Draft:Falling In Love With Mannequins

"Falling in Love with Mannequins" is a song by American band Rapid Designs released on their only publicly available album, sharing the same name as the band, released in 1987. The song was written and recorded by Billy Martin and Steve Ballantine, and produced by Mike Tavera. The song features Billy singing, with an accompanying synth and glass harmonica track. The song was released in limited quantity in California, and became lost media. The song fell into total obscurity until September 8, 2020 when a user on the website 'WatZatSong.com' uploaded a 30 second snippet of the song, beginning a search for the song. The song was then found on November 27, 2022, and reuploaded to various video-sharing and archive websites.

Lyrics
The song begins with the singer describing how all people look the same, describing them as mannequins. He goes on to show that he is jealous of them, and their ability to not feel negativity. He also conveys how he feels like he is endlessly chasing a hopeless and endless dream of love. The lyrics repeat with very slight, sometimes barely noticeable changes that often rhyme. This is an often pattern in songs, but could also be interpreted as somebody repeating the same processes with slight variation. The backtrack of instruments are often unsynchronized with each other and the lyrics, giving the feeling to the listener of feeling off-track and lost.

Resurfacing
On September 8, 2020, a user on the website WatZatSong.com uploaded a 30 second snippet of Falling in Love with Mannequins, in the hopes to find the origin of the song. The song snippet would gain traction due to its seemingly high production value and upbeat electric sound, making it sound mainstream. Multiple posts and videos on websites such as X, Reddit, and Youtube would be made in the hopes of finding the song. Internet users would find the entire song on November 27, 2022, via listings on the record selling and buying website Discogs. By looking at the album design on Discogs, the names of the band members were discovered. The song was then uploaded to multiple other websites, and the lyrics were transcribed. Internet users then found copyright holdings of the song on the US Copyright Office Records, which led to the discovery of 26 other songs produced by the band that are completely unavailable and lost. The copyright holdings list both songwriters as still being currently alive, however it is unknown if this is accurate or up to date. This song, along with the only other song on the vinyl, Serious Thing, are the only songs from Rapid Designs that are publicly available for listening. Multiple other songs are registered by the band, but there are no record listings or publicly available ways to listen to these songs. A secondary search has started to look for more songs from Rapid Designs, which has stagnated.

Mannequin film connections
Some internet users have proposed the theory that the song was produced as promotional material for the 1987 film 'Mannequin.' The lyrics of the song describe a man falling in love with a mannequin, which is similar to the plot of the film. However, the song was registered on the copyright database in 1984, meaning that the song was first released in 1984, and re-released in 1987. Therefore, the song could not have been produced for the film. Additionally, the lyrics of the chorus, "I'm falling in love with mannequins-" can be attributed either in a literal or symbolic sense, possibly as a man falling in love with people that are empty or lifeless. With the vocabulary used in the song, it can be seen that the singer feels isolated and alone by people, labeling them as 'mannequins.' Therefore, the lyrics are likely not referring to a literal mannequin.