12.26.2006

ha! I found you!

This is the story of a very long search for something that should not have taken this long to discover...

Back in 2001, I was sitting in Steve Sjogren's office for a meeting. It all sounds pretty glamorous (if you know neither Steve nor I) but in reality, not so much. Steve's office was about the size of the one I have now, which means either he was under-officed or I am over-officed, neither of which I believe to be a fact. Suffice it to say it was a small desk, two chairs, a lamp and a killer stereo.

Anyway, at the time, Steve was in the habit of playing the radio during meetings....playing the radio pretty loudly through dinky Bose speakers that generated enough sound to make one want to look for the real speakers hidden in the furniture or something. Most people are monotrack thinkers. A few can think in stereo. Steve is a mental 8 tracker. It takes serious focus to keep track of the track he's on some times.

These are the things I clearly remember about the meeting...
  1. It was cool and raining outside - spring, I think.
  2. The meeting was a late afternoon meeting and kind of dark in the room.
  3. We were both drinking coffee at the rate of six cups an hour.
  4. A song with a very clever melody played on the radio.
Two things should be noted - first, that #3 is sort of a no brainer, and two, that I don't remember what the meeting was about. In all likelihood, it was about the same thing we did every day...try to take over the world. Pencil me in as Pinky. Steve would be The Brain, of course.

Anyway, since 2001, I have tried to figure out what that song was. I've heard it dozens of times - on the radio, in stores, even on elevators - but never heard anyone mention the name or the band. At various times I have alternatingly been convinced and dissuaded that it was Aerosmith, but I never gave up. I promise you - I have thought of this at least twice a month for the past five years.

Well, I cottin' pickin' FOUND IT. Allow me to take a moment to give a digital thumbs up to Google and iTunes. Google can find anything and iTunes will sell it to you. I have thought about Googling it before, but how do you Google what you don't know? I didn't know the name of the band, the title of the song, or (apparently) even any of the lyrics correctly. I did have a few fragments, so I tried various combinations of those words and KABAM! There it was, bigger than life.

OK, now I feel like a dork. Turns out the band is from San Francisco. The song spent 53 weeks on the charts and won two Grammy's and I have to go full-tilt Sherlock Holmes to find the stupid thing.

Pheew. I'm glad that's over. Man, after all this time I hope I wasn't supposed to do anything to follow up after that meeting with Steve, because once I heard that song, I didn't hear anything he said.

18 comments:

Isaac said...

The song! *What was the song? *someone from the crowd bellows...

Randy Bohlender said...

What song?

Anonymous said...

argh! I read the whole post thinking I would be rewarded for my efforts by the title of the song yet here I sit... like a fool without knowledge1

Randy Bohlender said...

Aw, Zack. You're approaching this from the entirely wrong perspective.

This post is an emerging church parable. The answer is not as important as the journey. It's all about discovering the song for yourself, even if we discover differing songs.

I value and validate your journey. Peace out.

Anonymous said...

I know that song -- and it's a good one. :)

Anonymous said...

Dude, you HAVE to give us the song.

Randy Bohlender said...

I was going to, but now that JAE's got it, I'm going to let her sing a few bars....

Tracie said...

so if we all pretend we don't really care about your two hoots about the name of your song, you might tell us eh?
so, I for one, SIMPLY DO NOT CARE what the name of your song was! I JUST DO NOT CARE, really really I'm serious, I DON"T CARE!!!!

Randy Bohlender said...

Trac', I think you're testy because The John Loux knows the song and won't tell you.

Greg Burnett said...

At first I thought "Hmmm, I didn't know Kelly Clarkson was from San Francisco." But the thought of Steve Sjogren listening to country music just didn't fit. And also, the fact that she ISNT from the left coast. So it has to be Train's "Drops of Jupiter".

Brent Steeno said...

I have a funny fealing the song that everyone is wanting to know is a son g by the group Train. In 2001 Train released its' second album, Drops of Jupiter, and the title track and the song we are all wanting to know is called, "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)." The song spent a total of 53 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. The song won a Grammy for Best Rock Song and Best Arrangement Grammy for Paul Buckmaster's lush orchestration.

I could be wrong.

Randy Bohlender said...

I have a funny feeling Greg beat Brent to the win by twenty minutes. I also have a funny feeling that Brent cut and pasted that text from somewhere.

Brent Steeno said...

I have a funny feeling I did. But I also know that I got that information on my own and not from reading Greg's comments.

I also know that Google is amazing for finding information.

And Yes, the information was a simple clip and paste from a certain website.

Greg Burnett said...

I confess, I googled it also. Took me roughly between 10-15 minutes. I promise if they ever have a contest for googling skills I will enter it with the intent to fund the prayer movement. There's always someone out there smarter, but I can dream, can't I? :)

Randy Bohlender said...

I'm impressed, Greg. I didn't give you much to go on!

Brent Steeno said...

Actually I have to get in on this. Sorry Greg it took me all of 5 min. to find it on google.

Randy, you did not give much but what you gave was enough info. I simple read two internet websites and found it.

I think I might win the google skills event! HA!

Randy Bohlender said...

You're all talk, Steeno. Greg beat you by twenty minutes. Your early text message to me only named the band. Concede defeat....

Brent Steeno said...

Whatever. I have no need to defend my superiority concerning this matter.