TheAllPurposeNothing

Last night, I searched through the lyrics of some 1,600 80's songs including the words "some girls" and/or "what to do" and nothing came close to your mystery song based on the other info you have provided. The list of 70's songs with "some girls" in the lyrics is much smaller and was also a bust....still have yet to run "what to do" through the 70's filter, but I expect to come up empty-handed there as well.

Before I spend any more time on this puzzle....and believe me...I have spent A LOT of time on this so far...I need to know if I can trust the two key pieces of your memory re: this song. I'm assuming English is not your first language, based on your phrasing. So the question is: how absolutely certain are you that either of these two phrases actually appear in the song? We all have songs where we misinterpret the lyrics (hence the one-upon-a-time popularity of books liked "'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy"). For example, could you have mistaken "summer" or "young girls" for "some girls"? Or "what you do" or "want you too" for "what to do"? The fact that you don't remember any other words from the song to give them context, not even to complete the single phrases these words are part of, makes your memory questionable enough here. But if there's any chance you misinterpreted what you heard as a child, this mystery basically becomes nearly impossible to unravel.

Everything other piece of info you have provided is just too vague or confusing. For example, the hum track. I'm hearing 70's disco at the top of the song, but the rest of your humming does not match that style. And what I'm interpreting it to sound like may be a mile off from the actual sound. While the track gives a hint of the melody, it doesn't really give a sense of the arrangement. It's like the earlier posted versions of "Love of the Common People." They may be the same song, but the Paul Young and Stiff Little Fingers versions sure don't sound the same. Or its like how you said your brother says the lead vocal sounds like Don Henley but earlier you said "it's a guy (maybe African descent due to him voice)." Those two vocal styles just don't gel together into one. No one would typically confuse Henley for being African in sound.. Or the "ai ai ai" and "papa rapa" of the female vocalists could just as easily be staccato sampling. For instance, listen to what is done with the background vocals on this dance mix of Billy Ocean's "When the Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)" at about the 3:20 mark:

You Tube

Right now the five words from the lyrics are the only solid foundation. But how solid are they?

TheAllPurposeNothing

One more possibility, though this doesn't really match any of the qualifications outside of being from 1985, but has some vague similarities to the hum recording:

bottlelord

It seems what I have about lyrics or humming is very poor and doesn't give certain information, especially with regard to lyrics. what I have didn't help me or help you, and in this situation certainly solving this puzzle is impossible. Perhaps delaying the matter to a coincidence or a sign point me to the song is the only solution now.

I would like to thank everyone here and I thank you TheAllPurposeNothing very much for your cooperation. You were very patient and has unique musical knowledge. I don't know what to say.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Like I said, if I stumble across anything that sounds like it could fit, I'll post it here so don't be a stranger to these forums. In the meantime, have you considered reaching out to folks who have posted 80's dance mixes to Soundcloud or YouTube? I would suspect they have a much deeper knowledge of this genre than myself. FWIW, if you do reach out to them, I would start with the hum track as it is the closest you have to something concrete. For example, this poster on YT might be worth reaching out to: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwT...KpJFZZ_xLo6UZQ

BTW, did you ever play the hum track for your brother to see if it matches with his memories of the tune? Since he is the other person who heard this cassette, you might find that his memories might not align with yours or it could even spark some additional memories on his part. Worth a try.

Good luck!

bottlelord

- In terms of communicating with the owners of the disco mix channels it sounds like a good idea and I'm gonna do it.

- Concerning the humming, my brother was next to me when I recorded it then we play the recording. he is completely satisfied.

TheAllPurposeNothing

One more option, though no female singers:

bottlelord

its not

TheAllPurposeNothing

A request moving forward - instead of just saying a track is not the one, please let me know what elements to these tracks may be similar or dissimilar. Something that will let me know if I'm getting closer or further away from the track in question. Think of it like Twenty Questions, and each question helps to limit the possibilities.

For example:

"That's not it, but the tempo is similar as is the basic rhythm track"
"Not it, but the vocalist sounds like they are in the same ball park."
"Those background vocalists have a similar ring, but the lead is far off."

So, does it share anything in common with the Power Station track? It's fine if it doesn't, but providing some context is crucial. At the end of the day, there has to be more than one song (Theme from Rocky) that this track has similarities to.

bottlelord

OK I understand, In case of (The Power Station) there is no commonality between the two songs.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Another stab at this. Not a strong match but I'm hoping it might at least be close to the sound of your mystery track. If its not the song, are there any similarities or major differences?

bottlelord

There is nothing in common between the two songs.The song I'm looking for has an 80s beat sounds.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Since that could mean many things, can give you give two other examples of songs with the 80s beat sound in the mystery track?

bottlelord

I cann't completely determine what the beat sounds are, but you know when you hear a song that you do not know, you can determine if it was 80s song, 80s were a very distinguished era regarding sound beats and rhythms.

A few days ago, I sent a messages to some of the channel owners on YouTube and SoundCloud who are interested in 80s songs and mixes, and no one answered at all, not even "Sorry I cann't help you" answer! That is weird.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Again, there are a lot of 80s drum sounds/rhythms which are typical of the era. Trying to figure out which one's don't apply would help.

For example, take a look at this video covering the Zennheiser 80's drum sample pack. All are notably 80s sounding (esp with the heavy kick, gated reverb and reverse snare sounds) but all are distinct as well.


See if anything in there seems to come close to the 80s beat sound of the mystery track.

bottlelord

Actually, this is an interesting clip. I have listened to it but unfortunately none of these drum sounds/rhythms reminded me of that song.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Yeah, like I said, that's why, even with there being reoccurring characteristics in the drum sounds of the 80s, its hard to work from a comment like "has an 80s beat sound." There's just too much variety. Which is why I asked if you could point to other 80s songs that have a similar percussion feel to the song in question. For example, I don't expect your song has that Phil Collins 808 sound found on "In the Air Tonight" or Howard Jones' "No One is to Blame." But, maybe its something closer to the more in your face dance-influenced percussion of songs like "Sussudio" or "Don't Lose My Number."

I realize it has been a long time since you've heard the song, so it's an easier thing to ask than to answer, but it helps significantly to remove songs and even bands from consideration.

bottlelord

Yes, there is no doubt that the answer is difficult and may be impossible, in addition to the fact that there are some songs in my mind until this moment and I never encountered them out of that mix, although I spent a long time searching about an 80s songs, I found some and others that I did not encounter even though I heard thousands of songs from an 80s era during the searching process

jpcamb

This may be of help! Google introduced a new feature recently... its a hum to search feature. Would be great to see closure on this for you but it may be too obscure for even google. Good luck!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/tech/...rch/index.html

bottlelord

I have tried it and it is good but it does not offer more than others

TheAllPurposeNothing

One more consideration. In many ways, not even close, but it does have similar counterpoint vocals and fits thematically with the Rocky track, so who knows?

bottlelord

Sorry for the late reply
It seems to have some points in common with "Theme from Rocky" song In terms of having a male singer and girls chanting, but I don't recall that their voice was like that.

TheAllPurposeNothing

Coming back to this - have you tried the Tip of My Tongue group on Reddit? A friend recommended it tonight for something else and I thought it might be worth a shot: Tip of My Tongue

bottlelord

Thanks for coming back
I'm gonna try that group and telling you what's new.