The Search is Over!

Back in the early 80's, a fraternity brother of mine used to loan me his mix tapes to listen to. This guy was from Baton Rouge, and he was always on the cutting edge of new music. There was one particular tape that I loved. It had a song on it that I played over and over and over.
I never knew who the band was, or even the name of the song. I remember, as I neared graduation, thinking, "I need to make a copy of this tape."

Well, I never did. I even remember the day that I gave it back to him, thinking to myself, "I've gotta find that song."

As the years passed, I would occasionally try to figure out what the song was. If I would meet old 80's D.J.'s, I would quiz them on the song to see if they knew anything about it. No one ever did.
Early in the 2000's, I ran into my old frat buddy at an Auburn game. My first question to him was about "The Song". He knew the song I was talking about, but couldn't remember the band or the name of the song. He gave me the name of an 80's music expert in Atlanta who might be able to help. I emailed him, but no luck again.

The internet is a wonderful thing. You can find all kinds of stuff here. Once I discovered Google, I periodically began searching for "The Song". Every 6 to 12 months I would do a search, using different parts of the lyrics that I could remember. I remembered that the song was catchy, but had a dark message. It was about a girl from the sticks who comes to the big city, gets hooked on drugs and o.d.'s. (not your typical happy ending song). The song was very " UK new wave meets punk". Kind of a Clash meets Billy Bragg meets the Kinks kind of thing.

This week I was doing my bi-annual search for "The Song" when I came across a reference in the comments on a blog. This girl mentioned a song by a Baton Rouge band called the U.S. Times. She was asking if anyone remembered a song that she called "Sandy Jane" about a girl who o.d.'s. That's it, that's the song!!

I immediately emailed this girl, asking about "The Song". It turns out that one of the band members from U.S. Times was a member of this discussion group and saw the girls comment. He emailed the song to her, and she forwarded it to me.

So, for the first time in 22 years, I heard "The Song".
Here it is, for your listening pleasure:

http://www.box.net/shared/kfytj9360t