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I'm trying to track down an anonymous West Coast folk-rock singer of that era from a YouTube upload of a 50 year old demo tape. Please have a quick listen. If you like it, and wish to participate in helping to solve this mystery, please read on! Ignore the comments below the video. There's lots of ignorant assumptions from young-uns, conjecture which has already been debunked.
The Lyrics
Verse She was born on a magic island There's a certain mythology I was already on the outside I wanted to be what I wanted to be She took me to illumination night To pass on a legacy.
Chorus Crazy ladies in gingerbread houses Light the lanterns for the shipwrecked sailors Celebrate the homecoming Celebrate the moment when The will to live collides with love Lights the lanterns, everyone And pray that the rain won't come.
Bridge She left me with Grace the next year She went away, I don't know where Grace got drunk in a Chinese restaurant So all I saw were the lights extinguishing I'm going back on Illumination Night To see if I can light the lights
Chorus Crazy ladies in gingerbread houses Light the lanterns for the shipwrecked sailors Celebrate the homecoming Celebrate the moment when The will to live collides with love Lights the lanterns, everyone And pray that the rain won't come
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Real folk music tells tales. It connects cultures and times. It reminds us of past heroes and villains. If indeed this song is autobiographical, imho it deserves preserving, and the singer-songwriter and performers deserve recognition. I am convinced it was written and sung and recorded contemporary to the events portrayed in the lyrics by a mid to late 60s hippy chick who was trying to write and perform a simple and catchy folk-rock song within that era of spiritual idealism. I believe the song was a product of San Francisco, 1965-1970, before Haight Ashbury turned sour, before the spirit of Woodstock died.
Background to Its Discovery Since the song was first posted up on YouTube in 2020, many folks have been trying to nail the name of the female singer-songwriter, the backing players, the recording location and year for this song -- now dubbed "Light The Lanterns" by its internet sleuths. THE ONLY COPY, THE ONLY KNOWN RECORDING of the song was a cassette tape, found in a box, in a cupboard, in an empty LA office, in the mid 80s with "Demo -- Listen Today" scribbled on the label. No singer, no band, no recording date, not even the song name! It is, to me, (a troubadoring folk teen myself during that era) unarguably the SF sound of late 60s. Joel Selvin (75 yo music writer for the SF Chronicle 1970-2006), whom I wrote to, upon hearing it stated "pretty generic, 68-69". Who am I to argue? He was there! But he had no recollection of hearing the song or that voice.
Many have asked "Where exactly was it found". What address, what suburb? An old studio, radio station, agent's office, record company? We just don't know, and the finder can't remember, some 40 years later. He found a box of mixed cassette tapes about 1985, didn't open it for 15 years, digitised it around 2000 to HDD, threw out the cassette, and didn't upload it to YouTube till 2020 when it went viral as "The Third Most Mysterious Song on the Internet". So, 55 years later, it's still unidentified".
Investigating the Lyrics I have done extensive historical research into the lyrics, as well as their poetic allusions. But first I have to debunk the obvious.
Many people immediately jump to the obvious conclusion that it is about the famous Martha's Vineyard Illumination Night. Yes, some phrases have commonality. But the MV Historical Society has replied to innumerable inquiries "the story has no connection to here".
Another suggestion was to Alice Hoffman's novel "Illumination Night". But she too has stated that the song's story has no connection to her 1987 novel.
Another suggestion was a connection to a NC band Hazelwood, and their 1988 song Legacy, by singer Grace Griffith. But they have also disavowed any connection to the song.
I then hunted around elsewhere and hit upon some real life links to the story lyrics, but on the opposite coast.
* A woman called Delpha Atkinson was a homebirth born in 1927 on South East Farallon Island (SEFI), 40 kms off the coast of SF, known throughout history for its 400 shipwrecks and mythological history. Known as The Devils Teeth, and The Islands of the Dead by the Native American and Russian Kodiak seafarers, there are still gingerbread houses (1900s Gothic style) on the island. Delpha's mother was Grace Atkinson. The family lived on SEFI whilst Delpha's father was the lighthouse keeper there 1927-1931. He was then posted around to other CA lighthouses till his death in 1950 whilst serving at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. I suspect that the Illumination Night was a memorial event for those times which died out soon after the song was written.
* There was a US Navy ship wrecked on SEFI in 1944. The SS Henry Bergh was a troop transport ship bringing 1400 soldiers back from the Pacific Theatre to SF. The crew and passengers were reported as "boisterously celebrating their homecoming so loudly the captain did not hear the SEFI foghorn and ran aground on The Devils Teeth in the fog".
* Another thing which rang bells for me was the Chinese restaurant reference. After all, SF's Chinatown was a big hub for alternatives in those days.
* And the phrase "... I wanted to be what I wanted to be ...". How typically 60s hippy-dippy is that!
So, the lyrics and the West Coast history seemed to match. But any leads towards the singer through the story's characters and events have since led to dead ends. So now we must turn our detective work to the music itself.
The Music I believe we are looking for a female solo singer/songwriter, not a band, who recorded her demo with session musos, to try to break into the music industry via radio play, an agent, or a recording company. I imagine she might have been playing the folk clubs in those years, maybe playing this song solo, just sitting on a stool, before trying for a recording break with an ensemble. She likely gave away demo cassettes to talent scouts, music agents, radio jocks in SF and LA (with a letter of introduction ... hence the annonymity of the tape with nothing but a hand-scribbled "Demo-Listen Today" on it).
But her recording efforts clearly came to nothing. Despite thousands of "... it sounds like ...", the voice has yet to be identified. Competition must have been fierce in those days. Everyone who sang and strummed back then dreamed of making it big. All the girls wanted to be a Joni Mitchell, a Joan Baez, a Grace Slick! But this singer might have left the scene, gone into motherhood, and/or since died. If she had later gone into a band, or developed a solo career, I doubt this song would have dissappeared, never to be reclaimed in 50 years, and someone would have recognised her voice by now.
How Can You Help? My current line of investigation is to cast around for anyone alive in those times who might actually recognise this voice from its day, a live performance of it, or the sound of any of the players behind her, such as:
* Old folk aficionados, folk club patrons of 1965 -1975. Come on, you must remember something from the 60s! I've read up about the famous but defunct SF folk clubs of the times, but found no contact for any living descendents. * Old West Coast recording engineers. Who could have recorded this? Where might the masters be? I've read up about the famous but now closed SF recording studios of the times, but found no contact for any living descendents. * Old session players -- the bass, the slide guitar, both stand out as quite accomplished. Someone must remember them! I mean, how many people played slide guitar like that in SF in 1968? * Was she maybe some else's backing singer trying to go solo? * Old radio jocks, agents, music historians.
The other thing which could help is a forensic production breakdown of the recording. Any sound engineers willing to give it a go? Exactly what instruments might be identified; how many tracks do you reckon might be used; what treatments are there? I'm hearing a Gibson semi-acoustic for both rythym and slide (so much like The Byrds), therefore only one guitarist. Some bassists I've asked say yes/no to a fretless. There's only the same singer's voice on background underneath harmonies. Conclusion, she had no-one else to add vocal layering. The drummer sounds like a sleepy leftover from the 50s
So thanks for reading this far, and any leads you might be able to provide.
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