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Updated:
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16 September 1999 -- no longer updated. |
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Editor:
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Melissa Gutierrez |
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Contributors:
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Jan Hart, Ma'ayan Jenik, Roger Meyer, Rob Munda (all over 8), Todd Peach (1a is his), Pascal de Vries, Stacy Wallace, Mark Weaver, Erin Wilson. |
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Info:
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lyrics.wanted was a newsgroup hosted by the International Lyrics Server in Switzerland, which had over 110,000 songs' lyrics at the time of its shutdown on 14 January 1999. This document remains online because I've yet to see a good reason to take it offline. If you are looking for a lyrics newsgroup, try alt.music.lyrics (preferably after you read their FAQ). |
(* denotes changes/additions since last posting.)
On 14 January 1999, the server's hardware was confiscated as eight major U.S. publishing companies (represented through the Harry Fox Agency) contacted the Swiss authorities and accused the ILS of copyright infringement. In April, a partnership with SongFile.com was announced. As of August 1999, the lyrics protion of SongFile.com links to lyrics.ch but the search only searches for song titles, arts and albums (no lyrics). As a parting thought, I offer a quote from Janis of J's Lyrics Index:
"I and other lyrics sites have been in contact with both artists and record label distributors who happen to think posting lyrics is a good thing. . . . they get valuable feedback from us because we know what's hot and what's not. . . . I don't know what will ultimately end up happening, but it does not look good for us."
Before you even think about posting a request, use the International Lyrics Server to search. Head over to: http://www.lyrics.ch/search.html and pick the search type best for you.
A quick overview of the search types:
Other resources to search first:
Post a message to the newsgroup. Please try to limit your requests to no more than three songs per message. It's easier for the volunteers who keep this newsgroup running to answer messages with few requests (you can post more than one message). To get the quickest response possible, please enter the subject of your message as per the format:
REQ: Song Title - Artist
For example, if I wanted a particular Barenaked Ladies song which recently came down after a long stint on top of our Top 10 most downloaded lyrics list, my e-mail subject would be "REQ: One Week - Barenaked Ladies" (without the quotes, of course). If you don't know the title of the song, guess or enter a line from the song (if known); if you don't know the artist, just don't put anything for artist in the subject.
In the body of the message, enter any information you know about the song. Examples: what album it is on (including a movie soundtrack), what language the song is in, what year it may have been released, what musical genre it may be in (jazz, country, Christian, pop, etc.), and so on. Please include an e-mail address at which the lyrics may be sent (in addition to being posted to the group) when they are located.
"You might not see your message posted for up to 30 minutes or more under normal circumstances. Please don't post the same message over and over again. It wastes bandwidth, irritates others, and labels you as someone who doesn't understand the natural rhythms of the universe." -- Todd Peach
If you're comfortable with knowing you won't get a reply. In all honesty, we're a lyrics newsgroup run by volunteers.
It depends on the song you request. Songs that at some point in their release history have been very well-known (or high on the American music charts) are generally the easiest to find. Many of the people who read and answer lyrics requests are very good at finding songs in a particular genre. Be patient -- you may be answered within an hour, but many requests may take a week or longer to be fulfilled. Even if we can't find your lyrics, we may be able to provide links to sites that may have them in the future.
Messages in lyrics.wanted expire after two weeks. If you want to be sure your song request will stay up as long as possible, try reposting every 13 days.
No. We don't even have a Wanted list up at present. It will also irritate people who do respond to requests if they see the same song requested by someone several times. If you want to see what others are requesting freqently, check out the lyrics.wanted Frequent Requests List.
First off, enter the subject as per the format: LYR: Song Title
Address the message to both the group and the person who requested it (if they provided an e-mail address to respond to). In the body of the message, try to stick to the following format:
SONG TITLE
Artist
Album (if known, otherwise put Non Album Tracks)
(blank line)
Lyrics
This format enables us to quickly add on the directive tags and enter the song into the lyrics database. Try to avoid adding extra information, your signature lines, etc. whenever possible.
Do NOT use the link from a search that gives you the ?s= and a number (which is internal to the site and may change daily). Use the ?f= notation, as the example:
http://search.lyrics.ch/query/get?f=Artist+Name/Album+Name/Song+Name
Including the + (plus sign) between words after the get?f= in the URL. Note that the Artist name is as on the server, thus Nat King Cole would be Cole Nat King. An example of this:
http://www.lyrics.ch/query/get?f=Barenaked+Ladies/Stunt/One+Week
Please inform the recipient that if the link gets "wrapped" into two lines to copy and paste it into one link in their browser's location bar.
Relax. This is an easy problem to fix. If you are using a newsgroup reader that is part of your e-mail program (recent versions of Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer), you can use the Preferences option (usually under the Edit menu or something like that) to limit the amount of messages you keep or you can unsubscribe from the group through your newsgroup reading program (which is what sees you as "subscribed", not anybody at lyrics.ch).
Because lyrics.wanted is a local newsgroup! With input from the AOL newsmaster, I have the following definitive answer:
"AOL carries global newsgroups . . . if the group is local to one server and not fed to any other host, there would be no way for AOL to get the group through normal USENET traffic.... The problem with AOL is that the internal newsreader does not allow connections to other news servers . . . [so] use a newsreader over your AOL connection. "
What does this mean for AOL users? Get a newsreader. In the interest of free software for all, I recommend TUCOWS' collection of the best newsreaders (freeware, shareware, and demo) available online. My recommendations follow for the best free programs after each operating system:
HTML is the programming language that is used to make websites. Some newsreader programs and some email programs are able to use this language to make email and newsgroup posts look nicer. It might use fancier looking letters (letters of different colors, bold face type, italics, larger or smaller letters) in the print. It might put images into the body of the message. It might use "hyperlinks" to link to a web site.
If you see a link on a newsgroup post or in an email it might look like this:
http://www.lyrics.ch/
An HTML version might look like this:
Click here to visit ILS
If someone's program doesn't support HTML all they would see is something like this:
<a href="http://www.lyrics.ch/">Click here to visit ILS</a>
and a bunch on other stuff that looks like junk to them. Or they might not see anything at all. That's why we asked everyone, both posting and answering requests to post only in plain text so that it's readable by eveyone. Some newsreader programs only handle plain text and either get confused and either don't print the message or they print it as garbled code, so please be kind to everyone and post in plain text.
In reference to the newsgroup, we have a list of Frequently Requested Lyrics. Otherwise, general sites, links sites and specific genre sites (all in alphabetical order):
GENERAL SITES:
SITES OFFERING LOTS OF LINKS:
GENRE AND SPECIALIZED SITES:
Johnny O is one of the newsgroup's most prolific posters. He's single, dangerously handsome, and very flirtatious. He was recently released from Western State Mental Hospital, but he insists he's fine now. (Just kidding!) He's quite friendly and very willing to help, so please don't abuse him although I'm sure he wouldn't say no if you offered donations of money, music not already in his collection (he has over 100,000 albums at present), or karaoke in eastern Kentucky sans Brooks and Dunn. Visit his homepage at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/5230/.
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