How are songs without vocals called?

Help me identify these songs.

• Looking for the band/composer that created the songs on a tape I have. Song titles include "We can Rearrange the World" and "Goddamn the Empty Sky", "The Lament of the Corporate President's Wife" among others. The tape had only a hand-written label on it calling it "Maestro Mix", and probably was made around 1991 or so. (more inside) Some context: I rew up in New Hampshire, and my sister, who is 4 years older than I, went to a performing arts high school called Walnut Hill (as a dancer). When I was in 11th or 12th grade (around 92-93), she gave me an old box of tapes she had in high school from a couple of years earlier. One in particular caught my interest, which was a tape with "Ani Difranco" on one side (the self-titled album it turns out, with "Both Hands" as the opening track). On the other side, it said simply "Maestro Mix". I have tried every now and then, and have never been able to track down the artist/band that did this, or whether it was a student work at the Walnut Hill school, or something commercially available. Suffice to say, my sister doesn't know. The tunes are catchy, almost "musical" or "show tune" like, but with often vulgar or base lyrics. Two particular things I know about it: 1) One of the last songs is "Goddamn the Empty Sky", in English, which it turns out uses the text of a poem by Violetta Parra.Goddamn the empty sky and the stars at night goddamn the ripply bright stream as it goes by goddamn the way stones lie on dirt or on the street goddamn the oven's heat goddamn the laws of time the way they cheat my pain's as bad as that.2) Another song "Oh my god it's so beautiful" was covered on yet another mix tape I once got- however, the cover sheet for it, which listed the band covering it, was lost, so I can't look up that lead, either (all female vocals, want to say it was the Mint Juleps but I think that's incorrect).Oh my god it's so beautiful, Oh my god it's so beautiful, Oh my god it's so beautiful, on the eleventh floor Now Joseph was talking to this blind girl At the top of his lungs. As if describing the view in meticulous detail Could make her see where it's coming from. And now to tell you what kind of guy Joseph is, At the end of his spiel He assured her the view was not spectactular As if he realized just how she must feel.Amazon, google, kazaa, napster, etc.... any resources I've looked at over the years have turned up nada, whether I search on snippets of lyrics, supposed song titles, whatever. Any leads? I can make song samples available (I have two I copied to wav then mp3 from a tape deck), but don't have the bandwidth unless you think you have a good idea who I'm talking about.

• Answer:

  Neither song title (as spelled) turns up anything in the ASCAP or BMI databases. Of course that's not necessarily dispositive of much.