# Identify this song, please
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 25, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567 "2006-01-25T16:54:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/1 "2006-01-25T16:54:55Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve heard it, but I seem to recall a saxophone as a prominent instrument being played and the song’s tune sounding like the **Pink Panther Theme** played backwards…or sideways, or something. The vocalist reminded me of Tom Waits, singing in a whisper. A fragment of the lyrics, which I’ve already used on Google, to no avail, is “Happy Anniversary to the one that got away”. It probably goes without saying that I’d appreciate knowing the artist, as well as the song itself. Thanks, in advance.
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/2 "2006-01-25T22:25:09Z")
Hmm. [These lyrics](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/gauthier-mary/drop-in-a-bucket-15211.html) seem pretty close, but the artist doesn’t. Could be a cover.
Any other details? Year? Tempo? Genre? Where did you hear it?
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/3 "2006-01-26T01:56:47Z")
Any chance it’s a Leonard Cohen song? The description in the OP makes me think of him.
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2006, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/4 "2006-01-26T11:47:25Z")
To **JSexton** , thanks for the link, but that’s not it. To answer your questions, I’ll start with the last…I heard it on the local college’s radio station. They play quite a variety of songs, and refer to themselves as our city’s “only alternative”. The style of the song makes me think it could be from the 50s or 60s, but it could be a new song in a retro style. The tempo is reminiscent of, as mentioned above, Henry Mancini’s **Pink Panther Theme**. (If your query was referring to the year I heard the song, that would be last year, 2005.)
To **Baldwin** , you seem close. I also considered Leonard Cohen as the artist, so, despite no luck with the lyric search, I did a search of Mr. Cohen’s lyrics and didn’t find anything that resembled this song.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2006, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/5 "2006-01-26T12:06:07Z")
I guess you know already Tom Waits does sing a song called [The One That Got Away](http://www.officialtomwaits.com/music/m_sc_lyr.htm#One_That_Got_Away).
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/6 "2006-01-26T17:33:16Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I guess you know already Tom Waits does sing a song called [The One That Got Away](http://www.officialtomwaits.com/music/m_sc_lyr.htm#One_That_Got_Away).
Yessir, I was going to mention that discovery in my last post, but forgot. Thanks to all, but it looks like this song is too obscure.
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/7 "2006-01-26T19:40:37Z")
> [@williamweigand](#):
>
> To **JSexton** , thanks for the link, but that’s not it. To answer your questions, I’ll start with the last…I heard it on the local college’s radio station.
Have you contacted the station? I’ve found that they’re only too happy to share obscure gems.
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/8 "2006-01-27T13:40:33Z")
> [@JSexton](#):
>
> Have you contacted the station? I’ve found that they’re only too happy to share obscure gems.
Yes, I’ve considered that, but I wonder - considering that my description of the song seems to have stumped the Teeming Millions, would it be sufficient to stir the memory of whomever I’d reach at the station? I aim to listen to that station as often as I can and, as soon as I hear the song again, call and ask “What is that song, and who does it?”
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/9 "2006-01-27T17:47:30Z")
Well, presumably they’ve actually heard the song, having chosen to play it on air. Can’t say the same for us. Worth a try. Let us know if you find out the name and artist. I’m always curious to hear other people’s earworms.
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/10 "2019-08-09T12:58:05Z")
I’ve finally identified this song - it’s “Dope Sick” by Ahab Rex. Link [URL=https://youtu.be/6D3vx4Rwvq/URL]
Oddly, it seems to have been released just this past January. I don’t know how I could have heard it on the radio 14 years ago.
My attempt to provide a link doesn’t seem to be correct - could someone fix it?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/11 "2019-08-09T13:06:54Z")
The album it’s on came out [in 2004](https://www.discogs.com/Ahab-Rex-Rollin-With-The-Ahab-Rex-Quintet/release/986572). Couldn’t find the song on YouTube, so don’t even know what link you thought you had there.
Weird song. Sounds like if Gonzo was singing his own version of the Muppet Theme Song.
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/12 "2019-08-09T13:13:30Z")
See if this [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3vX4RwdVQ&list=PLC86c4EeReTSIFmS-DvZJWkepHz8l7Hsf&index=19) works for Youtube.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/13 "2019-08-09T13:53:19Z")
Well, having heard it now my congratulations to the OP for a really accurate description of the piece.
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/14 "2019-08-09T18:01:57Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> Well, having heard it now my congratulations to the OP for a really accurate description of the piece.
Thank you. I’d been having a rough day and your kind words really lifted my spirits.
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### Author:  [@cainoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainoh)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/15 "2019-08-09T18:52:57Z")
Congrats, thats quite victory! I’m curious, was there any particular “mystical” method by which you discovered the identity? I actually have a similar long-lost song situation. Heard the tune in question on a collge radio station in Chicago (WNUR), circa 1995, can recall a few lines of lyrics and the general sound, but random Googling (and other search engines before there was a Google) since approximately 1998 have yielded no results. I still look every once in a while, and all I’ve ever found are my own posts asking about it. Might take your approach and try a post directly to the peanut gallery, see if anyone has any clues, but it being from college radio (so possibly indie to the nth degree), and such a long time ago, I kind of think it may be lost for good.
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/16 "2019-08-10T22:36:50Z")
> [@cainoh](#):
>
> Congrats, thats quite victory! I’m curious, was there any particular “mystical” method by which you discovered the identity? I actually have a similar long-lost song situation. Heard the tune in question on a collge radio station in Chicago (WNUR), circa 1995, can recall a few lines of lyrics and the general sound, but random Googling (and other search engines before there was a Google) since approximately 1998 have yielded no results. I still look every once in a while, and all I’ve ever found are my own posts asking about it. Might take your approach and try a post directly to the peanut gallery, see if anyone has any clues, but it being from college radio (so possibly indie to the nth degree), and such a long time ago, I kind of think it may be lost for good.
Short answer - I Googled the above-mentioned lyrics again and finally had a match.
Long answer - Beside periodically Googling the lyrics and asking on this message board, I thought setting up a Leonard Cohen station on Pandora in hopes that their logarithm for similar artists would help. While listening to my Leonard Cohen station on Pandora earlier this week I got to thinking of the artists that always get included, such as Tom Waits (another artist Ahab Rex is compared to). One thought led to another, and, for some reason, I thought Googling on Chrome instead of Safari would lead to better results. Coincidence or not, it worked.
So cainoh, don’t give up. Definitely ask this board’s members for help - they may not have helped me in this case, but they’ve been amazingly successful with other “ID this song” requests. I, for one, look forward to helping you.
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### Author:  [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/17 "2019-08-12T12:28:24Z")
Depending on whether the current viewer is part of the total or not, I’m either the 45th or 46th person to watch that video on Youtube. I’m thinking that maybe half of the views are a direct result of this thread. That would be quite an achievement. Of sorts.
j
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### Author:  [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-song-please/341567/18 "2019-08-12T12:48:46Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#):
>
> Depending on whether the current viewer is part of the total or not, I’m either the 45th or 46th person to watch that video on Youtube. I’m thinking that maybe half of the views are a direct result of this thread. That would be quite an achievement. Of sorts.
>
> j
I’m pretty sure the view count was in the single digits the first time I saw it.