One of the Internet’s Biggest Musical Mysteries Has Likely Been Solved

The most mysterious song on the internet, which thousands of devoted sleuths have been trying to identify since 2007, finally has a name.

The New Wave track, originally recorded off the radio in Germany in the early Eighties, is believed to be called “Subways Of Your Mind” by the band FEX. A Reddit user named Marijn1412 made the big breakthrough this week, while one member of FEX told the German paper Tz that the band was confident the song was theirs — and they were already talking about a reunion to re-record the track. 

The origins of the mystery song, as Rolling Stone reported in 2019, began with a young music fan named Darius S. from Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Like many at that time, Darius recorded songs he liked off the radio to cassette. One of those tapes — “cassette 4” — primarily featured then-new songs from 1984 by bands like XTC and the Cure, as well as this one particular song he liked but knew little about.

“It was just one of many songs I recorded and didn’t know the artist,” he said. “I believe I didn’t hear an announcement. Maybe I heard it partially and missed the artist’s name. Everything is possible.” 

Darius’ sister, Lydia, first digitized and uploaded a snippet of the song to the internet in 2007. Over the next 12 years, the song bounced around the web but remained unidentified. In 2019, a 16-year-old student in São Paulo, Brazil, came across the snippet and uploaded it to YouTube and several Reddit communities, which helped the search go viral. 

Marijn1412, the user who likely identified “Subways of Your Mind,” explained in their post that the mystery began to unravel after they found an old article about FEX — who were from Kiel, Germany — while researching bands who played at an annual event called Hörfest. Marijn1412 reached out to one of the members and asked if he still had any old recordings, “and lo and behold, one of them was titled ‘Subways of Your Mind.’” (Though as Marijn1412 noted, the version of the song he received is “slightly different… from the one we know.”)

Marijn1412 continued: “After I emailed him back that the song is actually quite a famous ‘lost song,’ he asked me not to go public with it until he spoke with his old band members. In the meantime, though, the song did get registered at [the German performance rights organization] GEMA and people found out about it. But I’m happy to say that the band members agreed for me to go public with it.”

Along with Marijn1412’s reveal, FEX’s Michael Hädrich (who played keys and guitar and sang back-up vocals) spoke with German news outlet Tz about the discovery, and offered some further confirmation. He said the band’s evidence included the recordings from studio sessions and rehearsals for “Subways of Your Mind”; a live recording of at least two shows where the song was played; statements from the band, as well as their old agent, who was at the studio; and the “unmistakeable voice of the singer.” 

Hädrich said that after Marijn1412 contacted him, he reached out to his old bandmates, bassist Norbert Ziermann and guitarist/singer Ture Rückwart — all of whom still work in music. (Hädrich said, however, that they’ve lost contact with FEX’s drummer Hans Siever.) “We were all completely surprised and overwhelmed by the really nice comments and contributions,” Hädrich said of the reaction to the discovery (translated from German via Google Translate). 

Hädrich recalled the origins of “Subways of Your Mind,” crediting Rückwart with coming up with the core idea before the band hashed it out in the rehearsal room. “The song was definitely a highlight in our repertoire,” he said. “It had a mystical clarity from the start… but the signal intro of the guitar and the dynamic ups and downs in the song gave us a lot of joy to play.”

As for what’s next, Hädrich said he was traveling from Munich (where now lives) to Kiel to reunite with Ziermann and Rückwart, and figure out a plan. Hädrich said they were “excited about the idea of re-recording the song and a second one,” adding: “I’m inviting the band to my studio in Munich and we’re also planning to produce a video for the song.” (Hädrich’s daughter also said they may also schedule a Reddit AMA session soon.)

The “Subways of Your Mind” revelation makes 2024 a banner year for identifying “lost” songs. Back in April, a viral “lostwave” track known as “Everyone Knows That” — which has been stumping listeners since a 17-second snippet was uploaded to the forum WatZatSong in 2021 — was identified all because someone was watching Eighties porno. The track was officially identified as “Ulterior Motives” by Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth and appeared in the 1986 adult film, Angels of Passion. 

From Rolling Stone US.