Hi Monto-ga
I have searched high and low for a book that would allow you to look
up a song based on the lyrics. Alas I don't believe such a book
exists. I suppose it would be just to hard to put together one of any
substance. However I do know of quite a few websites with searchable
databases. Some can be searched with only a word or two from the song,
while others require a couple of words from the title of the song.
Some helpful tips to keep in mind when using these searches-
1) When searching by lyrics, try and use the line with the most
"uncommon" word in it. The more common the word, the more songs it
will bring up that will probably be irrelevant to your search.
2) If searching by a phrase doesn't work, try just searching under one
of the more prominent uncommon words that you can recall from the
song.
3) If the search requires a word or line from the title, and you are
unsure of the title, try listing a word or two from the chorus.
The following pages are the ones I use regularly, and have found them
to be the best. I have chosen to list only the ones that are capable
of finding songs from the pre-40's era.
http://lyricserver.com/
Search for song lyrics with the only search engine that will help you
find complete song lyrics even if you do not know the song title or
artist.
http://www.crawl-it-all.com/songlyrics/
This site gives you the option of 4 different searches, one of which
is their 1920's-1990's search.
http://db.lib.washington.edu/popsong/
Another very thorough search if you know a word or two from the title.
http://www.lib.utk.edu:90/~music/songwizard/
Has the option to search by the first line of the song, among it's
many search options, however I have found you don't even need to type
in the whole line, just a word or two will usually do.
http://www.allmusic.com/
This page has several search options, although none of them are for
searching under lyrics, it does however have a "title" and "styles"
option. Which does a very thorough job if you know a word or two from
the title of the song your searching.
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Balcony/9150/index.html
This page has a link to alt.music.lyrics (a usenet newsgroup)
http://www.lyricsconnection.com/lyrics/searching.html
Offers tips on how to search for music by lyrics.
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/blondie/313/
A small archive of oldies lyrics, categorized by artist.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/music/finding.html
Tips and resources for finding Songs, Arias, Lyrics and Translations.
I have also had amazing luck in searching for songs by their lyrics
using Google.
://www.google.com
Just type in a portion of a line from the song, and surround them with
quotation marks. I have been able to find some very obscure songs
referenced
on people's websites by using this method.
Good luck and have fun with your searches!
chellphill-ga
*searches used:
lyric search engine
searchable lyric database |
