# song finder **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-finder/32110 "2000-09-05T17:35:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mipsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mipsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipsman)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-finder/32110/1 "2000-09-05T17:35:38Z")
Is there no mega-database of song lyrics on the Web that allow people to put in a few words and find the title? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-finder/32110/2 "2000-09-05T17:43:35Z")
Sure there is. Just about any search engine will do this, but my favorite is Alta Vista. The trick is to find several consecutive words and put them in quotes so that the engine will only look for that exact phrase. If you can find two different phrases from different parts of the song that will narrow it down even better. And make sure to avoid any words which have varied or slang spellings such as “yeah” or “gotcha”. Any specific lyrics you’d like us to help you find? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-finder/32110/3 "2000-09-05T17:59:37Z")
The International Lyrics Server ([http://www.lyrics.ch](http://www.lyrics.ch)) is another old standby resource. ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-finder/32110/4 "2000-09-05T19:13:24Z")
because of copyright laws, you won’t find a lot of lyrics on _legal_ databases. lyrics.ch was down for a bit last year because of it. if you know the title, but don’t know the artist, go to [http://www.allmusic.com](http://www.allmusic.com) and search on title. this site also pretty good in general, although don’t trust it with your life–there are errors. no lyrics there though. but like Keeve said, just do a search. either do a search with “[artist name] lyrics” or [song title] lyrics".