Early last week I heard a song at the gym that I'd heard once before.  I didn't know the title, and the sound was too dull to understand the lyrics.  All I had was a tune, and a general alternative genre akin to Muse or Keane or Radiohead, using rhythm guitars and a keyboard.  I wanted to find it quickly, for if there's one thing that bugs me, it's having a tune stuck in my head that I can't identify. 

Figuring it was pretty popular (the Y isn't known for cutting-edge alt music), I asked a couple of co-workers who are good at this stuff.  It sounded familiar to them, but they couldn't place it.  One of them suggested downloading the Midomi app -- it allowed me to hum a few bars into my phone and then wait for a possible match.  What came back was "Amante del Amor" by Luis Miguel and three songs in Japanese.  I guess they're still working out some kinks. 

I tried Pandora and Rhapsody, hoping that they'd recommend similar-sounding bands that would allow me to pinpoint the exact song on iTunes.  I wore out my searches there such that the same bands started circling back, to no avail.

After a couple more days I caved and sent the embarrassing Everyone@McKinney email detailing my problem and offering a reward to whomever could solve the mystery.  I gave whatever info I had on the song.  Immediately suggestions came pouring in. 

"Why don't you Shazam it?"  Great idea, only that would require me hearing the song randomly, which was unlikely given that i'd only heard it twice before over the course of several months.

"If it was a radio station playing at the gym usually you can go to their website and look at the set list for around the same time you were there." I asked the folks at the Y, and they didn't even know what company provided the music, only that it was "satellite."  I decided not to chase that goose.

Then a bunch of band names came in.

"Is it Keane?"

"The Doves. They have a new album."

"Aqualung?"

"Gives You Hell.  All-American Rejects."

"It was Phoenix."

"We are scientists."

Despite them all being soooooo similar to my song and my band, and despite my co-workers' confidence that they'd nailed it, none had. 

One person asked me to send them an MP3 of me humming the song so she could send to a friend of hers.  Even this seemed a bit much despite my obsessive pursuit. 

And then someone asked if I'd bang out the tune on Garageband so that everyone could hear it.  I hadn't used GB before, but it was shockingly easy.  I sent out the (VERY) rough tune, and within a couple of minutes, someone who hadn't previously participated in my search replied all: "It’s Trashcan by the Delta Spirit," and included a link to the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMUWBOxJSzE

Indeed he was correct.  And all it took for me to find my song was satellite radio, Pandora, Rhapsody, an iPhone, Midomi, Shazam, iTunes, e-mail, GarageBand, YouTube and a little human intelligence.

I slept well that night and thanked my lucky stars that I could put all that technology to good use.