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
Ghosthouse-
Of course it was WABC. I must have been having a mixed memory. My Channel Master was AM only.

https://img0.etsystatic.com/057/0/9851142/il_570xN.716978392_dqrp.jpg

Well, I find that there are three 7-M-3 albums with 3 different versions of Water's Edge, actually 2 and a various artists collection called Road Rage. None of them are easily available so I down loaded the 5 minute version from iTunes.

That is the LAST long lost song on my to find list. On one hand I am euphoric. On the other I kinda feel like Don Quixote when they took his lance away.

I do have another story: Years ago we went to see Neil Young and Emmylou Harris was opening. She did a great version of what I remembered as Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. A few years ago I became bemused by the song. I now have 5 versions of it, but could never find Emmylou's. Last week I somehow stumbled on her song The Pearl, which has a lot of Alleluias in the chorus. That must have been what we heard. It is a great find!
Emmy Lou Harris...
Talk about the complete package. She was and still is that.
Case in point....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbaz_T6BN3g

Now, from the sublime to the ridiculous...
With loss of a couple more brain cells, this could have been a "long lost song". But apparently the responsible cells are still in place and functional. Back in those AM radio days, liked this one quite a bit.
(and my wife thinks I have questionable taste...go figure)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryrEPzsx1gQ


Wow! That's quite an all-star band behind Ms. Harris, too.

Telstar was a huge hit in my home town. A lot of the work on it was done at Bell Labs Murray Hill in New Providence NJ, the largest employer in town. My Grandfather had an award for his participation.
Grew up in Central NJ.  Somerville until Bridgewater got a post office.  I take it you are talking satellite and not production work on the single!  I remember my pop taking me outside at night and trying to help me spot the thing.  Supposedly visible...a little moving dot of light (or so I seem to recall).  Not sure I ever really saw it.

re ELH's band...well, yeah!  aka The Hot Band.
Glad to help w/Water's Edge.  I have the American Standard cd.

My own lost song story goes back to college days at Cal Poly.  I used to hear this looong song late at night on the campus FM station.  For 30 years I wondered about that song until one day on this forum someone started a thread about songs with long lyrics.  One of the posters mentioned The Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic.  I hunted it down (by Jaime Brockett) and it has brought back some great memories.  I still can't imagine remembering that long of a song for a live performance.

Bill