Identify The Song Game

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

How closely do you listen to your music? If someone plays any two seconds of a song can you identify it? Well .. lets test ourselves here.

I posted 2-second samples of three tracks below. First one to identify each of them gets positive rep from me. It should be from your memory so no looking up please.


1. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408864/Sample-5.mp3.html (Size: 55 KB)
2. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408915/Sample-6.mp3.html (57 KB)
3. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408955/Sample-8.mp3.html (59 KB)

You can post your clips here (2-5 seconds suggested) and if you don't have an audio editor/recorder few available here (http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/gmm/fwaudiorecorder.html) and here (http://www.webattack.com/get/mp3directcut.html) for free.

[Auriaprottu]

I love these kinds of threads, but it's easier to do this by typing in some of each song's lyrics.

[taosjohn]

I love these kinds of threads, but it's easier to do this by typing in some of each song's lyrics.

I get a page not a file on each one anyway... either they didn't like your links, or a specific program is needed or something...

[Ombak]

How closely do you listen to your music? If someone plays any two seconds of a song can you identify it? Well .. lets test ourselves here.

I posted 2-second samples of three tracks below. First one to identify each of them gets positive rep from me. It should be from your memory so no looking up please.


1. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408864/Sample-5.mp3.html (Size: 55 KB)
2. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408915/Sample-6.mp3.html (57 KB)
3. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408955/Sample-8.mp3.html (59 KB)

You can post your clips here (2-5 seconds suggested) and if you don't have an audio editor/recorder few available here (http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/gmm/fwaudiorecorder.html) and here (http://www.webattack.com/get/mp3directcut.html) for free.
Are these current singles or just randomly picked stuff?

[astabooty]

dont use rapid share, only 1 download per hour. use megaupload or something.

[astabooty]

I get a page not a file on each one anyway... either they didn't like your links, or a specific program is needed or something...

scroll down, click free, scroll down, wait for the timer to finish.

[Perchik]

Come on, upload at least 5 sec. samples, it's almost impossible otherwise.

[Ringo]

I dont' know ... haven't listened ... but are they by Fleetwood Mac???

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

Are these current singles or just randomly picked stuff?

Completely random.

[Crimen y Castigo]

1. http://rapidshare.de/files/3408864/Sample-5.mp3.html (Size: 55 KB)

I think I know this one. I'll put my guess in a result tag so others can still play.

Smiths -- Big Mouth Strikes Again

I'd need a few more seconds for the other ones, but I might not know them at all.

How did I not see this thread all day?

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

dont use rapid share, only 1 download per hour. use megaupload or something.

These clips are as small in size as a JPG picture and RapidShare has about 50 MB download limit per hour. So I thought it would be enough. From now on I'll use both RapidShare and MegaUpload.

[taosjohn]

Completely random.

Second one has a little bit of a Natalie Merchant feel, but those are way short-- unless it was really in my pocket I doubt I'd ever get something that short...

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

None of them are by Fleetwood Mac. CyC claims the first one (repped).
Second one falls into folk-rock genre and the third into southern rock.

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

4. RapidShare (http://rapidshare.de/files/3421166/Sample-10.mp3.html), MegaUpload (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=23F17S89) (3 sec, 77 kb)
5. RapidShare (http://rapidshare.de/files/3421185/Sample-12.mp3.html), MegaUpload (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=23JLG50W) (5 sec, 107 kb)
6. RapidShare (http://rapidshare.de/files/3421197/Sample-15.mp3.html), MegaUpload (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=26XUZ8XG) (5 sec, 117 kb)

[Crimen y Castigo]

6. RapidShare (http://rapidshare.de/files/3421197/Sample-15.mp3.html), MegaUpload (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=26XUZ8XG) (5 sec, 117 kb)

I definitely know the band, pretty sure I know the song:
The Cars--You're All I've Got Tonight

And I'm pretty confident I'll never know the other two.

[scaryice]

I don't think I've heard any of those songs before.

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

Think I see the problem now. Unlike the radio station Q104.3 NY* (where I got the idea) this place attracts different people with different tastes in music. So the already small crowd is probably divided for each genre (kind of like soccer fans in the US). Even those interested in one particular genre may not have heard most songs of the type. And those who have not heard the songs will not be able to identify them even if the clips are minute long.

*The classic rock radio station usually had contests where hundreds of people phoned in the answers within minutes even though the samples were less than 2 seconds long and they had to pick the winners by lottery.

By the way, first 3 songs are:

1. The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
2. 10,000 Maniacs (Natalie Merchant) - Hello In There
3. The Outlaws - Green Grass & High Tide

[taosjohn]

Think I see the problem now. Unlike the radio station Q104.3 NY* (where I got the idea) this place attracts different people with different tastes in music. So the already small crowd is probably divided for each genre (kind of like soccer fans in the US). Even those interested in one particular genre may not have heard most songs of the type. And those who have not heard the songs will not be able to identify them even if the clips are minute long.

*The classic rock radio station usually had contests where hundreds of people phoned in the answers within minutes even though the samples were less than 2 seconds long and they had to pick the winners by lottery.

By the way, first 3 songs are:

1. The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
2. 10,000 Maniacs (Natalie Merchant) - Hello In There
3. The Outlaws - Green Grass & High Tide

I did say #2 had a Natalie Merchant feel to it- I guess that wasn't close enough?

I don't listen to the Smiths if I can possibly avoid it :cool:

But the embarassing part is, the timbres made me think of "Green Grass and High Tides" immediately, but I couldn't make the scrap of structure fit in my head...
I guarantee I'd have gotten both if they were a minute long, though...

The problem from this end is that I have no idea what range of stuff you might select, so I don't know if I have to consider Nirvana, Faith Hill, Whitney Houston, Eddie Condon, Stomu Yamashta, Frankie Valli, Nine Inch Nails, JD Crowe, or Flaming Lips or what. I range about as far as anyone, but it would be easy to pick six things which sold a million copies each and which I never heard even once... so its hard to listen to 3 seconds and persuade myself its worth trying...

Here-- to give you a demonstration-- I just stood with my back to my shelves and without looking pulled three cds from different shelves. they were of course all obliviously obscure, so I went either left or right randomly till I came to something with a well known song on it... and the winners were:

Fairport Convention-- "Sloth"

Nanci Griffith-- "Lone Star State of Mind"

and Todd Snider--"All Right Guy"

Now if I posted three seconds from each, would you have a chance?

With the radio station, you know their format; if you listen regularly you probably know most of their library... here, who knows where the limits are?

[Fleetwood Mac #1]

I did say #2 had a Natalie Merchant feel to it- I guess that wasn't close enough?

I don't listen to the Smiths if I can possibly avoid it :cool:

But the embarassing part is, the timbres made me think of "Green Grass and High Tides" immediately, but I couldn't make the scrap of structure fit in my head...
I guarantee I'd have gotten both if they were a minute long, though...

Natalie Merchant has appr. 50 songs so you are about 2% correct. ;)

I tried to avoid including the voice because I thought that would give it away. Plus, I'm not sure about the copyright law on how much of a track one can share without getting into trouble.

Fairport Convention-- "Sloth"

Nanci Griffith-- "Lone Star State of Mind"

and Todd Snider--"All Right Guy"

Now if I posted three seconds from each, would you have a chance?

Not a chance, I admit.

With the radio station, you know their format; if you listen regularly you probably know most of their library... here, who knows where the limits are?

I know. They used to rotate only 1000 or so songs and most of the sound-bytes were selected from them. So it's not a surprise to get that many correct answers in a radio station focused on one genre.

I guess even if the idea is good it will not be viable here (unless someone can improve on it).


Other tracks are:

4. Barenaked Ladies - Upside Down
5. Eric Clapton - Travelin' Light
6. The Cars - Bye Bye Love

[Crimen y Castigo]

6. The Cars - Bye Bye Love

Crap. I knew it was that album.