C.I.A. (also known as "Are You Coming Home", "This Winter" or "Season At The C.I.A") is an unidentified new wave/post-punk song uploaded to YouTube in 2020 by DJFormaldehyde. It was recorded off of the Canadian radio station CFNY-FM Spirit of Radio in 1984.
Search History
On February 21st, 2020, user datafreq first uploaded the song to the New Wave Outpost forums, sourced from a cassette tape recorded in Canada in 1984.[1]
On April 8th, 2020, the song's lyrics were uploaded to the music identification website Spirit of Radio by user Synthman78, claiming that it was a new wave song from 1985.[2]
On July 20th, 2020, YouTube user DJFormaldehyde uploaded the full song to YouTube.[3] The song was discovered on a tape made by a friend of DJFormaldehyde that included songs recorded from CFNY-FM Spirit of Radio,[4] a Canadian radio station known at the time for playing new wave, electronic, and alternative music.[5]
The search for CIA gained traction in November 2021, with the song making its way to the lostwave subreddit and being reuploaded multiple times that year.[6] This was also the year that Alan Cross, who was a radio broadcaster at CFNY from 1986 onwards, uploaded the song to his website, broadening the search.[7]
On June 19, 2025, Reddit user technomanuel identified the synthesizer used in the song's intro as the Korg Poly-800's Strings preset,[8] which was released in 1983.[9]
Leads and theories
Possible
The song was most likely recorded before July 1984 because the song You Think You're A Man by American performance artist Divine, which was released in July 1984, was the newest song on the tape.[10] Most of the songs on the tape were British in origin, dating from 1980 to 1984.[11]
It is suspected that CIA may have been aired as part of CFNY's 5th annual Great Ontario Talent Search contest.[12] That year's contest aired songs by 102 unsigned Ontario bands from October 8, 1984 to late February 1985.[13]
Debunked
- 4th Floor - Coming Home
- Zebra - CIA
- The Reform - CIA
- Conditioned Response
- The Switch - Coming Home
- Wep - C.I.A (Confirmed hoax)
- The Union - CIA (Confirmed hoax)
- D DAY - At The C.I.A (Confirmed hoax)
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Are you comin' home for vacation?
Can you leave your work behind?
Will someone man your battlestation?
Will you give them all your time?
We all feel the same frustration
And hope to God you're on our side
[Chorus]
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend this winter drivin' me insane?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend the season at the, CIA?
[Verse 2]
Last year you studied Russian wheatfields
Searched for silos you'd never find
And when they found out, you struck a deal
To bring back Levis on company time
But you jumped ship once in Israel
And slipped away at the Arab line
[Chorus]
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend this winter drivin' me insane?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend the season at the, CIA?
[Instrumental]
[Verse 3]
Can you paint a still life of your location?
Will the children wear a smile?
Do you believe that's liberation?
Or is it trimming for your file?
If someone deserves a commendation
Let's present it at his final mile
[Final Chorus]
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend this winter drivin' me insane?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend the season at the CIA?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend this winter drivin' me insane?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend the season at the CIA?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend this winter drivin' me insane?
Are you comin' home to stay?
Or will you spend the season at the CIA?
[Outro]
Are you comin'
Are you comin' home
Associated Images
External links
- New Wave Outpost Post
- Spirit of Radio post.
- Original DJFormaldehyde YouTube upload.
- Vocaroo link.
- DJFormaldehyde’s New Wave Outpost Post
- Steve Hoffman forum post.
- ↑ https://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42844
- ↑ https://spiritofradio.ca/SongComments.asp?SongID=3233
- ↑ https://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=43033
- ↑ https://spiritofradio.ca/SongSearchAdd.asp
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q46N3IYg0Y
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/r0tr1t/cia_unknown_postpunk_song_recorded_in_canada/
- ↑ https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/interested-in-solving-some-musical-mysteries-try-to-identify-these-songs/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CIAlostwave/comments/1lfewq3/a_korg_poly800_was_used_for_the_synth_in_the/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korg_Poly-800
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q46N3IYg0Y&lc=Ugy8fLb1rOtbRp6ihmt4AaABAg.9eBIl25Qaqt9eE84dacDLB
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1eg9tk0/regarding_the_cia_recording_my_friend_who_owns/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1d5nyli/cia_an_update/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CIAlostwave/comments/1lug7ze/great_ontario_talent_search/