A while back Justin and I were going through a soul and funk collection we just bought when to my excitement we came across a yellow-labeled 45 on Mustache Records called “Back To Ypsilanti” by Lee Osler.

I live in good ol’ Ypsilanti (pronounced ip-sa-lan-tee), and have what we call “Ypsi-Pride”. It’s kind of a cool town, but a little rough around the edges. We have Eastern Michigan University, Historic Depot Town (where I live near), the famous watertower shaped like a giant you-know-what, a cool local music scene, a few good bars and restaurants, and the Huron river running straight through town. On the other hand, we have (in some areas of town) prostitution, drugs, shootings, and other such not-so-cool things. Overall, it doesn’t have the greatest reputation. Plus, it’s next to Ann Arbor, which gets all the attention and love.

Despite this, we Ypsilantians take some pride in our city. There’s something about it that has some charm, something that makes it somehow cool to live in. Which is why, to my delight, Lee Osler’s “Back To Ypsilanti” turned out to be arguably the sweetest song I had ever heard when I first put it on my turntable at full blast. It’s a upbeat dance-funk gem that hails Ypsi as the greatest city in the known universe. It has become the song that everyone who’s been to my house knows about. It is THE most prized record in my entire collection, no joke. Whenever we have people over, I always play it and everyone loves it and dances to it and sings along.

My good friend and fellow Ypsilanti native Van, who in addition to being a gym teacher and coach is also a soul and R&B singer, got to talking one day about music and I asked him if he remembered the song “Back To Ypsilanti”. It turns out that Van was good friends with Lee Osler and used to sing it with him back in the day. And Lee is alive and well and still lives on the south side.

Van went on to tell me a little history of the song. Lee was an up and coming singer in Ypsi who was associated with another R&B group around that time. He had a woman that was backing him financially and was the owner of Mustache Records, named after Lee’s fantastic curled stache.

The lyrics are all about Ypsi, mentioning Depot Town, the water tower, EMU, street names, the fun times, the pretty girls, ect. The song was a local hit and in 1983 was even declared the official song of Ypsilanti by the Ypsilanti City Council. Van estimated that around 500 copies were pressed. The B Side is called “Tarnished Love Affair”.

It’s been sort of my mission to revive this song. I have plans to interview Lee and find more info about his career, so there will be a part 2 of this blog at a later date. I will also try to post the B side.

And no, this copy is not for sale!

If you have any more info please add…Gerard mentioned that he used to drive by the Mustache Lounge bar in Dearborn and thought that the label was related to this. And I think I remember Van telling me about this but I’m not sure.

I’m going back to Ypsilanti, back to Ypsilanti, that’s where I come from!

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