Long lost songs


This is a discussion on songs or versions we've heard maybe just once on the radio and spent years searching for. Anything you knew existed, but couldn't find.

For instance, about 1972 I was lying in bed listening to the local progressive rock station (WNEW) as I was falling asleep. On come a great R&B song with a line something like "Before I Die I want to be the kind of man you want me to be". The DJ never announced the title or artist that I could hear. Never heard it again. Years later I heard "She's Gone" by Hall and Oats and figured it was them. Nope. Continued to search on and off for decades, employing new technology as it became available.

Early this year, while searching for something totally different on SecondHandSongs I came across "When I Die" by Mother Lode. Bingo! Joy, joy, joy! Found the CD on Amazon, (only format available) Love It. Most of the rest of their songs are weird but "When I Die" is almost as good as my memory had made 'Before I Die'.

Another example is versions. There are some song that I love that have very different interpretations by various artists. "Hey Joe" and "Morning Dew" are two. I like to collect those versions. Long ago I heard a version of "Morning Dew" sung by a guy with a very unique voice. It had a mesmerizing rhythm guitar line that got into my brain. I never forgot it, because the girl I was with turned out to be a nymphomaniac. What a night!

Using   SecondHandSongs agin, I found Long John Baldry on his self-titled album on EMI. What a crystal clear LP! He's recorded several fine versions of the song, but this is THE one with that guitar line. Highly recommended.

I am sure many of you have similar tales and can relate to the elation I felt on finding something I'd been searching for for decades. Let's hear them.
2channel8
Great idea...here's a couple from the dustbin of my mind...hopefully entertaining, kickstart some old neurons... ;)

Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy

How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths

Waitin' For The Wind - Spooky Tooth

The Bomber/Closet Queen/Bolero/Cast Your Fate To The Wind - The James Gang

Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille

Other Side To This Life - Fred Neil

Dear Jill - Blodwyn Pig


I have a variation on this theme.  One of my all time favorite ballads is called "Pretending To Care" by Todd Rundgren.  It's a demanding vocal that's been covered many times, including at least once by an operatic soprano whose names eludes me at the moment.  So, one day I hear an incredible version of the song on the radio and don't get the name of the singer or source of the track.

Per this thread, it took many years to track down the singer and album - turns out it's a guy call Fred Froom from a long out of print Rundgren tribute album called "For The Love of Todd".  Of course I grab a used copy on eBay and confirm that it is indeed a grand slam cover of the song.

Weird bonus factoid - An Internet search of Fred Froom yields only one piece of information:

Fred Froom covered the song "Pretending To Care" on the tribute album called "For The Love of Todd".

Other than that, this guy seems to be a ghost.  A search of Mitchell Froom shows no relative called Fred.  Evidently, Fred Froom is a terrific singer who for reasons unknown seems to have had a one song career.
Ghosthouse, I have heard that recording hundreds of times but don't recall ever hearing of William DeVaughn. Great memories. Sound a lot better today than it did on the bus in high school.
Martykl,

FYI SecondHandSongs lists 6 versions of "Pretending to Care", none of which are by Froom. MusicStack has one of his CDs.

http://www.musicstack.com/item/571514
Not quite on this theme - but can anyone identify a long lost UNKNOWN song for me
It was a trumpet "song" in the 60's that was NOT Il silenzio
I have the  Eddie Calvert version of that but it is not what I am looking for. It starts off the first couple of bars very similar, but then changes. I heard it again a few years ago as background music to a BBC film here in UK and told myself I would remember the film and check out the credits the next day. Of course I totally forgot everything.I have every other track I ever want that I have heard, apart from this one. Nobody I have asked has any idea of what I am on about and the pool of people around at the time is diminishing also !!