Momelettes.com  Moms are beaten and fried. These tech tips will help.

I LOVE music. I listen to MP3s in the car, eagerly gobble up movie soundtracks to hear a multitude of new artists and genres, and I enjoy a wide range of styles - depending on what I feel like listening to at the moment. Knowing that, and I’m sure you’ll agree with me, there’s NOTHING more frustrating than being out somewhere, hearing an amazing new song, and having no way to find out what it is.

Fortunately, there are literally hundreds of search engines containing thousands of song lyrics that you can search for by phrase or individual words.

This week’s momelette is a quickie. When you’re out and about and hear a great song, pause for a few minutes to listen to the song and pick up a very specific key phrase in the lyrics. Using your mobile phone, Jott yourself the lyrics so they are out of your mind.

Then, when you are home and in front of your computer, read the lyrics from the email that Jott sent you and do one of the following:

1. Use a Lyrics Search Engine to plug in the lyrics
Though there are many, I prefer Leo’s Lyrics (www.leoslyrics.com). I’ve yet to find a song it doesn’t know, and it’s one of the few rare gems that does not contain an endless supply of pop-up ad banners.

2. Google the word “lyrics” followed by the phrase (in quotes).
The benefit of doing it this way is you can see the Google summary of your results, which can be helpful when it comes to trying to find a cover song, as you’ll see in the screenshot below.

Now if you’re an iPhone user, things just got a whole lot easier. The web service Shazam allows you to hold your iPhone directly up to the music, and within minutes it will tell you the artist and song name. I haven’t tried it, but I’d love to hear from those that have.

Here’s to finding new music, wherever you may be. And yes, I’ve Jotted myself song lyrics to look up later from the car, a public restroom, a train station, a pub, etc. Probably the most interesting place I have ever been desperate to find a song was something that was playing as background music on an amusement park ride when I was thirteen years old. I never forgot how the song went (it had no lyrics, bah!), and one day about ten years later I heard the song while flipping radio channels in the car. I will forever thank that DJ, whoever he was, for announcing the name of the song. (It was “Fire on High” by Electric Light Orchestra)

Have you ever been desperate to find out what a song was? What measures did you take? Do you have lyrics you want others to help you find the song for?

Shazam would have been nice back then, I think.  Sigh!