This cache is NOT at the posted coordinates, but it does lie within one kilometer of them. It’s actual location is N45 19.RST, W075 50.XYZ. To find the cache, you’ll need to solve a simple puzzle, based on the lyrics of the song in the first part of the title to get, eventually, the six ( 2 + 4 = 6) digits R, S, T, X, Y, and Z that figure in the actual coordinates. This cache has been placed with the intention that it be part of the GAG24 event.
As we learn from Wikipedia, the song, "Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa" was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was a major 1963 hit for Gene Pitney, helping to launch him as an international star. The song has since been covered by many others over the years, from Jay and the Americans, to Dusty Springfield, Yachts, and Claire Hamill.
Musically, the song is notable for its tonal ambiguity, a feature of Bacharach's constructivist style. Music geeks wax poetic about aspects such as supertonic majors, and the song’s subdominant, submediant, and dominant chords, as well as breaks that convert expected cadences to a modal cadence that returns back to the original G major key. Heady stuff for those with the musical background to appreciate it!
Moreover, there is an equivalent ambiguity in Hal David’s lyrics. Some of this ambiguity is physical and logical.
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What is the significance of 24 hours, i.e., one day?
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Why is the singer singing what is ostensibly a letter?
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Are letters really supposed to have choruses?
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Assuming that we’re not speaking of a charm bracelet, just what was the singer holding?
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What was the nature of the welcoming light? Is it metaphorical?
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The letter lacks any formal closing; would the traditional “sincerely” be appropriate here?
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In not coming home, is the singer perhaps leaving behind physical “stuff” that will have to be dealt with later?
And then there is the more profound level of ambiguity having to do with a variety of underlying tricky psychological, moral, ethical, commitment, and etiquettal (but probably not existential) issues.
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What’s the big deal with arms?
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Is the approaching “night” psychologically significant, or just a convenient plot device?
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Given the underlying situation, is “Dearest darling” really the most appropriate salutation?
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Is sending the letter at least marginally more appropriate than simply not showing up?
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What would be a more appropriate way of conveying this song’s substantive information? Support your answer.
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Assuming that, in the era in which the song was written, a letter would take rather more than 24 hours to arrive, even by Xpresspost, what will this mean for “Dearest darling’s” mindset in the interim? Will the substance of the message be likely to alleviate the recipient’s concerns?
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Do the lyrics and the narrative suggest that the singer has serious difficulties taking personal responsibility for his/her actions? How about commitment issues?
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Is the singer, in not going home, metaphorically leaving behind psychological baggage that will have to be dealt with later?
But you, gentle geocacher do not have to address any of these questions unless you choose to. If you seek primarily to find this cache, you are charged only with ascertaining the answers to a much simpler, less demanding, set of questions. Based on the lyrics to the song, you just need, first, to provide six one-word answers, and calculate the digital roots for these words to get a set of single digit values, labeled A through F. To reduce the already low probability of errors, waxwing454 and I even provide you with the numbers of letters in the correct responses. Then, second, it’s just a bit of arithmetic for you to calculate the digits R, S, T, X, Y, and Z that will give you the coordinates for the cache.
Your questions, should you decide to answer them:
What did the singer have to do? 5 letters ( __________ ) => A = ___
Where did he meet someone? 5 letters (outside a small ________ ) => B = ___
Where did this person take him? 4 letters (to a ________ ) => C =___
What started to play? 7 letters ( a __________ ) => D = ___
What did the singer lose? 7 letters ( __________ ) => E = ___
When can he go home again? 5 letters ( __________ ) => F = ___
OK, that wasn’t too bad, was it? Now it’s just simple arithmetic to get the digits needed for the cache coordinates -- N45 19.RST, W075 50.XYZ
R = C - F + B/C + (B modulo C) = ___
S = B/C + D/E + (E modulo D) = ___
T = A + C - F = ___
X = (B modulo D) - (E modulo C) = ___
Y = A - B - C + D + E - F = ___
Z = 5 = B + C - D = ___
In lieu of an actual geochecker -- the digital root of the sum (R +S +T + X+ Y + Z) is 3.
A practical note: The cache is placed in an NCC Greenbelt ravine, well away from neighbouring fields. You do not need to trespass on those fields or cross any fences to access the cache.The terrain rating reflects a steep slope, a stream to be avoided, animal holes, drop-offs and fallen branches lurking under the knee-high to waist-high vegetation, as well as both annual and perennial thorns, and, in season, abundant bugs. Please take care, this cache is probably best not done alone. That said, the cache has been placed in part to give you the chance to appreciate the several aspects of the terrain, particularly the erosion patterns of the ravine generally, the diversity and placement of the plant varieties, and the ongoing succession of trees and shrubs. The placement will also allow you sing along with any particular earworm that happens to strike you, without much fear of muggle ears. I thank waxwing454 and Camo-crazed for their assistance in beta-testing and physically placing this cache.
For a puzzle this simple, you don’t get a hint, or a formal geochecker, or roadside parking coordinates.