Man On A Hill

ⓘ This lostwave is classified as solved.
Man On A Hill
Artist(s)	The Defended
Genre	Indie Rock
Year	2008
Status	Solved; Full version available
Original poster	Arthur Bogushev
Search duration	2017 - 2024

Man On A Hill (formerly known as "There's A Man") is a solved lostwave by Scottish garage-rock band The Defended, originating from a 2017 recording by Soundcloud user Arthur Bogushev.

Background

On April 5, 2017, a Soundcloud user named Arthur Bogushev originally uploaded the song under the title "1", sourced from a recording from an unknown Ukrainian radio station that he had stored on an old MP3 player. He also posted the song on the music identification forum musicbanter.com, claiming that it was recorded between 2012 and 2013, but it received no attention.

The search gained popularity in the lostwave community after it was reuploaded to YouTube by user Lost Music: Cold Case on December 20, 2022, and then posted to r/lostwave by user bigjimothy18 on February 22, 2023.

Discovery

On February 19, 2024, Reddit user TrippyDrew identified the song as "Man On A Hill" by The Defended after searching YouTube for "The man on the hill before:2013" and discovering a live performance of the song by the band at Box Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland.

The full version of the song was posted in the thread by user NoButterscotch3385, after Discord user lexal8054 found it on indiemusicpeople.com.

Lyrics

CollapseOfficial Lyrics (Intro)

One, two, three, four

(Verse 1)

There's a man who stands upon a hill

Looking down to the people he has killed

And he done them one by one

There's a man, who stands above a grave

Looking down to a woman he couldn't save

And his life's been put on hold

(Chorus)

And he will make or break your day

Turn round and look the other way

You gotta listen to what he says

And he will send you up or down

Don't matter if your break your neck or drown

You gotta listen to what he says

(Verse 2)

There's a man who lost what he once loved

Lookin sad cause he knows the time has come

To take his pain away

He writes a note and he makes his way upstairs

It won't be long til' he don't have to care

Til' he meets our man on a hill

(Chorus)

And he will make or break your day

Turn round and look the other way

You gotta listen to what he says

And he will send you up or down

Don't matter if your break your neck or drown

You gotta listen to what he says

(Verse 2)

There's a man who lost what he once loved

Lookin sad cause he knows the time has come

To take his pain away

He writes a note and he makes his way upstairs

It won't be long til' he don't have to care

Til' he meets our man on a hill

(Chorus)

And he will make or break your day

Turn round and look the other way

You gotta listen to what he says

And he will send you up or down

Don't matter if your break your neck or drown

You gotta listen to what he says

[Guitar Solo]

(Chorus)

And he will make or break your day

Turn round and look the other way

You gotta listen to what he says

And he will send you up or down

Don't matter if your break your neck or drown

You gotta listen to what he says

Personnel

Dave McCallum – lead vocals, rhythm guitar

Scott Chalmers – lead guitar, backing vocals

Fraser Breingan – bass

Louis Pietranik – drums

References

• Article about the search