Lyrics Quiz: Mystery Theme

This one comes from Eric, who obviously has a lot of time on his hands. So how come he doesn't have his own blog, huh? Anyway, name the 9 artists and songs - and then identify who comes next.

1. "So I took a big chance at the high school dance, with a missy who was ready to play."
   
2. "I see the dust cloud disappear, without a trace."
   
3. "A year has passed since I wrote my note, but I should have known this right from the start."
   
4. "Are you feeling me? Let's do something. Let's make a bet, 'cause I gotta have you naked by the end of this song."
   
5. "But if this ever-changing world in which we live in."
   
6. "Well he can't be a man, 'cause he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me."
   
7. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life."
   
8. "Me and Del were singing, 'Little Runaway'."
   
9. "I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it, but I probably will."
   

Lyrics Quiz: We Are...

1. "We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving."
   
2. "We are young. Heartache to heartache, we stand. No promises, no demands."
   
3. "We are young, we run green. Keep our teeth nice and clean."
   
4. "We are two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl."
   
5. "We are the goon squad and we're coming to town. Beep-beep. Beep-beep."
   
6. "We are stardust. We are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."
   
7. "We are agents of the free. I've had my fun and now it's time to serve your conscience overseas."
   
8. "We are ugly but we have the music."
   
9. "We are, we are, we are but your children, finding our way around indecision. We are, we are, we are ever helpless. Take us forever."
   
10. "We're one, but we're not the same. Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again."
    
11. "We are flying down to Rio."
    
12. "We are the pretty petty thieves. And you're standing on our street."
    

Lyrics Quiz: Making Love

Just in time for Valentine's Day! (#9 and #10 have "Making Love" in the title.)

1. Cast my memory back there, lord. Sometimes I'm overcome thinking about making love in the green grass, behind the stadium.
   
2. Moving forward, using all my breath. Making love to you was never second best.
   
3. Making love in the afternoon with ------- up in my bedroom. I got up to wash my face. When I come back to bed, someone's taken my place.
   
4. We can funk until the dawn, making love 'til cherry's gone.
   
5. I crawl like a viper through these suburban streets. Make love to these women, languid and bittersweet.
   
6. A force from above, cleaning my soul. Flame on burn desire. Love with tongues of fire. Purge the soul. Make love your goal.
   
7. Making love with his ego.
   
8. A woman's love can lift you up, and women can inspire. I feel like buying flowers and hiring a celestial choir. A choir of castratis to serenade my love. They'd sing a little Bach for us and then we'd make love.
   
9. If I had those golden dreams of my yesterdays, I would wrap you in the heaven 'til I'm dyin' on the way.
   
10. And I know the roads to riches, and I know the ways to fame. I know all the rules, and then I know how to break 'em. And I always know the name of the game.
    

(2/21) And one more I forgot:

Drying up in conversation.
You will be the one who cannot talk.
All your insides fall to pieces.
You just sit there wishing you could still make love.

Music: Country Lyrics

Do you ever see or hear something so strange that it makes you think that either the world has gone crazy or you have? I had that sensation when I saw the TV ad for Snuggies. Truly a WTF moment. (And now I just saw the Slanket video.)

Driving home tonight, I heard "Mental Revenge", as performed by Waylon Jennings. Something about the lyrics struck me as just a little off. "So all in all, if the curtain should fall, Lord, I hope that it falls on you." That's stupid but funny, I suppose. "Well, I hope that the train from Caribou, Maine, runs over your new love affair. You walk the floor from door to door, and pull out your peroxide hair." Bitter! And then the chorus: "I will have sweet, sweet, sweet mental revenge. I will have sweet, sweet, sweet mental revenge." I'm not sure what "mental revenge" is. How does it differ from non-mental revenge? I think it was just my frame of mind, but at the time, this song struck me as completely nuts.

Shouldn't be surprised by the repetition of "sweet" considering the song was written by stammering Mel Tillis.

That song was immediately followed by Randy Houser's "Anything Goes", and that has great lyrics (written by Brice Long and John Wiggins). "Anything goes when everything's gone." It represents what I like best about country music - clever yet meaningful wordplay.

Lyrics Quiz: Save

Here's one I've been "saving" up. #1-7 have "Save" or "Saving" in the title. #8-12 don't.

1. "And you wanted to dance, so I asked you to dance. But fear is in your soul. Some people call it a one night stand. But we can call it paradise."
   
2. "We try to hustle them, try to bustle them, try to cuss them. The cops want someone to bust down on Orleans Avenue."
   
3. "When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights. The curtains drawn in the little room downstairs. Prima Donna. Lord, you really should have been there. Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair."
   
4. "Sooner or later, your legs give way, you hit the ground."
   
5. "Its not very easy, living all alone. My friends try and tell me, find a man of my own. But each time I try, I just break down and cry, 'cause Id rather be home feeling blue."
   
6. "Go on and close the curtains, 'cause all we need is candle light. You and me and a bottle of wine. Going to hold you tonight. Well we know I'm going away, and how I wish, I wish it weren't so. So take this wine and drink with me. Let's delay our misery."
   
7. "Though it hurts to go away, it's impossible to stay. But there's one thing I must say before I go. I love You (I love you). You know." (Video clue)
   
8. "There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how. Because maybe you're gonna be the one who saves me."
   
9. "Jack, he is a banker. And Jane, she is a clerk. And both of them save their money when they come home from work."
   
10. "And some have sailed from a distant shore. And the company takes what the company wants. And nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground. Who's gonna save me?" (Not "Who's gonna shave me?" as some thought at the time.)
    
11. "Like a worm on a hook. Like a knight from some old fashioned book. I have saved all my ribbons for thee."
    
12. "Don’t help me - I can save myself. If I’m incomplete, don’t fill the gaps. Save me from the people who would save me from myself."
    

Bonus: The Triffids, "Save What You Can" video.

Well it doesn't look much like we'll see the New Year,
'Cos all the bright young faces are here.
And I can't see us rising to their occasion any more.
No, not their Christmas cheer.

Time is against us, even love conspires to disgrace us.
And with things being what they are ...
Yes and things being what they are

Oh my friend, we used to walk in the flames.
Now somebody's taken my arms.
The shadows are taller, you're missing your halo.
With your face in the half-light you look like a stranger.

You made me catch my breath just then,
You made me catch my breath.
Is that you... is that still you?

If you cannot run, then crawl.
If you can leave, then leave it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
Steal it all.

The final time we touch,
I watch as you enter the church.
You turn and you wave, then you kneel and you pray.
And you save of yourself what you can save.

If you cannot run, then crawl.
If you can leave, then leave it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
Steal it all.

And between ourselves, and the end at hand,
Save what you can.

(Official website)

Lyrics Quiz: Mystery Theme 4

A "mystery theme" quiz from Eric:

1. Mid-west farmer's daughters really make you feel all right.
   
2. Stopped into a church, I passed along the way. Well I got down on my knees, and I pretend to pray.
   
3. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast.
   
4. Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow, I think I might be sinking.
   
5. Marry me girl, be my fairy to the world, be my very own constellation.
   

Bonus: alphabetical lyrics quiz by Matthew Baldwin. I don't know about you, but this quiz really does a number on my brain!

Lyrics Quiz: Doors

1. If you didn't come to party, don't bother knockin' on my door.
   
2. From your front porch to my front seat. The door's open but the ride it ain't free.
   
3. I've packed my bags. Cleaned the floor. Watch me walking, walking out the door.
   
4. Then the door was open and the wind appeared. The candles blew, and then disappeared.
   
5. Up the staircase to the first floor. Turn the key and slowly unlock the door, as a man breathes into his saxophone.
   
6. I caught you knockin' at my cellar door. I love you, baby, can I have some more?
   
7. All the doors I closed one time, will open up again.
   
8. And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, she cried to me, hey, why not ask for more?
   
9. Light the candle. Put the lock upon the door. You have sent the maid home early, like a thousand times before.
   
10. Close your eyes, close the door, you don't have to worry any more.
    

And for those beginners who prefer songs with the theme word in the title:

1. Mama, take this badge off of me. I can't use it anymore.
   
2. You men eat your dinner, eat your pork and beans. I eat more chicken than any man ever seen.
   
3. Don't know why she's leaving, or where she's gonna go. I guess she's got her reasons but I just don't want to know.
   
4. Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon? Doo, doo doo.
   
5. My baby makes me proud. Lord, don't she make me proud. She never makes a scene by hanging all over me in a crowd.
   

Lyrics Quiz: Strange

Fancy a bit of "Strange"? (This quiz and that quote were RB's idea.)

1. All across the nation - such a strange vibration.
   
2. It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
   
3. All these strange relationships really get me down. I see nothin' wrong with spreading myself around.
   
4. And in the darkened underpass, I thought, "Oh God, my chance has come at last." But then a strange fear gripped me and I just couldn't ask.
   
5. ...Strange highs and strange lows...
   
6. Strange voices are saying. (What did they say?) Things I can't understand.
   
7. Any girl in the world could have easily known me better. She said, "You're strange but don't change," and I let her.
   
8. Strange days indeed. Most peculiar, mama.
   
9. Strange fascination, fascinating me.
   
10. When your world is full of strange arrangements, and gravity won't pull you through.
    
11. Ain't it funny, ain't it strange, the way a man's opinion changes when he starts to face that lonely night.
    
12. We're sailing on a strange sea, blown by a strange wind, carrying the strangest crew that ever sinned.
    

Lyrics Quiz: Mystery Theme 3

Eric offers this Lyrics Quiz, and dryly notes: "For some reason I thought of this theme recently." He adds a warning: "There's one band with two entries."

1. When the sun shines, they slip into the shade, and sip their lemonade. When the sun shines...when the sun...shines.
   
2. Oh no, my love's at an end. Oh no, it's...
   
3. I went down Virginia, seekin' shelter from the storm. Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow. Five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains. And I wonder, still I wonder...
   
4. I can't sleep, and I lay and I think. The night is hot, and black as ink. Oh God, I need a drink...
   
5. Someone told me long ago. There's a calm before the storm, I know; it's been comin' for some time.
   
6. Now I know the secret; there is nothing that I lack. If I give my love to you, you'll surely give it back.
   
7. Well there's a light in your eye that keeps shining, like a star that can't wait for the night. I hate to think I've been blinded baby, why can't I see you tonight?
   
8. Been walking my mind to an easy time, my back turned towards the sun. Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around. Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line, to talk about things to come. Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.
   

Lyrics Quiz: Bad

Can you name these "bad" songs?

1. I make a rich woman beg, I'll make a good woman steal. I'll make an old woman blush, and make a young woman squeal.
   
2. You ever love someone so much you thought your little heart was gonna break in two? (I didn't think so.)
   
3. Well they say the sky's the limit. And to me that's really true. But my friend you have seen nothin'. Just wait 'til I get through.
   
4. All those downtown ladies call him "Treetop Lover". All the men just call him "sir".
   
5. If I could throw this lifeless lifeline to the wind. Leave this heart of clay. See you walk, walk away.
   
6. I ain't got a fever, got a permanent disease. It'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy.
   
7. Friday night and the strip is hot. Sun's gone down and they're about to trot. Spirits high and they look hot. Do you wanna get down?
   
8. Easin' down the highway in a new Cadillac. I had a fine fox in front, I had three more in the back.
   
9. Hope you got your things together. Hope you are quite prepared to die.
   
10. I know you're looking for a ruby in a mountain of rocks. But there ain't no Coupe De Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.
    

By the way, when will movie studios stop using #1 in movie trailers? It's currently being used to advertise the DVD of "Ghost Rider".

Lyrics Quiz: Irish Artists

For the day that's in it, to be sure, to be sure. All songs are written by Irish people (or, at least, qualified to play football for Ireland - the "Granny Rule").

1. Now we go steady to the pictures. I always get chocolate stains on my pants. My father, he's going crazy. Says I'm living in a trance.
   
2. From Bissau to Palau in the shade of Avalon. From Fiji to Tiree and the isles of Ebony.
   
3. I was on the inside when they pulled the four walls down. I was looking through the window. I was lost, I am found.
   
4. Forty shades of green. yeah. Sixty shades of red. Heroes going cheap these days. Price: a bullet in the head.
   
5. Sir thwacks you on the knees, knees you in the groin, elbow in the face. Bruises bigger than dinner plates.
   
6. And when that foghorn blows, I will be coming home. And when that foghorn blows, I want to hear it. I don't have to fear it.
   
7. And I swore, I swore I would be true. And, honey, so did you. So why were you holding her hand? Is that the way we stand? Were you lying all the time? Was it just a game to you?
   
8. And there's a black cat lying in the shadow of the gatepost. And the black cat tells me that love is on its way.
   
9. 'Cause the winds might change, and the winds might blow over you. And the winds might cut you in two, unless perhaps you get a raincoat.
   
10. When you pissed yourself in Frankfurt, and got syph down in Cologne, and you heard the rattling death trains as you lay there all alone.
    

Music: Birthplace Quiz

Match the singers to their birthplace.

1. David Byrne (Talking Heads)		a. England
2. Win Butler (Arcade Fire)		b. Scotland
3. Lloyd Cole (The Commotions)		c. Germany
4. Sebastian Bach (Skid Row)		d. Texas
5. Tanita Tikaram		e. Canada

Incidentally, if you go to Sebastian Bach's Wikipedia page looking for clues, you'll learn that, "he has also reportedly stolen Nardwuar's favorite wool tuque." I thought this was "Wikipedia vandalism", but it may be true. However, I note on the Chris Martin (Coldplay) page, "He has a baritenor voice and is known for his frequent use of fellatio."

Lyrics Quiz: Oh!

Suggested by Eric based on a previous post, can you fill in the missing names? Bonus points for the artist.

1. Oh, _______. Oh don't you cry for me. For I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee.
   
2. Oh oh ______. Let me love you 'til the morning comes. Oh oh ______. You know I want to be the only one.
   
3. Oh ______, our love holds on, holds on.
   
4. Oh ______, don't lead the life that they made for you. I'll be gone a long while and you'll know. And don't feel sorry for lover boy.
   
5. Ah! ______! Here we go again! Ah! ______! Is it ever gonna end? Ah! ______! Here we go again! Ah! ______! We ain't learned our lesson yet!
   
6. Oh ______, I am but a fool. Darling I love you though you treat me cruel. You hurt me and you made me cry. But if you leave me I will surely die.
   
7. Oh ______, why did you do it? You should've called me on the telephone.
   
8. Oh ______, how could you treat me this way? Hey, hey. How could you treat me this way?
   
9. Oh ______, I think I'm in trouble here. I should have believed you when I heard you saying it. The only time that love is an easy game is when two other people are playing it.
   

Lyrics Quiz: Guitars

1. He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack and sit beneath the tree by the railroad track.
   
2. The kids was just crass, he was the Nazz, with God-given ass. He took it all too far but, boy, could he play guitar.
   
3. All I got is a red guitar, three chords and the truth.
   
4. Now that ain't workin'. That's the way you do it. You play the guitar on the MTV.
   
5. Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk. And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk from your front porch to my front seat.
   
6. Everybody told me you can't get far on thirty-seven dollars and a Jap guitar.
   
7. Well, late at night when the people were gone, he used to pick up my guitar, and sing a song in a shaky voice that was real as the day was long.
   
8. With the rerun shows and the cocaine nose-job, the daytime crap of the folksinger slob. He hung himself with a guitar string.
   
9. Take the guitar player for a ride. He ain't never been satisfied. He thinks he owes some kind of debt. Be years before he gets over it.
   
10. So, I jumped on a bus to Dun Laoghaire, stopping off to pick up my guitar. When a drunk on a bus told me how to get rich, I was glad we weren't going too far.
    

Bonus: What guitar are you? (I'm a Fender Telecaster.)

Lyrics Quiz: Eric's Two Themes

Eric presents a Lyrics Quiz with two separate (but equal) themes.

Theme A

1. So don't worry about tomorrow, take it today. Forget about the check, we'll get hell to pay.
   
2. Yeah, my whole family done give up on me, and it makes me feel oh so bad. The only one who'll hang out with me, is my dear Old Granddad.
   
3. Take another shot of courage, wonder why the right words never come, you just get numb.
   

Theme B

1. Climb in the back with your head in the clouds, and you're gone.
   
2. Every day I work so hard, bringing home my hard earned pay. Try to love you baby, but you push me away.
   
3. Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back.
   
4. When I first met you, didn't realize. I can't forget you, for your surprise.
   You introduced me, to my mind. And left me wanting, you and your kind.
   
5. Relax, relax, relax, I need some information first. Just the basic facts, can you show me where it hurts?
   

I only got the last one. (D'oh! Should have got B3 too!)

Lyrics Quiz: Clothes

Lyrics about clothes. Name the artist & song.

1. They seek him here, they seek him there. His clothes are loud, but never square.
   
2. I, I love the colorful clothes she wears, and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair.
   
3. She's so swishy in her satin and tat, in her frock coat and bippity-boppity hat. Oh, God, I could do better than that.
   
4. Talking to the guy who lives downstairs and walking around in ridiculous flares.
   
5. I'd like to drop my trousers to the Queen. Every sensible child will know what this means.
   
6. Here he comes, he's all dressed in black. PR shoes and a big straw hat.
   
7. Feel this sweater, there's no better than authentic Irish Setter.
   
8. So baby, let's sell your diamond rings to buy some boots and faded jeans and go away. This coat and tie is choking me. In your high society, you cry all day.
   
9. The way you wear your hat. The way you sip your tea.
   
10. Bless my cotton socks I'm in the news.
    
11. Your hat strategically dipped below one eye. Your scarf it was apricot.