wouldn’t be eliminated. (Gervais was eliminated.) After the mid-2000s or so, I was never able to find anything about that guy or those songs again.
Isn't it interesting that this rose to prominence in the last few weeks because someone included it in the most mysterious DOOM WAD on the Internet?
Posts like these remind me about a lost track that I'm trying to find the name of. I even have a reward for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK8l0pkyiy0
Found online soo many years ago in a random website because it had a name similar to another track I was looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK8l0pkyiy0
Found online soo many years ago in a random website because it had a name similar to another track I was looking for.
This song gives me major Russ Ballard vibes
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW3M-yio9tLtffeHaqZs-pXqK...
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW3M-yio9tLtffeHaqZs-pXqK...
then again ... this is just a "mystery" because someone announced it as such and wrote about it somewhere. the rest is people with too much time making memes about it. apart from that it's just some rather average song someone recorded. that may sound a bit negative, but this whole meme mindset / pseudo culture thing is kind of growing old on me.
It's a mystery because the entire Internet couldn't find out where it came from.
The specific clip is about two old women reminiscing about their husbands, both of whom died during the battle of Britain decades ago, ending with both in tears and "you never quite let go, do you?" I felt it was a very powerful statement about the long-lasting effects of war that go well beyond the immediate casualties and victims, at the time probably directed towards the Iraq war, but it really applies to all wars.
There is almost zero information about this, including at the BBC Archives as far as I can determine, probably because the clip itself wasn't actually produced by the BBC. I suspect I will never find it again, and that it was seen by relatively few people in the first place since the programme aired at 2am (I found some other clips they aired, such as Toothpaste[1] and a few others, but not this one).
To this day, in spite of being very short, it's still one of the best and most impactful things I've seen on TV.
One can't help but wonder how much fantastic material is out there, seen by only a small audience, only to be lost and never seen again.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAsn9u3e8U