It’s the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival this weekend.  That means it’s time to start talking about Lee Osler again.

I went to the Ypsilanti Public Library the other day and checked out the book, “Down by the Depot In Ypsilanti” by Tom Dodd and James Thomas Mann.  There was a section in the book that printed out the lyrics to several Ypsilanti themed songs, including the much talked about on this site, Back to Ypsilanti. 

The book also mentioned that Lee had another song, released in 1986, about homeless people called How Would You Feel?  The lyrics put to light the issue of homelessness and how much the people suffer.  I would really like to hear it if anyone has a copy out there.

I also was told that Lee had a song about a quarterback, but that’s all the info I got about the song.  I’m sure Lee had other material that wasn’t released or was just for demo.  And then there’s the B side to Back to Ypsilanti, Tarnished Love Affair, and the B side to How Would You Feel? 

 

In any event, I had an idea to contact Lee to do an interview and also to gather all the songs to put together a Lee Osler Greatest Hits album.  The cover would somehow be Ypsi themed.  Maybe Lee could even do another version of Back To Ypsilanti, this time collaborating with a current Ypsi band. 

For more Ypsilanti songs, there’s the Ypsi Songs compilation CD that was released recently.  There’s also the song Ypsilanti by Nancy Adams that I found on 45 on the Phillips label from 1967, which is kind of like the bizzarro Ypsilanti song when compared to Lee Osler’s. 

And then, of course, there’s my favorite - my remix of Sammy Kaye’s Makin Love Ukulele Style, with Lee’s vocals dubbed in, titled Makin’ Love Ypsilanti Style.

Mark Maynard had a post a while back proposing a vote on a new city theme song.  Back to Ypsilanti was named official song of Ypsi by the city council back in ‘83.  I know there’s a lot more out there, including current songs as well as the recordings of the others in the book I talked about, including: Ypsilanti Comic Song, A Depot Town Rag, Alibi Guy (About Aubree’s), The City Song, and Everything’s Up To Code in Ypsilanti.

Have I missed any?