How to be a music detective, Part I So anyway, a few months ago I heard this song from the '70s on the radio. I remembered it from my youth but, sadly, it was on one of those stations sans DJs that just plays the songs one after the other and you hear nothing about either the song or the artist. Stumped, I figured it would come to me.
It didn't. For months. I'd hear it every few weeks and listen intently to anything that might give it away. Of course, it was an instrumental so there were no lyrics that one could search on, and no chorus that might give away the name. Cursed, I trolled various internet fora trying, lamely, to describe this song; you can imagine trying to type out the words to describe an instrumental song. "Well, it's got this sax melody, see. . ." I knew it was the '70s, probably mid-decade, but that was it. No idea who did it. I tried searching the web using various search terms; no luck. I tried cruising around iTunes' 1970s compilation CDs and listening to snippets to see if I could find it; no luck. Finally, I quit actively searching, hoping it would come to me eventually, but it never did.
Until yesterday. I finally got to watch a vastly underrated movie -- Undercover Brother -- on TV and from the very beginning when, lo and behold, IT WAS THE SONG. Played for just about 30 seconds but THERE IT WAS. Eureka! A source! Off I went at the next opportunity to the local Barnes and Noble and straight to the soundtracks section. Undercover Brother! Put on the headphones at a listening station and click through the titles. There it was! #2!
Average White Band. Pick up the Pieces. Yeah, baby. I am just waiting to get home, download, and listen as many times as I want. Onto the iPod it goes! Probably along with "Play that funky music, white boy".
So there, gentle readers, patience and persistence pays off. It once took me 2 years to find a quote from William Gladstone about how societies treat their dead (look at cemetery web sites, half of them show the quote on their front page). I finally found the actual quote and the source in a book of quotations.
I was, um, looking because a retired (female) porn star emailed me asking about it. No, I did not get anything in return, only a hearty thank you and a virtual pat on the back. But I wanted something, oh yes I did. . . . .
A credit on a porno movie. Just like Cindy Brady!
UPDATE: Okay, I also downloaded Rubberband Man, which inspired me to troll YouTube. For your viewing pleasure, I give you the Making of the Rubberband Man Commercial: