The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76622   Message #1359966
Posted By: Helen
17-Dec-04 - 04:41 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Rot (Dry Kill Riot)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help me please
Here is something I wrote for another thread on how to search the internet using Google.com

The examples obviously apply to the other song but the technique and hints are the same. Once you learn how to use a search engine - which is the easiest thing in the world - then the world of information is at your fingertips. If I am searching for song lyrics I usually put the word "lyrics" at the beginning of the search terms, e.g.:

lyrics "really want to see you die"


My general hints about Googling are:

To find the two song lyrics by the band called Redgum I used these search terms:

Redgum "last frontier"

Redgum "gladstone pier"

Hint: use double quotes around the words you want to appear together in that order, i.e. you don't want an article about how to rebuild a house pier written by someone in Gladstone, Queensland. You do want an article which has the words Gladstone Pier next to each other in that order.

A search using:    gladstone pier

gives 99,500 hits but

A search using:    "gladstone pier"

gives 64 hits - which is a lot easier to wade through.

Hint 2: if you don't find what you want first go, think of another set of search terms. If you want to narrow down the search because you got a million or so hits, add another word to the search box. Think laterally. Is there another word which you could use instead of the first one you thought of?

Hint 3: if you are looking for the name of a song or the rest of the lyrics try picking out some unusual bits of the song that are distinctive. The hardest things to find are the ones with very common words like "and" "the" or any of the thousands of common words we use in everything we say and write. Try searching for information about the band called "The Cure" for instance. Google ignores "the" even in the double quotes. You have to add something distinctive to narrow it down to the band.

For example:

Gladstone Pier

He was a sailor
Swarthy lean and proud
He could take a schooner through a big sea swell
Aloof in the mainland crowd

In this song I would start by choosing:

"swarthy lean and proud"

or even just the three words separately:

swarthy lean proud

but that gives 8,960 hits which you would then have to narrow down.

By adding the word Redgum it brings up one page with the lyrics.