A tough assignment for all you experts out there!

[daviddesper]

Please take this opening statement as the compliment it is meant to be....but you guys know everything! Many times I have posted a question on here [[case in point the one about the recent Shaggy song I had heard), and someone is ALWAYS able to answer my question.

But sadly tonight may be the one time you cannot help me, simply because I am going to be able to give you sooooooo very little to go on. But let's give it a whirl. Here is the story:

A friend and I [[another knowledgeable music fan) were having dinner tonight and we knew right away that we were in our kind of place when the first song we heard in the background was "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," followed by "This Ole Heart of Mine." So we listened to each succeeding song, trying to identify it over the other diners talking. Everything was soul-oriented and from the 60s and occasionally the 70s. We heard some Sam Cooke, Bill Withers, Delfonics, another Temps song. So definitely all soul programming but not all Motown.

As you have probably guessed, I am leading up to the fact that we heard a song that neither of us could identify. Here is all I can tell you about it:

Female black vocalist, seemed to be more on the huskier, more aggressive side.

Tempo was definitely on the fast side, making it a song that immediately grabbed you. Seemed to have some horns in the background.

My mind went in the direction of somebody like Candi Staton, Gwen McCrae, or maybe one of Aretha's sisters?

We could not hear well enough but we are both sure it was not a hit song, or at least not a big one from that era, or else one of us would have recognized it.

I realize that is not much to go on, but the only clue that might give us any hope is that I heard the phrase "In the Midnight Hour" as it was fading out about 15 seconds before the end of the song. However I know it was not the Mirettes' Midnight Hour. I know that classic quite well and would have recognized it immediately.

If you have any ideas and can provide any links, we could probably listen and tell if it was the right song. But stay away from the top hits of that era because between us we would know them all, so this was a "hidden gem" of some kind.

Any ideas?????

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I have no idea what song you're referring to, David, but where husky-voiced black female singers are concerned, you might start by going on YouTube and checking out records by Denise LaSalle, Millie Jackson, or Laura Lee as well as Candi Staton and the others you mentioned above.

[westgrandboulevard]

You say the tempo was on the fast side, and you mention 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg', This Old Heart Of Mine' and the Mirettes' 'In The Midnight Hour'.

Was what you heard similar in pace to any of those, or can you specify another, famous recording, to which it was similar, just as a point of reference?

Is there any chance of you returning, as soon as possible, to where you were having dinner, note the source of the sound and listen intently to the sequence - then immediately move towards the nearest speaker, and perhaps get a little more detail?

You could always try asking any of the staff there....which is probably just as long a shot as asking here - if not even longer- but you never know....

[daviddesper]

Aw shucks...you guys are trying so hard which I really appreciate. I actually did stand up right under one of the speakers to hear as much as possible and still could not identify it. One of the waitresses was sympathetic and said that next time she would seat us in this one particular spot where the sound was better.

She further said that she thought they were using something like Pandora and that it would not be possible to try and find out what the song was. By sheer coincidence however, I have been sitting here this afternoon listening to my own Pandora stations and I did in fact hear a very similar song.

I was also on the phone at the same time so I could not stop what I was doing and check on the name of that one, but at least it was a song I have "heard" before. It was one in which the title and the general theme is something like "Mama Please Let My Boyfriend Stay."

I am pretty sure it was not the same song that we heard last night but it was pretty doggone similar. So maybe use that as a clue and think about that "Midnight Hour" lyric that I mentioned.

Motown Gary, it was definitely not Denise LaSalle, because as you have perhaps read on here many times, I would volunteer to have all that woman's babies, so I would never be able to show my face on turn on my CD player again if I failed to recognize one of her songs! But thanks for giving her another mention on here! That can never hurt!

Thanks again guys for your efforts but don't worry too much more about this. By this time next week I will have forgotten all about that night at the restaurant. That was just one of those spur of the moment postings!

[westgrandboulevard]

I can't post a link just now, but immediately thought of The Velvelettes "Mama Please"...although I'm not hearing a 'Midnight Hour' lyric.

Maybe the one you first heard is a similar song/lyric.

Hope you trace it soon!

[daviddesper]

I am pretty sure that the Mama Please song I heard just this afternoon was NOT the one I heard in the restaurant. But I was just making the point that they were similar in style and tempo.

[144man]

Chris Clark sang "...in the midnight hour..." during the fadeout of her version of "Do I Love You [[Indeed I Do)".

[daviddesper]

Actually that is a good candidate for what we might have heard. Sadly it has been so long now that I wouldn't recognize the same song if I were to hear it again. I do know that Chris song, but not well enough to say for sure that I would have recognized it that night. I will definitely say that the tempo was about right and the overall selection that night was heavy on Motown.

Great suggestion. Thanks for sharing!

[milven]

Actually that is a good candidate for what we might have heard. Sadly it has been so long now that I wouldn't recognize the same song if I were to hear it again. .... !

I found a song for you once and posted a You Tube link. This one was too difficult for me and I did not even try. But if time has now made it impossible for you to recognize the song if someone found it, then you should let those who are still looking to stop trying.

I am extremely impressed with the knowledge of the guys here. They have been finding songs with a bare minimum of info and I was looking forward to seeing someone come up with the answer. It would have been amazing.

Off topic, but there are apps that recognize a song while it is playing. And the I phone has it built in. Ask SIRI "what song is this?" , and it tells you. It even knew what 1920's songs were playing in the background on the TV series BOARDWALK EMPIRE.

[mr soul]

It wasn't the answer record to the Wicked Pickett hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNIOJrC4UjI

[daviddesper]

Actually I said two or three postings ago that people could stop worrying about this. But I guess folks on here are just too dedicated to helping each other, which is admirable.