There’s an entire corner of the internet where song sleuths spend hours trying to identify songs of unknown origin.
asserted
sleuths → ’ → origin
Among these quests was the track dubbed “The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet,” which, after years of fruitless searching, was identified as Subways of Your Mind by a German band called Fex.
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which → dub → band
A forty-year riddle had been cracked.
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riddle → crack → ?
The song, a mostly unremarkable example of European synth-pop, became famous only because of its obscurity.
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song → become → obscurity
In the digital age with lyric searches, Shazam, and other online tools, how was it possible for a song to be truly unknown, especially if so many people were looking for it?
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people → look → it
Once the chase was on, a lot of prestige rode on whoever won.
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whoever → ride → prestige
For their part, Fex had no idea that their 80s track had become the Holy Grail of “lostwave,” those orphaned songs of unknown origin and provenance that float around the Internet, ignored by all except those determined to find the answer.
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that → have → answer
In the case of Fex, they’re delighted.
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they → ’re → Fex
In fact, they’ve reunited, started playing gigs, and have even had “Subways of Your Mind” placed in a film or two.
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they → reunite → film
Now that one mystery has been solved, song sleuths have turned to another: A Canadian song (allegedly) called (allegedly) CIA that (allegedly) taped off the radio onto cassette when it was (allegedly) played on CFNY/Toronto in (allegedly) mid-to-late 1984.
uncertain
it → solve → 1984
The prevailing theory is that this is some band from somewhere in Southern Ontario that may have entered one of the station’s talent searches, called The Great Ontario Talent Search, a winter project that ran between October 1984 and February 1985 and typically received more than a thousand entries annually.
uncertain
that → prevail → entries
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Or the song appeared on a cassette to be played on CFNY’s indie music show, The Streets of Ontario, which was devoted to indie music and emerging talent.
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which → get → music
I have no idea where all those cassettes are now, but if an archive exists somewhere, it would contain thousands upon thousands of tapes.
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it → have → tapes
CIA, or whatever it’s called (Coming Home? This Winter?), received its second life around 2020 when it was uploaded to YouTube and has since been viewed nearly 600,000 times.
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it → call → times
This is what everyone is wondering about.
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everyone → wonder → what
Disregard the artwork; that’s just a placeholder by whoever uploaded the song to YouTube.
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whoever → disregard → YouTube
Here it is again, but in what appears to be a sped-up version.
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what → appear → ?
Confusing things is this post that features audio from Subways of Your Mind by Fex.
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that → confuse → Fex
That led some to believe that CIA had been positively identified.
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CIA → lead → some
I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve received about this song.
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I → tell → song
I’ve consulted with all of my old CFNY colleagues, combed through the original CFNY library (most of which sits in my basement, but that’s another story), and gone back through any station playlists that still exist.
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that → consult → playlists
Liz Janik, the co-host of The Streets of Ontario back in ’84, kept meticulous records and has nothing to offer.
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Janik → keep → nothing
We have come up with nothing, so you can stop the emails.
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you → come → emails
Except that the CIA hunters will not give up.
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hunters → give → ?
The CBC recently picked up on the story and suggested that the song might have roots in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
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song → pick → area
I’ve also had a couple of messages from people who back up the theory.
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who → have → theory
The latest comes from a mysterious lostwave hunter who goes by the name Riff.
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who → come → name
He/she/it (there are hints that some sort of AI agent is involved) has been compiling a paper trail to find who is behind CIA.
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who → be → CIA
With permission, I share the following.
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I → share → following
CIA was first uploaded to YouTube and then re-uploaded in 2021, which pointed to some involvement with The Great Ontario Talent Search.
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which → upload → Search
Further research indicates that our artist was one of approximately 90 unsigned bands from Southern Ontario.
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artist → indicate → Ontario
No one has a list of those acts.
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one → have → acts
Riff went through 63 issues of RPM, the one-time bible of the Canadian radio and recorded music industry.
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Riff → go → radio
He also scoured the issues from Oct 1983 through Dec 1984.
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He → scour → Dec
The winner of the 1984 Great Ontario Talent Search is lost to history — at least as far as I can tell, based on searches of my CFNY archives that still exist in the homes of co-workers.
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that → lose → workers
Any documentation we uncovered left the winner field blank.
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we → uncover → field
I started at CFNY in 1986, so this pre-dates me, meaning that I wouldn’t have the cassette anywhere in my personal archives.
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I → start → archives
Four answered inquiries and were ruled out.
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Four → answer → inquiries
The fifth finalist, Sample & Hold, flatly said it wasn’t them but did say the song “sounds familiar as a GOTS band.
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song → say → band
We don’t know.
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We → know → ?
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
