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Mystery Song Summary

Light the Lanterns is an enigmatic electric-folk song featuring an emotive female vocal, some mildly trippy slide guitar, and a funky fretless bass.

Originating from the mythology of a magic island, the song celebrates the homecoming of shipwrecked sailors -- when their will to live collides with the love of their rescuers.

The singer recounts when the lights of an illumination night memorial were about to be extinguished. But she vows to continue the legacy and proposes salvation by inviting everyone to light the lanterns.

This truly orphan-work was discovered on an untitled demo cassette in a disused Los Angeles office in the mid 1980s. Despite 200,000 YouTube views and a six-year nationwide search, the artist's identity still remains a complete mystery.

While often linked to Martha’s Vineyard and proposed as a 1980s or 1970s recording, historical evidence shows the song is actually a 1960s West Coast maritime folk tale.

This website aims to redirect the search for the original musicians by focussing on the song's true 60-year-old origins through unravelling its cryptic narrative. 

www.lightthelanterns.net

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Exploring This Website

To follow this research, I suggest moving through the website pages in their numbered order 1 - 6. You will then be well-acquainted with the song's true backstory and how you can best help the search.

For those wanting a deeper dive, please explore the RESEARCH ARCHIVES, pages 7 - 10.

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A Bit About Me ​

I've been intensively researching this project for some 6 years now. I'm a retired 70-year-old Australian who was playing folk and pop publically in my teens from 1968 to 1975 -- harmonising songs just like this with my girlfriend. It feels so familiar to my youth.

I then worked in the music industry in the 70s and 80s in bars, clubs, pubs -- variously as a roadie, sound and light mixer, band manager, and publicist. So I experienced a history parallel to the artists of this song.

Just recently I engaged with some professional sound engineers to fully analyse the original Light the Lanterns recording and we then produced a digitally re-mastered, note-for-note version of the original song, properly suited for broader public distribution.