Comments on: Finding rare songs on YouTube

The popular video sharing site is also a treasure trove for music lovers in search of that long-lost track. But be warned, that song might not be as awesome as you remember.

[trevistight]

One thing I have yet to been able to find on youtube is the frosted flakes commercial where the sing hey tony I like the things you do.
Also there is a song in the beginning of the bee movie trailer number three and in a viagra commercial that i haven't been able to find what it is. do do do do do dododoodoododoododooodoodododo

Other than that i have been able to find old songs and random stuff on youtube that I've been looking for

[sandonet]

Nice story Dan!!!

Yes I'm a coworker of Dan's but I'm also a huge tim and jeff Buckley fan. When I was a kid I remember watching tim performing on what I think was the last episode of The Monkeys. I thought it was the most beautiful song I'd ever heard. I didn't hear it again until I found it it on YouTub three decades later. He sang Song to the Siren. I'd cut and paste the link here but I'm doing this on my iPhone. It's easy to find...thanks to YouTube.

[sandonet]

One more thing Danny,

Get off my beat ;)

[drpr]

With the proliferation of internet radio stations that specialize in old tunes, you can look for stations that are most likely to play your tune and write to the "DJ" to see if s/he can play it for you- or even get you a copy. Also, there are "mixtape" stations that are like recorded radio shows- imagine a Casey Casem's Top 40 show digitalized and made available online. Those are harder to find but if you're lucky you might find your song among a list of tunes recorded.

I'm dying for a copy of Mac McAnally's "Minimum Love" and I found it finally, using that final method, but the DJ talks all over the intro and cuts off the end of the song (that's why I refuse to listen to live radio!) I found the album that includes the song on Amazon.com, but it was out of stock.

[AndrewRich]

Looking for, can't find: "Cowpunk" by Scott Goddard.

[platinumfunction]

DJ Hype (or was it Zinc?) - Ready or Not (Fugees DnB remix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMtTOEFuwE

[jmivey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkfSZNljwKs

[jeffsters1]

Baby, It's Cold Outside - Wheat (feat. Liz Phair)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSvTQ9-3CBg

Format: 7"
Label: Columbia Records / Aware Records AWA7 001
Country: USA
Release Date: late 2003

Notes: This 7-inch vinyl was issued in time for the Christmas season. A very limited amount of these discs were produced -- one of which was played when Wheat appeared on KCRW in December 13, 2003. The song is a Christmas standard. The track was produced by John Fields.

It's not available for sale...let's leave it at that! :-)

[carlsbob]

YouTube is great for finding foreign music (new and old) that might not be available in the US. One of my favorite German bands released an album this summer that still isn't available at the US iTunes store. I can listen (and watch) on YouTube instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2hQROYZ5IQ

Lots of neat stuff out there if you go looking

[loose_screw]

Awesome article!

[lilyhaze]

i recently found it. i have the soundtrack on vinyl, but had been looking for the mp3's forever too-

http://p-l-m.blogspot.com/2006/12/dogs-in-space-1986.html

[mcspeakeasy]

I remember when I was back in high school and I was watching MTV and I saw this crazy video with people walking up and down the street with old style tv sets on their heads. The song had this incredible rnb groove to it with graceful melodies of an rnb singer and smooth raps. I never end up seeing the beginning or the end of the song because I simply had to go somewhere, like my parents needed me for some chore and I had to step away. I never ever saw the video ever again, and none of the people in the video I could make out. For the next 2-3 years I kept thinking about the song and the possible voices I heard in the song, but I could never get anything.

Then in 2002 the album Instant Vintage was released by this cat Raphael Saadiq, who grew up in Oakland, CA and was previously in a band with Tone Tone Tone. That voice was unmistakable and was the voice of the hook that I heard in the song. I researched Raphael Saadiq and all the songs he did but I still couldn't find anything, until I hit on something with Raphael Saadiq and Q-Tip but with no title. I pulled it up on the net and I had found my song.

"Get Involved" Raphael Saadiq ft. Q-tip

great song, and I occasionally play it when i"m djing now.

[noam sayne]

Old Canadian stuff is really hard to find, but I found a YouTube member who seems to have a lot of vintage 70s-80s Canadian vinyl. I have been looking for Michael Tarry/Rosalie for several years now, and it sounds every bit as good to me now as it did then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4VHqNOVPCk

I have found old and rare things on YouTube before, but I never thought of it as my first choice in finding old music until this article. Thanks!

[vphom]

Wow! just last week I found a long lost song that I've been looking for the last 30 year on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L57fZcIfQn0
Are you psychic to write this article?

[aslany72]

I love this one -

Massive Attack - Protection (Eno Mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX6IQhqgcJM

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[Payperbiz]

I'm not a big fan of YouTube when it comes to rare songs because I've searched here many times for my favorite non-mainstream music such as Sadao Watanabe's 'The Color of mY love" and the site just couldn't produce results.

[badasscat]

How long until the RIAA demands that this post be pulled and all the commenters here banned from the internet?

[frozenjello]

I remember liking "Whole Wide World" by A'me Loraine during my freshman year in college (1990). I've searched online for this song over the years, but failed to find it until this article prompted me to search again. I found it on YouTube, but its video and audio quality is rather poor. I found a different version of the video on another web site, with much better audio quality. This is the first time I have heard this song in nearly 18 years.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e1617288pCnJsTR