I need help with a song of obsession.

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I am so desperate to identify this song I heard many years ago, that I am not only posting it here, but also on Random Discussion and the Arts/Music forum. For years I have wondered what the song name is, but have given up each time. Now, I can't get the song out of my head. I have spent hours and hours trying to find it. I have used music recognition programs, but none have returned the answer. This may not seem autism related (for me to post this to the general discussion), but trust me ... if becoming obsessed with something is a trait of autism, then this song is an obsession to me. Can anyone please help me identify it? Here it is with the notes listed with their piano octave and approximate length of notes. Thank you for helping me.

C4(dotted half), G3(dotted eighth), C4(sixteenth) /
F4(dotted eighth), E4(sixteenth), C4(half), F4(eighth), E4(eighth) /
C4(dotted half), E4(dotted eighth), C4(sixteenth) /
G4(dotted half tied to eighth), G4(eighth) /
A4(quarter), G4(dotted eighth), G4(sixteenth), A4(quarter), G4(dotted eighth), G4(sixteenth) /
A4(eighth), G4(eighth), F4(eighth), E4(eighth), D4(quarter), C4(dotted eighth), G4(sixteenth) /
A4(quarter), G4(dotted eighth), G4(sixteenth), A4(quarter), G4(dotted eighth), G4(sixteenth) /
A4(eighth), G4(eighth), F4(eighth), E4(eighth), D4(quarter), C4(quarter)

I took a stab at it with guitar but without a tempo and knowledge of whether it's vocal or instrumental it's lost on me. A bit like changing a light bulb! Knowing the era and medium of first appearance would further help narrow it down

I can't help you on that one.

I can say that the same thing happens to me sometimes.
I often pick up the patterns inside a song that came from other songs decades before.

For example this song by Kellie Pickler had borrowed parts from two songs.
The intro was borrowed from a Hall & Oates song "You make my dreams come true",
and another part was borrowed from a song from the 70's by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds.

Pickler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QklF7jqoDaQ

H, JF, & R:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0sTpZja6JQ

It bugged me greatly for a year before I finally made the connection to the song I'd heard in the 70's.


Jung describes this process as the conscious mind trying to shine a spotlight on information that has long ago sunk into our subconscious.

I appreciate the help so far. It was suggested knowing the era might help. Here is what I think I remember on it. I thought I first heard it around 1976. Bicentennial patriotic song??? Maybe? Not sure. I also believe I heard it in the mid to late 1970s being played during a Jerry Lewis Telethon while pledges were being read on a local network. It seems to me to be an instrumental number? I think it was the standard marching band kind of setup, but a little jazzier.

It sure is maddening not being able to identify such things. Non-famous instrumentals and riffs taken from older songs are particularly difficult. Once by a miracle of coincidence I was able to identify a riff for an obsessed friend because the song (popular decades ago) happened to be on my ipod so I recognized it when she hummed it. Nobody has ever been able to do the same for me when I became obsessed unfortunately. I've had to rely on more info bubbling up from my subconscious which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

I can't read music so I don't know whether or not I recognize the piece you posted. So I have a suggestion. Maybe if you record yourself playing the piece and post that here, the pool of people who might recognize it will enlarge because it will include those of us who can't read music. WP poster b9 has a Soundclick account and often posts his keyboard compositions to listen to so Soundclick is a way to do that.

Also I suggest watching youtube videos of Jerry Lewis telethons. You might find the original recording that way, or the person posting may have included its name, or watching them could trigger more info to bubble up from your subconscious. I have found stuff on old youtube videos that way. Sometimes dedicated youtube archivists list such things. Sometimes people setting up archival websites do too so its possible you'll find it on a website dedicated to Jerry Lewis and his telethons. Or maybe Jerry Lewis is a red herring and it was actually interstitial music played by your local station airing it. But youtubes of your local station's ancient interstitial music then might have it. I have found lost melodies that way.

wikipedia informs me that 70's era Jerry Lewis telethons used a jazzy version of Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now Is Love". I found sheet music for that and it doesn't match what you wrote (pattern match is all I can do since I can't read music) and you'd likely recognize it anyway, although when I listened on youtube it was nearly unrecognizable as that song. Anyway, a recording of you playing the melody on Soundclick or similar would be super helpful. I do love a musical mystery.

Thank you Janissy, I appreciate your suggestions. I am going to check out Soundclick now and Jerry Lewis telethon videos. Hopefully this mystery song can be solved because it is driving me nuts. It's funny why now, all of a sudden, this song has become such a quest for me.

It's all good, I have the same thing happening with a B-movie I saw on cable in the 80s - Wikipedia, Allmovie and IMDB are all content to let me go to the grave with this unfulfilled rotten tomato.

But maybe OP knows of this musical mystery: closed hats 16ths with kick on "2e&" and "4' +/- 140bpm, lightly distorted "A" trilling a Sus4 played on the bridge/middle Stratocaster pickups, part of the Mark Knopfler/ Lou Reed-esque vocal refrain states "HEY-a-YOU-a-OFF-the-WALL". I heard it in 1977 or '78

i am not sure i have played your sequence correctly, but this is what i make of your description.
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single ... 00991&q=hi

i can not remember any song with that sequence of notes in it.

^^^^
The beginning of that sounds a little like Nat King Cole's "When I Fall In Love"

I take it that you don't know any of the lyrics.

A non musician like me might be able to recall it if we knew the words.

The beginning reminded me of the song "Lady" by Little River Band, and the rest of it sort of reminded me of the theme to The Wild Wild West TV show, but neither are really good matches. Sorry I got nothing else.

The soundclick file of b9 is roughly it. Thank you for posting that as others can hear it. I haven't been able to make my own sound file yet. As for lyrics? I think it may have been an instrumental.

I have no idea... but these people might. I made a throwaway account and slightly modified your question to fit better contextually. Here's a link to the thread.

http://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/c ... d_it_many/

Your throwaway account name: wqerhqwkj7777

Your throwaway account password: thisisyourpassword

I am posting the credentials publicly yes. I trust that you guys won't screw with it. It's for glider18 to comment on the thread for clarification and confirmation if it's answered.

Glider18, I recommend you change the password asap when you read this. One more thing, don't take this account seriously. It's a throwaway for a reason. It's sole purpose is to comment to the aforementioned thread above.

I hope this helps.

I hate it when that happens with a song. I've had one that's been bugging me for years, but of course the melody totally eludes me whenever I sit down at the piano or am otherwise in a position to research it.

As for your melody, it sounds very, very vaguely familiar to me, but I am unable to place it.