In the quest for a song...

There are places only books can take you. The same is true for music. Sometimes it happens in public, I'd be doing something mundane (like eating or smoking), or slightly intellectually stimulating (like reading fiction): and all of a sudden there approaches a feeling of coziness, warmth and even euphoria. And, invariably, I'd find it's a piece of music playing in the background.

The last time this happened, I leapt out of my seat, approached the cafe manager, who looked at my (unusually) excited approach with apprehension.

'What's that song? Do you know the name of that song?'

He moved across the counter to where his vaio laptop was pumping music into the sound system.

He shook the mouse and motioned for me to come around. I did, and we both looked on. The name of the tune as shown on the player was a generic 'Track no. X'. I thanked him and walked back to my seat, slightly annoyed that my out-of-character act didn't yield results.

I'd heard of Shazam before, rhe music recognition app (application). I wondered if it worked for Arabic songs as well (or non-English songs). I downloaded it anyway. My plan was to wait for the song to come up on the sound system again (I was too embarrassed to request the song specifically), and then hold the phone to the speakers (high on the ceiling), and wait for technology to do its wonders.

Out of sheer curiously, I'd tested Shazam a few times on the way to the cafe and found, to my pleasant surprise, that it could recognize Arabic songs. However, after a few trials, it asked me for a paid subscription to continue to enjoy the service bla bla bla. Upon which my immediate reaction was to delete it.

When I got back home, I was determined to find the song by hook or crook. I spent an hour online, during which I'd listened to not less than 30 songs on youtube and rummaged through countless lyrics and play-lists, relying on bits and pieces of words I could extricate, with difficulty, from memory. Lo and behold, it's there: