Twenty-five (the music quiz)
[Updated July 14, Bastille Day] Entries have dried up, so I'll post the remaining six answers. That was a lot of fun, thanks for playing.
I saw this chez Rob and thought I'd play along. Here are the first lines of the first twenty-five non-instrumental English-language songs that my iPod presented on random shuffle mode. (There are a few more rules than that: the lyric can't contain the title of the song or the name of the album, and only one song per artist.)
Your challenge, dear readers, is to identify the title and artist. Post your answers (or guesses) in the comments, and I'll mark the lines as people identify them (without links to their blogs, 'cause (a) I'm lazy, and (b) you can find that in the comments). Some are embarrassingly easy, some are just embarrassing, and one is very nearly impossible. Off you go!
(Googling the lyrics when you haven't a clue is cheating, that should be obvious. Googling the name of a song when you can't remember the name of the band is OK; however if by doing so you find out that it was something quite different, then I for one would feel honour bound not to submit that. Looking up a CD on Amazon when you can't remember the name of a track is fair play.)
1. And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack- Talking Heads, "Once in a lifetime" - Alan
- 2. Before you go, do me a favour
Get me a number
Of a girl almost like you - Iggy Pop, "Mass Production"
3. Blessed are the poor in spirit- Arvo Pärt, "The Beatitudes" - Rob
4. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called "life"- Prince, "Let's go crazy" - Rob
5. Drive boy dog boy dirty numb angel boy- Underworld, "Born slippy" - Snowqueen
6. Farmer Emmerich went into his barn- Nick Cave, "The fable of the brown ape" - Rob
- 7. Five names that I can hardly stand to hear
Including yours and mine
And one more chimp who isn't here - Steely Dan, "Bad sneakers"
8. Get up in the morning, slaving for bread sir- Desmond Dekker, "The Israelites" - Alan
9. Go to sleep little baby- Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, & Gillian Welch, "Didn't leave nobody but the baby" - Brooksba
10. Haven't seen you in quite a while
I was down the hold, just passing time
Last time we met was a low-lit room
We were as close together as bride and groom- U2, "Until the end of the world" - Noorster
11. I really don't mind if you sit this one out- Jethro Tull, "Thick as a brick" - Dale
12. I saw the man at J.F.K.
He took your ticket yesterday
In the [title]- Peter Gabriel, "Humdrum" - Alan
- 13. I've been working from seven to eleven every night
It really makes my life a drag
I don't think that's right - Led Zeppelin, "Since I've been loving you"
14. I've got a girl and Ruby is her name- Donald Fagen, "Ruby Baby" - Joe in Vegas
15. In the dark, where all the fevers grow- Frank Zappa, "Stink-Foot" - Rob
16. Nineteen-forty- Steve Reich, "Europe - during the war" - Rob
17. Quiet nights of quiet stars
Quiet chords on my guitar
And this window that looks out on [title]- Antonio Carlos Jobim, "Corcovado" - Rob, who correctly points out that the common English title is "Quiet nights of quiet stars." How embarrassing!
18. Summertime always gives me the blues
Thinking about the things we used to do
Watching lovers in the park making love so free
And now i realize there's only me- Massive Attack, "Lately" - Noorster
19. Sunday morning, no-one to love you- Sunday's Child, "Bacuzzi" - withdrawn, I screwed up and posted the title instead of the band name in the clues. Duh
- 20. Turn off the TV, karaoke the lights
Turn off the labels, the silicon chip bytes
We won't have to use an umbrella tonight
We'll just feel the rain - Earl Zinger, "Thames krokadiles"
- 21. We climbed and we climbed
Oh, how we climbed
My, how we climbed - Brian Eno, "Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy)"
22. Well, I've built me a raft and she's ready for floating
Ole Mississippi she's calling my name
Catfish are jumping, that paddlewheel's thumping- The Doobie Brothers, "Black water" - Carpe DM
23. You burden me with your questions- EMF, "Unbelievable" - Anxious
24. You got a great car, yeah what's wrong with it today- The Dandy Warhols, "Bohemian like you" - Anxious
- 25. You have turned into a prayer
I can feel I'm almost there
Closer, closer to the top
But lookin' down is such a drop - Material, "Let me have it all"
posted by Udge @ 23:12
29 Comments:
Yay, having fun with these this weekend.
Number 1 is Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads - and Number 8 is The Israelites by Desmond Dekker.
Until I checked back on my blog I got very confused, but it was Tim, not you, who had failed to recognise "Excentrifugal Forz" in my first 25 on account of not owning "Apostrophe". #15, of course, is "Stink-Foot" by Frank Zappa, from that wonderful album.
Others may occur to me.....
11 is Jethro Tull, "Thick as a Brick." (are there tracks on that album? I remember it as all one big thing, with that extraordinary drummer bridging each tune into the next...)
Well done, chaps! We're off to a good start.
Dale, there are two tracks on the cd, corresponding to the two sides of the LP. Now that you mention it, I am somewhat disappointed that they didn't embrace the technology and blend over this gap too.
Rob, I missed "Excentrifugal Forz" too. I'm not a great Zappa fan, I know this from "You can't do that on stage any more Vol 2".
#4 is a Prince song from the Purple Rain soundtrack. Can't remember the song.
Brooklyn Fox is right about Prince. I thought "1999."
#9 - Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby - Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, & Gillian Welch
This is fun. I'm going to have to do this!
Brooklynfox, you're almost there. Name that tune.
Beth, got it.
Number 5 is Underworld, 'Born Slippy'
(having just got off the motorway listening to Cowgirl at full blast!)
Well done, Snowqueen.
23 is "You're unbelievable" by EMF I think
Anxious, you're right.
24 is "Bohemian like you" by... ummm... thingy
*resists the urge to google it*
Great track, though!
Is 18 Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams?
Never mind that. I don't think that is right.
Anxious: "thingy"?! oh well, that's close enough.
Brooksba: you're right, it isn't.
Thanks for the hints. #16 is Part 2 (Europe-During the War) of "Different Trains" by Steve Reich.
And while I don't know the piece, I see there is an Arvo Part setting of "The Beatitudes" which (if it's in English) I guess is #3.
And #4 is "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince
And, and, #6 is "Fable Of The Brown Ape" by Nick Cave, from Abattoir Blues.
Don't think I'm going to get any more though.
Well done, Rob!
Oh my GOD. I have no idea how I missed #10. Until the end of the world by U2, of course. Of course. Duh!
Well done, Noorster! I'm glad that somebody got that, because "Until the end of the world" is one of my favourite films - and a damned fine soundtrack too: Talking Heads, kd lang and Jane Siberry, Nick Cave, Daniel Lanois and many more.
Also, because I'm on a roll, #18 is Lately by Massive Attack. Thanks for making me dig up Blue Lines again!
Quite right. A fine album which shouldn't be forgotten (even if not quite in the same class as their later works).
Aha! Number 12 is Humdrum - Peter Gabriel!
Correct!
Well, I have no idea what #20 is but I want to know - any song that has the word karaoke in it is all right with me!
#22 is Black Water by the Doobie Brothers and now that stupid song is stuck in my head. I may have to try this at karaoke. Oddly enough, every time I hear this song I think of my father because I first heard it at his house and my sister and I were dancing on the hardwood floor.
Well done, DM! Finally the Doobies fall. I am astonished that this one wasn't identified in the first few minutes, it's such a classic "earworm" - and also several dozen years old.
BTW - the anonymous one was me, but for some reason yesterday blogger comment boxes didn't seem to be accepting people's identities for a while (I had the same problem on another site shortly afterwards)
This was fun! I wish I had known more of the songs.
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