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Does anyone know this obscure '90s song?

LoudLon [moderator]
Posts: 1938
Yeah, that came out in ‘97. I used to have that CD. It was decent. Not very long though, as I recall.

Okay, so, new page, I’m going to list the songs we've already ruled out.

Fishbone - Swim
Morphine - Like Swimming
SNFU - Tin Fish
Rheostatics - Whale Music
Psychefunkapus
Breathe Owl Breathe - Swimming
Corbin Murdoch and the Nautical Miles - Channel Swimmer
Frank Turner - Front Crawl
Loudon Wainwright III - The Swimming Song
REM - Nightswimming
Laura Marling - Crawled out of the sea
10CC - Channel Swimmer
Frightened Rabbits - Swim Until You Can't See Land
Eels - Swimming Lesson
Jack's Mannequin - Swim
Peter Gabriel - I Go Swimming

I really thank all of you for the time you've put in trying to help me find this damn song. I promise you it is a real song, I did hear it, and everything I remember about it (while not a lot) is exactly as I've described it. I'll pay you folks back for your help somehow. Just not with money, Lon's got bills to pay.
you're not thinking of tool - learn to swim are you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7ErpFBO7RI
LoudLon [moderator]
Posts: 1938
^^^ That song's actual title is Aenima. I'd know Maynard's voice anywhere, and that song came out three years after the song I'm looking for. Thanks for trying, though (also, thanks for bringing up this song – I've been meaning to tab some Tool and Aenima's as good a place to start as any).

Since it's a new page, and to save folks from having to go back through to find a description:

1. I heard the song for the first time in the summer of 1993. I'm pretty certain it was new at the time, so rule out anything released after ‘93 or before, say, ’92.
2. Alt-pop. Not metal, not hard rock, no heavy distortion. Laid back and mellow. I would list some bands to give you an idea of the genre but I'd worry folks would then just start listing songs from those bands lol
3. Lead singer's voice was a bit nasally, and reminded me of the lead singer of Cameo (of 80s hit song “Word Up” fame).
4. The chorus lyrics are “I like to swim, I like to swim,” with a slight aquatic (warbly/bubbly) affect added to the vocals. I don't recall if the effect was used during any other part of the song.
5. The chorus vocal melody:
Tabs:
Tempo = 96
.......I like to swim I like to swim (????????????????????)
G|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-------------2---|-0-----------2---|-0---------------|-----------------|
A|-----2-----------|-----2-----------|-----------------|-----------------|
E|---------3-------|---------3-------|-----------------|-----------------|
...1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

.......I like to swim I like to swim (????????????????????)
G|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-------------2---|-0-----------2---|-5---------------|-----------------|
A|-----2-----------|-----2-----------|-----------------|-----------------|
E|---------3-------|---------3-------|-----------------|-----------------|
...1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
Marko1960
Posts: 3143
Primus doesn't suck by the way
2nick3
Posts: 533
Lon - have you tried playing the melody and singing into Shazam? I've seen it pull up a song title from some really sparse info.

(Edit to fix spelling error in ‘Shazam&rsquo
LoudLon [moderator]
Posts: 1938
Wouldn't even know where to begin. Me and technology are like water and…I don't know, what does water completely befuddle and make look like an utter moron?
2nick3
Posts: 533
Quote:
Wouldn't even know where to begin. Me and technology are like water and…I don't know, what does water completely befuddle and make look like an utter moron?

I think you're looking for “technology” there again - water and electronics don't mix well.

My recommended process would be:
1. Get Shazam (misspelled above) on your smartphone/borrow a smartphone with Shazam on it from someone
2. Have it recognize a few songs from the same genre/timeframe. It learns your preferences from what you have it find for you, so this conditions it toward what you are looking for.
3. Cross your fingers (non-playing ones)
4. Play the melody/song and sing the lyric. Repeat it a few times, maybe. This is not an exact science. You may have to try this a few times
5. When it starts searching keep your fingers crossed (now include playing fingers)
6. If it works you have to say, in your best Gomer Pyle voice, “Shazam, shazam, shazam.”
7. No, you don't, but you may feel like it if this does work. Possibly while doing the Snoopy Happy Dance, too. Dunno, up to you how you celebrate.

LoudLon [moderator]
Posts: 1938
If I need a Smartphone/iPhone/any kind of cell phone, I'm boned. Where I live, my house is too deep in the sticks to get reception, and when I'm in town, reception is sporadic at best because, well, I'm tits-deep in the Appalachians, and the damn mountains block just about everything. Upon realizing that not long after I moved here eight years ago, I stopped carrying one altogether.

I have done something akin to that though, using sites like watzatsong to upload audio clips (of me playing/singing it) in hopes of others being able to identify it, but none of them were useful. Because, of course, this friggin' song is so friggin' obscure that nobody friggin' else has ever friggin' heard of it.




Friggin'!
2nick3
Posts: 533
A tablet/iPad and WiFi will work, too.

You could always setup Android running in a VirtualBox machine (It's freeware, and minimal config will work fine for this. It will need networking, which can take some ‘giggling of cables’ to make work, but there are guides), give it access to your computer microphone, install Shazam, and then all you need to do…

OK, that's getting excessive, and I'm a geek. Never mind. It would probably be faster for me to come to you with my phone…
IamMark
Posts: 1103
Lon is running a moonshine distillery. Pass it on.

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