How to search for songs -READ ME!

Subject: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From:
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 06:52 PM

there is a page of tips & instructions, but it is buried in small type on the search page. I'd like to see a link to it right below the Search box

so-for new,occasional and clueless searchers-
go here and read the hints

(In occasional threads, Dick Greenhaus and Susan of DT make suggestions about how to DO a search, but it is always within a thread, and does not catch new searchers and questioners BEFORE they ask un-necessarily..perhaps this will help a few)

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From:
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 08:18 PM

an example, from another thread, of how to think about searching for a song

Subject: RE: Whiskey In The Jar From: dick greenhaus Date: 21-Oct-97 - 01:41 PM

FWIW- If you search for whisky (Scots beverage) you won't find whiskey (everybody else's tipple. If you search for whisk* you'll get both (as well as whiskers and whisked). If you search for [in the jar] you'll find all the songs that use that phrase (the square brackets specify a phrase}

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Murray
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 03:43 AM

It seems that to search for a phrase, one can use either a space between the words, or enclose them in square brackets? Is this right??

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 04:00 AM

Close, Murray, but no cigar. If you put a number of words in the search box without brackets, the database will bring up any songs that have ALL the words listed, in any order. If you put the phrase in square brackets, you will get only the songs that contain that specific phrase. thy the following:

foggy foggy
[foggy foggy]
foggy train
[foggy train]

If my calculations are correct, one of these will bring up no record, two will bring up one song only, and one will bring up several songs. If my calculations are not correct, I claim no responsibility for any disaster that may occur. But believe me, this demonstration will give you a remarkable demonstation of the amazing search capabilities of our database. Or maybe it won't.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 03:26 PM

Joe, you have it. A space between words is equivalent to an implied AND. A square bracket before and after searches for a phrase. [foggy foggy] gets one hit; foggy foggy gets 18. If you want to expand your search horizons, {not} (surrounded by curly brackets) can be used to limit searches. foggy dew returns some sixteen or so hits, foggy {not} dew returns six that contain the word foggy but not the word dew. And, as a reminder, wildcards are very powerful. The DT accepts a wildcard * BEFORE as well as AFTER a group of letters. So, *bird returns bluebird, blackbird, redbird, bigbird etc.; bird* gets bird, birdy, birdie, birding etc.

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From:
Date: 09 Dec 97 - 12:36 PM

'Nother hint: type ONLY the words that you KNOW are in

the SONG TITLE or VERSE and that you KNOW HOW TO SPELL!

PART/ial words also work.

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Barbara
Date: 13 Nov 98 - 01:41 AM

Nother t'ing trip us'n up betimes is da words in da transcription we tink day goan be 1 way, an in fack, they be done nother. Ain't spellin', 'zackly...
In particular, somethin's and nothin's and comin's and goin's, you kin gettem all if'n you use dat wildcard thingie right!
Blessin's
Barbara

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: BAZ
Date: 13 Nov 98 - 06:16 PM

I'd like to help out with supplying some of the tunes to songs in the database that don't have them. How do I list the songs that are without tunes?
Did that make sense?
Baz

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Nov 98 - 10:21 PM

It's easy with the PC version of the database, Baz - all that songs that have tunes have asterisks after the title. there's a link to the downloadable Fall 98 version of the database on our www.mudcat.org home page, but that link leads to a page with the Spring 98 version. Don't know if that's a typo, or if the late 98 version is not quite ready. Maybe Dick or Max or Susan will set us straight on that.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From:
Date: 14 Nov 98 - 08:03 PM

Joe
Thanks for the above. What I was thinking of doing was generating a list of the songs without a tune so that I could check and see if I had them. If so I could send them along.
Regards Baz

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 15 Nov 98 - 02:17 PM

Hokay. Since all the songs with tunes have the notation "CLICK HERE TO PLAY", you can find the ones without tunes by searching on: {NOT} [*CLICK HERE*]

where the asterisks take care of any non-printable characters that may be present. Generally (NOT} and {OR} work fine; {AND} works too, but it's actually implied by a space between two words or phrases.

Subject: RE: How refreshing?
From: Philippa
Date: 12 Jan 99 - 11:45 AM

What does it mean when a respondent simply writes 'refresh'? I've seen this message in a few threads from a few people (whose names I won't mention).

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Philippa
Date: 12 Jan 99 - 11:50 AM

okay, I got it. The thread's been dormant for a while and they want to activate it again. Still, it would be more refreshing to add some contribution to the discussion.

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Jan 99 - 12:31 PM

Phillipa...I am hoping that the basic information in this thread..(and others) will eventually be made into a 'how to' link by Max and his elves...refreshing this and several other links and/or re-explaining it all to newcomers can get wearing...

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Snuffy
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 01:00 PM

All the hints above refer to the Digitrad Lyrics search, but the Database has not been updated since last century.

There are thousands more songs posted in threads in the Forum, so try using the Digitrad and Forum Search instead. [And you don't need square brackets there]!

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 18 - 12:34 AM

Betsy - I moved your request here (click), to a thread with its own title.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Dec 24 - 12:27 PM

I don't know what happened here. Maybe somebody meant to refresh this old thread, or maybe a cockroach was jumping on someone's keyboard and this is what randomly came up. (That's a reference to one of my favorite books, Archy and Mehitabel.)

Anyway, in case anyone is searching for advice on how to search, I have quite a bit of experience at that, so I'll pass on some hints.

First, bookmark this page: Discussion Forum Enhanced Search.

The first option, Search Forum By Subject or UserName, is extremely useful, but you need to know how to use it.

Any character string that you type into the Subject box must exactly match, character by character (but ignoring capitalization), a character string in the Subject line of a particular message, for that message to appear in your search results. The matching character string can appear anywhere in the Subject line. For example, if you type "how to" you will find "RE: Lyr Req: Teaching Me Worm How to Swim (Bill Newton" and "RE: Mudcat Membership-how to join" (etc.) but you will not find "RE: how-tos on jug playing?" since punctuation, spaces, and diacritical marks are significant.

Note that I am not talking about Thread Titles here. A Subject line is its own separate thing. It defaults to the same as the Thread Title, except that all replies after the initial message are prefixed with "RE: ". That is the default, but everyone who posts a reply has the option to enter something different, but very few people do this.

A few of us (me, Joe Offer, and some other people whose names are unknown to me) have editing privileges; we can change Subject lines after--even long after--a message was posted. For a long time now, it has been my practice to browse through threads about songs, and look for messages where people have posted lyrics, tunes, or chords (I am particularly interested in lyrics), and I will change the Subject to "Lyr Add: ", "Tune Add: ", or "Chords Add: " followed by the song title in ALL CAPS, for example: "Lyr Add: CUSHY McCOY". If space permits, I will add the songwriter's or a prominent performer's name in parentheses, e.g. "Lyr Add: I LIKE 'EM FAT LIKE THAT (Louis Jordan)"

So if you're looking for a particular song that has been discussed at Mudcat before, a good way to find it is to use Search Forum By Subject or UserName and type the title, or part of the title, into the Subject box and click Search.

[Keep watching this thread. I will add more.]

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: Helen
Date: 09 Dec 24 - 03:57 PM

The big question is does the Lyrics & Knowledge Search function still work or does it still give the error message? "500 - Internal server error. There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed."

The search box just below the Donate button works for the Forum.

Similar search methods can be used in internet search pages. I use double quotes to find a phrase, e.g.

"Whiskey in the jar"

and if I'm specifically searching on Mudcat I add that to the beginning of the line:

Mudcat "Whiskey in the jar"

Subject: RE: How to search for songs -READ ME!
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 09 Dec 24 - 11:35 PM

Boolean operators

   AND", "OR" and "NOT

In the early '70's a university library requested database search cost about $5.00 a minute. So, even with "deep pockets" it was important to be precise.

I continue to learn and refine with the Mudcat insights
of true pro's like SRS.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

where have the others gone? Deceased, Bored, Disease - M Sato etc.