# Does this (being long familiar with songs/tunes but not being able to identify) also happen to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 18, 2023, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318 "2023-11-18T11:00:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/21 "2023-11-19T18:34:48Z")
Took me decades to identify Sweet’s “Fox on the Run.” Someone once suggested to me that the song might be “Fox on the Run” but they didn’t specify the band. I assumed they meant the Manfred Mann song from 1969 that was also titled “Fox on the Run,” and I knew it wasn’t that. So I remained confused for a few years longer. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/22 "2023-11-25T02:14:20Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Does this (being long familiar with a tune but not being able to put a name to it, sometimes for decades) also occur with others, or am I an extreme outlier? I know Liz Phair’s _Exile on Guyville_ inside out (saw the recent show, as well), and could sing pretty much every word of every song, but I couldn’t tell you the titles of about half of them. Dude, I didn’t realize until last week that the title of one of my favorite songs on that album is “The Divorce Song.” “Dance of the Seven Veils?” Oh, that’s the “Johnny get out of the business” song. It’s almost shameful, as it’s one of my top five, if not top three, albums of the 90s. It’s one of three vinyls I own. I’ve even read her memoir! But the names … I just never followed along. Just listened to the music, over and over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/23 "2023-11-25T02:43:09Z")
In most of @Mean_Mr.Mustard’s “songs by the letter” polls I’m unfamiliar with many of the songs people nominate. But actually, I probably _have_ heard a lot of them; I just don’t know the titles, so my brain just isn’t connecting the titles with the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/24 "2023-11-25T03:06:58Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Does this (being long familiar with a tune but not being able to put a name to it, sometimes for decades) also occur with others, or am I an extreme outlier? There’s an entire subreddit for just this. You could go to r/tipofmytongue and post “I’m trying to ID a song I’ve been hearing for years. It’s upbeat, disco-y and the (female) lead vocals are very high pitched and bouncy sounding” and you’d probably get an answer within 10 minutes. [https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/](https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/25 "2023-11-25T03:46:03Z")
The easiest way to ID songs like this is to download the Shazam app on your smartphone. When you hear the song playing open the app and tap the “tap to Shazam” button. It will listen to whatever song is playing and it will usually have an ID for you within a few seconds. It works surprisingly well even when there’s lots of background noise; I’ve used it in crowded restaurants and it still was able to ID the song that was playing. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/26 "2023-11-25T11:47:11Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > The easiest way to ID songs like this is to download the Shazam app on your smartphone. I do this as well, and I am also surprised at how quickly the app identifies a song. You can also click a button and add it to your Spotify playlist. mmm ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/27 "2023-11-25T12:27:44Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I just enjoyed listening to the Who’s song ‘Teenage Wasteland’ Everybody knows that one is called “Teenaged Whistling.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/28 "2023-11-25T17:14:01Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > > [@WildaBeast](#): > > > > The easiest way to ID songs like this is to download the Shazam app on your smartphone. > > I do this as well, and I am also surprised at how quickly the app identifies a song. You can also click a button and add it to your Spotify playlist. > > mmm My wife has an Apple phone. She says “Hey Siri, what’s this song?” & holds the phone up in the air. It usually works in a few seconds. I assume my Android could do the same; I haven’t bothered with any of the voice-related features of it. Special apps don’t seem to be necessary these days. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/29 "2023-11-27T11:15:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > > > > [@WildaBeast](#): > > > > > > The easiest way to ID songs like this is to download the Shazam app on your smartphone. > > > > I do this as well, and I am also surprised at how quickly the app identifies a song. You can also click a button and add it to your Spotify playlist. > > > > mmm > > My wife has an Apple phone. She says “Hey Siri, what’s this song?” & holds the phone up in the air. It usually works in a few seconds. > > I assume my Android could do the same; I haven’t bothered with any of the voice-related features of it. > > Special apps don’t seem to be necessary these days. As I alluded in the OP I am reluctant to do this unless I am alone. When I am with my wife, - on using Shazam the app’s response would be **“Sorry, cannot recognise the song ‘Are You Playing with Your Phone Again’”** - on using Siri the phone’s response would be “Sorry, I cannot understand the command **’Hey Siri What’s This Song Are You Talking To That Siri Hussy Again’** ” ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/30 "2023-11-28T14:40:11Z")
I have a different problem, a frequent inability to identify the name of songs that I’ve heard 1,000 times until the song name shows up in the lyrics. I can hear a song off of Boston’s first album, which has been in regular rotation for me since 1977, and just. not. get. the. name. out. until the lyrics kick in. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/31 "2023-11-28T17:58:21Z")
My problem is that I will sometimes get a fragment of a riff or lyric stuck in my head and can’t remember what song it is from. Sometimes I can “play the song in my head” and eventually figure it out, but other times it’s just that one fragment looping over and over and driving me crazy. (Most recently was the phrase snippet “at least I thought he was” that I finally pinned down to John Lee Hooker’s “I’m Bad Like Jesse James”.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/32 "2023-11-28T18:31:09Z")
“Go with him…” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iuMazsXVRgQ/hqdefault.jpg "Al Bundy can't find the name of the song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuMazsXVRgQ) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/33 "2023-11-28T18:48:37Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > My problem is that I will sometimes get a fragment of a riff or lyric stuck in my head and can’t remember what song it is from. Sometimes I can “play the song in my head” and eventually figure it out, but other times it’s just that one fragment looping over and over and driving me crazy. That happens to me all the damn time. Most recently from “Further to Fly” by Paul Simon I kept hearing echoes of the line “Days falling backward into velvet night” but with the wrong tune, and the wording too garbled to form it into a useful Google search. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/34 "2023-11-28T18:51:27Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > There’s an entire subreddit for just this. You could go to r/tipofmytongue and post “I’m trying to ID a song I’ve been hearing for years. It’s upbeat, disco-y and the (female) lead vocals are very high pitched and bouncy sounding” and you’d probably get an answer within 10 minutes. > > [Reddit - Dive into anything](https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/) Interesting, the one I follow is [Reddit - Dive into anything](https://www.reddit.com/r/NameThatSong/). It really is something seeing people name a tune from a verbal description of it, especially when I am completely stumped. It’s a really fun pastime, I spend a lot of time there amazing people and being amazed myself. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318/35 "2023-11-29T22:53:43Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Everybody knows that one is called “Teenaged Whistling.” I thought it was [Middle Age Waistline](https://youtu.be/lq4923QuUyA). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-being-long-familiar-with-songs-tunes-but-not-being-able-to-identify-also-happen-to-you/993318.md?page=1)