Sunday, April 27, 2008

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Words that rang, rhyme that sprang

The Ridger, at The Greenbelt (that always seems like a slightly odd reference, with the two “the”s, but hey), decided to post a list thingy the other day before she headed to an airport. I think I’ll post the same list thingy, having just come home from an airport, and having listened to some music on my BlackBerry during the flight. Here’s how The Ridger introduces it:

I saw this at Sciencewoman’s blog. I don’t have lots of commenters, but what the hell, I’ll give it a go, especially since I’ll be on an airplane (or in an airport) for most of the day...

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right. I’ll put it in italics if the title has been gotten, but not the artist.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.

She notes that she modified it to eliminate instrumentals — yes, of course — but I had none come up. I also planned to modify it to eliminate songs where the title is in the first line (several of The Ridger’s were), but as it turned out, I didn’t get any anyway (though one is close enough that it’s probably a “gimme” for it). I also was a little loose with the definition of “the first line”, sometimes giving what others might think the first two lines.

And you wonder why one always has to remind people not to look the answers up. I mean, where’s the fun in that, anyway? But, yeah, you do have to say it, or else someone will just crank ’em all through Google and post the result. Bleh.

Here’s my list; post answers in the comments. I won’t make a guessing game out of which version I have, so in the cases where there’re multiple likely versions, any will do. Be aware that a couple of them are pretty obscure.

Update, 28 Apr: For any that are unanswered after a week, I’ll update and add more lyrics.

Update, 4 May: More words added... each unanswered song now has the whole first verse.

Update, 11 May: Full solutions there now, including enough lyrics to get to the titles.

  1. Many times I tried to tell you, many times I cried alone
    Always I’m surprised how well you cut my feelings to the bone
    Don’t wanna leave you, really; I’ve invested too much time
    To give you up that easy to the doubts that complicate your mind

    We Belong, by Pat Benatar
  2. Well, it’s a strange old game, you learn it slow
    One step forward and it’s back you go
    You’re standing on the throttle, standing on the brake
    In the groove ’til you make a mistake

    Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug
    Sometimes it all comes together; sometimes you’re a fool in love
    Sometimes you’re a Louisville slugger; sometimes you’re the ball
    Sometimes it all comes together; sometimes you’re gonna lose it all

    The Bug, written by Mark Knopfler, sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter

  3. Oh, it’s been such a long, long time
    Looked like I’d get you off of my mind
    But I can’t; just the thought of you
    Turns my whole world misty blue

    Misty Blue, written by Bobby Montgomery, sung by Dorothy Moore

  4. Are you breathing what I’m breathing? Are your wishes the same as mine?
    The Consequences of Falling, by k.d. lang
  5. If you’ve been thinking you’re all that you’ve got
    Then don’t feel alone any more
    ’cause when we’re together, then you’ve got a lot
    ’cause I am the river and you are the shore

    And it goes on and on, watching the river run
    Further and further from things that we’ve done
    Leaving them one by one
    And we have just begun watching the river run
    Listening and learning and yearning; run, river, run

    Watching the River Run, by Loggins and Messina

  6. When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights
    Someone Saved My Life Tonight, by Elton John
  7. I know your leaving’s too long overdue
    For far too long I’ve had nothing new to show to you
    Through dry eyes I watched your plane fade off west of the moon
    And it felt so strange to walk away alone

    No regrets, no tears goodbye
    Don’t want you back; we’d only cry again
    And say goodbye again

    No Regrets, written by Tom Rush, sung by Emmylou Harris

  8. On the road of experience and trying to find my own way
    Sometimes I wish that I could fly away
    When I think that I’m moving, suddenly things stand still
    I’m afraid ’cause I think that they always will

    And I’m looking for space, and to find out who I am
    And I’m looking to know and understand
    It’s a sweet, sweet dream; sometimes I’m almost there
    Sometimes I fly like an eagle; sometimes I’m deep in despair

    Looking for Space, by John Denver

  9. Mama, where’s your pretty little girl tonight?
    Tryin’ to run before she can walk, that’s right
    She’s going out, she has young man waiting
    She’s going out, she has young man waiting

    Tenderness on the Block, by Warren Zevon
  10. I was standing at the counter, I was waiting for the change
    When I heard that old familiar music start
    It was like a lighted match had been tossed into my soul
    It was like a dam had broken in my heart

    After taking every detour, getting lost and losing track
    So that even if I wanted I could not find my way back
    After driving out the memory of the way things might have been
    After I’ve forgotten all about us, the song remembers when

    The Song Remembers When, written by Hugh Prestwood, sung by Trisha Yearwood

  11. A man conceived a moment’s answers to the dream
    Staying the flowers daily, sensing all the themes
    As a foundation left to create the spiral aim
    A movement regained and regarded both the same
    All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

    And You And I, by Yes

  12. Well, she’s all you’d ever want, she’s the kind I’d like to flaunt
    She’s a Lady, written by Paul Anka, sung by Tom Jones
  13. There was a time gone by when my heart brushed the sky
    And simple love was the love I knew
    We walked as one back then, untouched by wild winds
    Now once again I remember you

    We danced, we clicked our heels, we dreamed in feathered fields
    And told the stories that lovers tell
    You sang the songs anew and made them all seem true
    With a voice that I loved so well

    Did I ever tell you your name was music to me?
    Did I ever show you from the start?
    Did I ever know you would fly, oh fly away?
    Did I ever offer you my heart?

    Music to Me, by Bill Staines

  14. Cómo lo ves, que el destino llegó a decirlo
    Ahora que estamos mirando al futuro aquí
    Toda la vida quisimos hablar cara a cara
    Como amigos con dos corazones igual

    Desde aquel día que hablamos de andar mano en mano
    Con canciones de paz o quizás con palabras de amor
    Hoy quiero ya prestentarnos con algo posible
    Si el paso al destino no supo intentarlo jamás

    ¡Ya ves que solo nos fuimos!
    ¡Ya ves que de un modo lo hicimos!
    Así lo escribimos y el paso al destino siguió.

    El Paso del Destino, by Tish Hinojosa

  15. I hear the drums echoing tonight
    Africa, by Toto
  16. We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline
    Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple
  17. If there’s one thing in my life that’s missing
    It’s the time that I spend alone sailing on the cool and bright, clear water
    With lots of those friendly people, they’re showing me ways to go
    But I never want to lose their inspiration

    Cool Change, by the Little River Band
  18. I’ve got a feeling we could be serious, girl
    Right at this moment, I could promise you the world
    Before we go crazy, before we explode
    There’s something ’bout me, baby, you got to know

    I get off on ’57 Chevys
    I get off on screaming guitar
    I like the way it gets me every time it hits me
    I’ve got a rock-and-roll, I’ve got a rock-and-roll heart

    I’ve Got a Rock and Roll Heart, by Eric Clapton

  19. Well, my time went so quickly, I went lickety-splitly
    Ol’ ’55, written by Tom Waits, performed by The Eagles
  20. ’twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
    Shelter from the Storm, by Bob Dylan
  21. The buzzard took the monkey for a ride in the air
    Straighten Up and Fly Right, written by Nat King Cole, sung by Linda Ronstadt
  22. A love-struck Romeo sang the streets a serenade
    Romeo and Juliet, by Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler)
  23. Guess mine is not the first heart broken
    Hopelessly Devoted to You, written by John Farrar, sung by Olivia Newton-John
  24. Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
    The Music of the Night, from “Phantom of the Opera”
  25. Day after day I’m more confused
    Drift Away, by Dobie Gray
Go wild.

25 comments:

A'Llyn said...

15. Africa, Toto

6. I don't know that title, but I can hear Elton John singing that.

20. Simple Twist of Fate (?), Bob Dylan

24. The Music of the Night, from Phantom of the Opera...whoever sings that. Michael something, maybe, on the album I had?

Urge to Google...rising... Must...resist...

25. Drift Away, by whoever sings that. About 20 people/groups, I think, none of whom I can think of offhand.

Barry Leiba said...

15, 24, 25, yes. Sarah Brightman is the "Music of the Night" singer on the recording I was listening to.

6, 20: you got the artists right, but not the songs... so I'll leave them up.

lidija said...

19. Tom Waits (that I knew as well as all the lyrics of that song). And I know all his songs but none of the titles and was going to guess randomly from the lyrics... until K. ruined it for me and told me the title so it doesn't count now.

22. "Romeo and Juliet" let's say Indigo Girls though that's not the original, which I'm guessing you have (and I hear the man's voice and I named every other band of their time... from that high school mix I had... but am way too tired to get it right)

Barry Leiba said...

19: Yes, Tom Waits wrote it. I was listening to a much more well known cover. But don't you think you and K can be a team on this?

22: Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) wrote it, and that's the version I have, from the Making Movies album. Emily and Amy did their cover some ten years later or so.

Anonymous said...

"We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline"

Deep Purple! Can't name the song, though.

{inw}

fev said...

"Smoke on the Water" (we all have to give away our age sometime)

lidija said...

If you don't consider it cheating then K said "Old (ole' 'ol') 55" which is right there in the 2nd verse. Never heard of the cover, please enlighten.

briwei said...

I can only add one new contribution:

23. Hopelessly Devoted from the Grease Soundtrack. Porbably the Olivia Newton John version?

Barry Leiba said...

Da, it's spelled "Ol’ ’55" (with both apostrophes, a reference to a 1955 car), but I used to think the song was called "Freeway, Cars, and Trucks" because of the line "Now the sun's coming up / I'm riding with Lady Luck / Freeway, cars, and trucks / Stars beginning to fade / [etc...]"

The most famous cover, and the one I have, is by The Eagles, from the album On the Border. The wonderful (and Canadian) Sarah McLachlan also did a good version.

lidija said...

21. la la la... straighten up and fly right, straighten up and stay right, cool down, papa,... la la la... again I don't know titles? Straighten up? - Ummmm, Natalie Cole I know. Others?

Barry Leiba said...

You got the title in the lyrics, so that counts: "Straighten Up and Fly Right". It's by Nat King Cole, and, yes, daughter Natalie covered it. The version I have is sung by my mega-hero Linda Ronstadt, from one of her three albums with Nelson Riddle, released together as a two-CD set called ’round Midnight.

Barry Leiba said...

Hm, looks like y'all're working this list from the bottom up.

scouter573 said...

1. Long and Winding Road, Beatles.
20. Shelter from the Storm, Dylan.

I think.
-andy

Barry Leiba said...

"Shelter from the Storm", it is.

But the other is wrong. You're thinking of these lyrics:
"Many times I've been alone, and many times I've cried
Anyway, you'll never know the many ways I've tried
But still they lead me back to the long, winding road"


Not the same... and it's not at the beginning of the song.

The Ridger, FCD said...

4. kd lang, Consequences of Falling
12. Tom Jones, (She’s a) Lady

The Ridger, FCD said...

I thought of it! 6 - Someone Saved My Life Tonight

The Ridger, FCD said...

No help at all.

ClumberKim said...

9. is Tenderness on the Block, Warren Zevon

ClumberKim said...

9. Or Shawn Colvin.

Barry Leiba said...

Warren, for me. Good... I wasn't sure anyone would get that one.

briwei said...

New lyrics are no help for me, unfortunately. :(

ClumberKim said...

It bugged me for two days, and I'm embarrassed to admit what a product of the 80s I am but 1. is We Belong, Pat Benetar.

Barry Leiba said...

Oh, hey, don't be embarrassed about that. I noted when I wrote them down how many of them are from the '70s.

We be who we be....

Barry Leiba said...

Hm. I approved a comment this morning, but it seems to've gone missing. "The Beatty Towers Girl" got number 17, "Cool Change" by the Little River Band.

The Ridger, FCD said...

A lot of mine were from even earlier than the 70s...