Via Crowdog66
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post a line from the first 30 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 out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: No cheating.
Step 6: Only pick up to four songs at a time so others can guess.
There's a couple of really easy ones in here and a few that people will still be guessing in ten years. I'm interpreting "A line" in step 2 above to mean... well, whatever I damn well want it to mean.
I have just added a short comment to each song. After any further right answers this produces, I'll reveal what they all were in a new post.
1. His talons shine like daggers / On the wings of revolution (I'd be surprised if someone got this, but not shocked - you definitely have heard of the artist, but it's not a well-known track)
2. A storm / will arise / building up / from the hearts of the moons of Mars (Just forget about this one, unless you're Swedish and/or a big prog rock fan)
3. It's time I learned to talk / Stop falling over things / Teach myself to walk (I'm amazed nobody got this one yet. At least three people on my Friends list should be in a position to.)
4. Winds talk to my sails, not me (Doable for a couple of you)
5. Rock gives courage, a way to win the trust (Wouldn't expect anyone to know the song, but there's another way to figure this one out that I wouldn't consider cheating)
6. This bomb-blast lightning waltz / No spoken words, just a scream (VERY famous artist, pretty famous album, but not one of their big hits or anything)
7. By the way, I don't believe you're leaving 'cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream Tori Amos - "Tear In Your Hand"
8. We'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph (Come on, at least half of you know this one!)
9. (An instrumental [New Order - Elegia], you get a break)
10. Lust is not as creative / As its discovery (Doable for a couple of you)
11. The day I take a bend too fast / judgment that could be my last / I'll be wiped right off the slate (Again, very well-known artist, but not a song I'd expect people to know. In this case Colin might actually have the best chance.)
12. And though I count the hours / To be alone's no injury (Not one I'd expect anyone likely to be reading this to get, even though it's from a minor-hit album by a reasonably well-known name)
13. What's that? Hawaiian noises? / He's banging on them bongoes like a chimpanzee Dire Straits - "Money for Nothing"
14. Who'ja drag around my door / If I keep it cracked they won't be there no more (Got a bit of airplay in Canada, but nowhere near as much as that (other) song from the same album. Unknown elsewhere. EDIT: My bad; this one was actually a big hit for them in the US, where the song they are best-known for in Canada was a commercial failure. Weird!)
15. Does the white bright right and degradation / Wear you down the way we want it to (From a solo album by someone best known for his 12-year run in one of my favourite bands. Another song from the same album got a Best Video Grammy.)
16. Put your hand over the side of the boat / And what do you feel? (The most recent non-instrumental song on this list. Someone on my friends list has another song by the same artist on their own list for this meme.)
17. You wrote poetry while I disappeared (By a somewhat up-and-coming band, namewise, who I've talked about here before. But this is from a limited-edition album, so not a gimme even for a fan of theirs.)
18. Each man has his price, Bob / And yours was pretty low (A few of you have definitely heard me play this. From a solo album by an ex-member of a band that also has at least one song on this list - perhaps the most famous such band.)
19. Today was the end of a dream / As I watched your shadow disappear (Moderately well-known band in prog and metal circles, but not one that's had any real mainstream success)
20. (Another instrumental [Alejandro Escovedo - Tell Me Why])
21. Murdered in Munich / Crucified in Rome (Same band as #19, and the hardest song on this list to get the title of EXACTLY right)
22. A rat-tat-tat! / Kaboom boom! / Now take that! / And just a bit of this (The band would be considered alternative or even punk by many, but definitely has some prog affinities as well. The album this is from was very commercially successful, but this track is nevertheless pretty obscure.)
23. Dance for me, my soul shall end its futile ride (By the same artist as #2, and even more unfair - at least #2 is one of their better-known songs, as such things go.)
24. No dark sarcasm in the classroom Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
25. And visions still surviving in a logic-proof shell / That should have been held sacred, safe and hidden well / Are compromised in usury (From one of my favourite bands' first, and least well-known, album)
26. (Instrumental again [David Gilmour - Red Sky at Night])
27. (Instrumental, or at least wordless [The Gathering - The Quiet One])
28. I'll squeeze you I'm a snake / Then down you whole while you're still fresh (This is crazy obscure. Just forget it. But I will say that those lines are literally about being a snake. And that this band's vocalist was, and still is, also a member of a much better-known band.)
29. Fee fee fie fie foe foe fum / I smell smoke in the auditorium The Coasters - "Charlie Brown"
30. I trusted my Venus was untouched in her shell / But the pearls in her oyster were tacky as hell (Even though the song is not very well-known, it has a video - one of the worst music videos I've ever seen in my life.)
Believe it or not, in the original context there's nothing dirty about #28.
Clearly most rock lyrics blow goats.
There's a lot of things that seem statistically improbable about this list. I'd expect a lot more Jon Anderson gibberish (he only wrote one of those and it's relatively lucid), probably more than one fifties song, more Peter Gabriel and/or Genesis (only one song there from both put together), probably some Midnight Oil (nothing from them came up at all). Meanwhile several bands came up twice even though there's only a fraction as much of their stuff on my Gigabeat compared to those artists. Partly as a result of that, this list is so obscure even I would have trouble getting all of it right, two blindingly obvious ones notwithstanding.
I'll throw another clue in, which may help if anyone is doing this by poring over track lists of artists they know I like, or something like that. Of Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Dream Theater and King Crimson, only two appear on this list, with just one song each, and you might be surprised which two. HOWEVER, all of those bands have spawned side projects, solo artists etc; some have even gone under different names for short periods. If those projects are included, all of those artists are represented somehow, and the total number of their songs on the list shoots up from two to six.
EDIT Saturday night around 11:30: I've just made a couple changes, my cotton ears (and, in one case, desire to have them make sense) having betrayed me on #15 and #17. Those are two of the hardest ones already, so they're particularly bad ones to get wrong. While going through and double-checking them I made myself an answer key because, true to my word, I'd already forgotten several, such as #12.
Instructions: If you think you know one, please give me two pieces of information (if it helps, pretend I'm even more spaced out than usual and don't already know what all the songs are):
Example: Suppose that one of the items was:
31. And every single meeting with his so-called superior / Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
Not good enough: "The one by The Police". Consider the possibility that there might be two songs by The Police on the list. From this, I can't even tell that #31 is the song you mean!
Better, but still not quite there: '#31 is "Synchronicity" by The Police'. In most cases this would be good enough, but in this particular case, our hypothetical person with my Gigabeat would only be able to narrow it down to two songs with that information. You would need to specify that you meant Synchronicity II, and not the less well-known Synchronicity I, which is also on there.
Step 2: Post a line from the first 30 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 out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: No cheating.
Step 6: Only pick up to four songs at a time so others can guess.
There's a couple of really easy ones in here and a few that people will still be guessing in ten years. I'm interpreting "A line" in step 2 above to mean... well, whatever I damn well want it to mean.
I have just added a short comment to each song. After any further right answers this produces, I'll reveal what they all were in a new post.
1. His talons shine like daggers / On the wings of revolution (I'd be surprised if someone got this, but not shocked - you definitely have heard of the artist, but it's not a well-known track)
2. A storm / will arise / building up / from the hearts of the moons of Mars (Just forget about this one, unless you're Swedish and/or a big prog rock fan)
3. It's time I learned to talk / Stop falling over things / Teach myself to walk (I'm amazed nobody got this one yet. At least three people on my Friends list should be in a position to.)
4. Winds talk to my sails, not me (Doable for a couple of you)
5. Rock gives courage, a way to win the trust (Wouldn't expect anyone to know the song, but there's another way to figure this one out that I wouldn't consider cheating)
6. This bomb-blast lightning waltz / No spoken words, just a scream (VERY famous artist, pretty famous album, but not one of their big hits or anything)
7. By the way, I don't believe you're leaving 'cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream Tori Amos - "Tear In Your Hand"
8. We'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph (Come on, at least half of you know this one!)
9. (An instrumental [New Order - Elegia], you get a break)
10. Lust is not as creative / As its discovery (Doable for a couple of you)
11. The day I take a bend too fast / judgment that could be my last / I'll be wiped right off the slate (Again, very well-known artist, but not a song I'd expect people to know. In this case Colin might actually have the best chance.)
12. And though I count the hours / To be alone's no injury (Not one I'd expect anyone likely to be reading this to get, even though it's from a minor-hit album by a reasonably well-known name)
13. What's that? Hawaiian noises? / He's banging on them bongoes like a chimpanzee Dire Straits - "Money for Nothing"
14. Who'ja drag around my door / If I keep it cracked they won't be there no more (Got a bit of airplay in Canada, but nowhere near as much as that (other) song from the same album. Unknown elsewhere. EDIT: My bad; this one was actually a big hit for them in the US, where the song they are best-known for in Canada was a commercial failure. Weird!)
15. Does the white bright right and degradation / Wear you down the way we want it to (From a solo album by someone best known for his 12-year run in one of my favourite bands. Another song from the same album got a Best Video Grammy.)
16. Put your hand over the side of the boat / And what do you feel? (The most recent non-instrumental song on this list. Someone on my friends list has another song by the same artist on their own list for this meme.)
17. You wrote poetry while I disappeared (By a somewhat up-and-coming band, namewise, who I've talked about here before. But this is from a limited-edition album, so not a gimme even for a fan of theirs.)
18. Each man has his price, Bob / And yours was pretty low (A few of you have definitely heard me play this. From a solo album by an ex-member of a band that also has at least one song on this list - perhaps the most famous such band.)
19. Today was the end of a dream / As I watched your shadow disappear (Moderately well-known band in prog and metal circles, but not one that's had any real mainstream success)
20. (Another instrumental [Alejandro Escovedo - Tell Me Why])
21. Murdered in Munich / Crucified in Rome (Same band as #19, and the hardest song on this list to get the title of EXACTLY right)
22. A rat-tat-tat! / Kaboom boom! / Now take that! / And just a bit of this (The band would be considered alternative or even punk by many, but definitely has some prog affinities as well. The album this is from was very commercially successful, but this track is nevertheless pretty obscure.)
23. Dance for me, my soul shall end its futile ride (By the same artist as #2, and even more unfair - at least #2 is one of their better-known songs, as such things go.)
24. No dark sarcasm in the classroom Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
25. And visions still surviving in a logic-proof shell / That should have been held sacred, safe and hidden well / Are compromised in usury (From one of my favourite bands' first, and least well-known, album)
26. (Instrumental again [David Gilmour - Red Sky at Night])
27. (Instrumental, or at least wordless [The Gathering - The Quiet One])
28. I'll squeeze you I'm a snake / Then down you whole while you're still fresh (This is crazy obscure. Just forget it. But I will say that those lines are literally about being a snake. And that this band's vocalist was, and still is, also a member of a much better-known band.)
29. Fee fee fie fie foe foe fum / I smell smoke in the auditorium The Coasters - "Charlie Brown"
30. I trusted my Venus was untouched in her shell / But the pearls in her oyster were tacky as hell (Even though the song is not very well-known, it has a video - one of the worst music videos I've ever seen in my life.)
Believe it or not, in the original context there's nothing dirty about #28.
Clearly most rock lyrics blow goats.
There's a lot of things that seem statistically improbable about this list. I'd expect a lot more Jon Anderson gibberish (he only wrote one of those and it's relatively lucid), probably more than one fifties song, more Peter Gabriel and/or Genesis (only one song there from both put together), probably some Midnight Oil (nothing from them came up at all). Meanwhile several bands came up twice even though there's only a fraction as much of their stuff on my Gigabeat compared to those artists. Partly as a result of that, this list is so obscure even I would have trouble getting all of it right, two blindingly obvious ones notwithstanding.
I'll throw another clue in, which may help if anyone is doing this by poring over track lists of artists they know I like, or something like that. Of Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Dream Theater and King Crimson, only two appear on this list, with just one song each, and you might be surprised which two. HOWEVER, all of those bands have spawned side projects, solo artists etc; some have even gone under different names for short periods. If those projects are included, all of those artists are represented somehow, and the total number of their songs on the list shoots up from two to six.
EDIT Saturday night around 11:30: I've just made a couple changes, my cotton ears (and, in one case, desire to have them make sense) having betrayed me on #15 and #17. Those are two of the hardest ones already, so they're particularly bad ones to get wrong. While going through and double-checking them I made myself an answer key because, true to my word, I'd already forgotten several, such as #12.
Instructions: If you think you know one, please give me two pieces of information (if it helps, pretend I'm even more spaced out than usual and don't already know what all the songs are):
- Which one of the above 30 items are you referring to? Either give its number or quote it (a simple copy/paste is fine). Or unambiguously describe it in some other, preferably funny, way.
- What song do you believe it is? Title and artist, please - or if you must give me only one or the other, make it the title. Just the artist tells me very little.
- It may help to ask yourself - If I was in the aforementioned spaced out state and had just the information you gave, could I find the exact song you mean on my Gigabeat? Or would I only be able to narrow it down to two or three or, indeed, fiftyish songs?
Example: Suppose that one of the items was:
31. And every single meeting with his so-called superior / Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
Not good enough: "The one by The Police". Consider the possibility that there might be two songs by The Police on the list. From this, I can't even tell that #31 is the song you mean!
Better, but still not quite there: '#31 is "Synchronicity" by The Police'. In most cases this would be good enough, but in this particular case, our hypothetical person with my Gigabeat would only be able to narrow it down to two songs with that information. You would need to specify that you meant Synchronicity II, and not the less well-known Synchronicity I, which is also on there.