music lyrics meme

[dbskyler]

I've seen this meme around before, but it's making the rounds again (most recently by justice_turtle and eponymous_rose). Also, I've never done it, so I figure it's about time! So, here we go:

1. Open up your music player. Hit shuffle.
2. Record the first few lines of the first thirty songs that come up that do not give away the name of the song. Skip instrumentals, but don't skip the embarrassing ones.
3. Make hapless LJ denizens guess the song names and artists. Google is cheating. For musical songs, the name of the musical is acceptable in place of the artist.
4. Least hapless LJ denizen wins admiration. That's right, just like a lobbyist in budget season, the points don't matter.

I found it interesting that despite hitting "shuffle," I got songs from the same album more than once. Also, as you can see, I have some musicals in my music player. Not to mention some operettas. (And yes, that's a hint. *g*)

If any songs remain un-guessed, I'll add lyrics to them until a) someone gets it or b) it becomes clear that no one else on the internet shares my taste in music.



1. Summer lovin', had me a blast
Summer lovin', happened so fast "Summer Nights" from the musical "Grease." Guessed by persiflage_1 and lost_spook

2. My father married a pure Cherokee
My mother's people were ashamed of me

3. Tommy used to work on the docks
Union's been on strike, he's down on his luck, it's tough
So tough "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. Guessed by pitry and justice_turtle

4. ETA additional lyrics:
They put a parking lot on a piece of land
Where the supermarket used to stand
Before that they put up a bowling alley
On the site that used to be the local Palais
That's where the big bands used to come and play
My sister went there on a Saturday

5. [not the first words]
Did you find a directing sign on the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign, just let it shine, within your mind

6. The local rock group down the street is trying hard to learn their song
They serenade the weekend squire who just came out to mow his lawn "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by the Monkees. Guessed by justice_turtle

7. You say that we've got nothing in common
No common ground to start from and we're falling apart "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something. Guessed by lost_spook

8. [not the first words]
He’ll show you where the danger lies
But he can’t help it if you capsize
He’ll light your way but that is all
Steer your own ship back to shore

9. ETA additional lyrics:
Alarm goes off at seven and you start uptown
You put in your eight hours for the powers that have always been
Till it's five p.m.
Then you go
Downtown
Where the folks are broke
Downtown
Where your life's a joke

10. Well, the East Coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear "California Girls" by The Beach Boys. Guessed by persiflage_1 and justice_turtle

11. I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it through
Didn't know how lost I was until I found you "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. Guessed by lost_spook

12. Creeping up the blind side, shinning up the wall
Stealing through the dark of night

13. First we got the bomb, and that was good
'Cause we love peace and motherhood

14. First you get down on your knees
Fiddle with your rosaries
Bow your head with great respect, and
Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!
[If you know the song, this one is very, very easy to identify!]

15. Does she walk, does she talk?
Does she come complete?

16. Fair is Rose as bright May-day
Soft is Rose as the warm west-wind
Sweet is Rose as the new-mown hay
Rose is queen of maiden-kind! From "Ruddigore" by Gilbert & Sullivan. Guessed by justice_turtle

17. ETA additional lyrics:
It was one of those great stories that you can't put down at night
The hero knew what he had to do and he wasn't afraid to fight
The villain goes to jail while the hero goes free
I wish it were that simple for me

18. [not the first words]
You gotta toss and turn and feel all right, yeah I feel all right
I said yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)
[I *think* I counted those correctly . . . ]

19. [not the first words]
I've got a secret I've been hiding under my skin
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM

20. Go away, madam, I should say, madam
You display, madam, shocking taste
It is rude, madam, to intrude, madam
With your brood, madam, brazen-faced!
[Strictly speaking, that's not the very beginning, but those are the first words of the track] From "Iolanthe" by Gilbert & Sullivan. Guessed by lost_spook

21. [not the first words]
I think of your mother
And the tears she cried
They would cry for none other

22. Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Just like I'd never gone, I knew the song "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna. Guessed by lost_spook

23. Henceforth, Strephon, cast away
Crooks and pipes and ribbons so gay
Flocks and herds that bleat and low
Into Parliament you shall go!
[First words of the track] From "Iolanthe" by Gilbert & Sullivan. Guessed by lost_spook and justice_turtle

24. On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life

25. Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve

26. [not the first words]
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
The stage is set, the band starts playing
Suddenly, your heart is pounding
Wishing secretly you were a star

27. [not the first words]
I've been told he's chasing dragons
And I fear it may be true
If my groom should hear about it
Heaven knows what he will do

28. Once I was a funky singer
Playin' in a rock and roll band

29. [not the first words]
You've been around all night
And that's a little long
You think you've got the right
But I think you've got it wrong

30. Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

1 is from Grease

and 10 is from California Girls by The Beach Boys

for the rest - I got nuthin'!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Correct and correct!

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

TBH musical or music of the 50s and 60s are my limit because I've been listening to clasical music almost exclusively for 20 years.

[thisbluespirit]

1. Grease (Hmm. I always kind of thought that one was called Summer Loving, but evidently it isn't.)

4. Big Yellow Taxi? by Joni Mitchell/Amy Grant/Whoever??
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's by the Deep Blue Somethings!
9. 9 to 5?? Dolly Parton
22. La Isla Bonita by Madonna.
11. I knew You Were Waiting - george Michael & Aretha Franklin.
3, & 17 (especially 17) sound familiar, but I can't name them.

Also I randomly guess that 20 and 23 are G&S, but what do I know? ;-)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

1 -- correct! The title is "Summer Nights," but perhaps the first words do give it away too much? On the other hand, I think it's nice when some of them are easy to guess. : )

4 -- no, sorry, that's not it. Want to guess again? I'll add some more lyrics.

7 -- correct!

9 -- nope, not right. Here's a hint: it's from a musical.

22 -- correct!

11 -- sorry, that's not right either.

20 and 23 are indeed G&S! They're both from Iolanthe. I was shocked when I got no less than three G&S songs (two from the same show) -- it makes it seem like my iPod is 1/3 Gilbert and Sullivan, which I'm (pretty) sure isn't right. But I do have playlists of shows. I like to listen to musicals on long drives.

[thisbluespirit]

:-)

Now you've put more lyrics in 4 and 9, I definitely don't know them!

11 is annoying me; I can sing the, but I've merged it in my head with the chorus of I Knew You Were Waiting to create a new, hybrid song. Ah well... :-)

And I amused that I was actually right about the G&S!

[thisbluespirit]

Ahahaha. Sorry, I managed to sing some more of 11 and I think it must be:

11. Like A Virgin - Madonna.

And if it is, you must have been amused when I got Las Isla Bonita, but not that...

(Also, sorry. I do seem to be unfortunately spamming you today.)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

You got it!!!!!!

(And yes, I was amused. I also considered adding lyrics to it, but then I thought, "It's 'Like a Virgin'! Surely someone will get it!" And you did! :D)

[thisbluespirit]

I still want to know what 17 is, though! :-)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I've added more lyrics to 17 and 4. I'll add more lyrics to the others when I have the chance to sit down and go through them all. 18 and 29 are tricky, though, because their titles are all over those songs. Especially 18.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

#3 is Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Ding ding ding, correct!

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

#3 is "Livin' on a Prayer", actually by Bon Jovi but I always think of the Wil Wheaton RockBand version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35qZYUvvhKA), which I love exceedingly. Man really knows how to work an audience.

If #4 isn't "Pave Paradise, put up a parking lot (You don't know what you've got till it's gone)", I've got nothing.

#6 is Pleasant Valley Sunday! :D Yay, song nobody else has identified yet!

#10 is California Girls by The Beach Boys (wow, I didn't realize their... syntax was quite so distinctive. I was like "Beach Boys! Okay, must be California Girls, because symmetry" even though I've only heard that song once.)

#16 sounds vaguely like Gilbert & Sullivan, but I don't recognize it. O_O (And I can't recall which opera has a girl called Rose, because my brain is just putting Billie Piper in all the roles I think of... ;P)

#23 is obviously from "Iolanthe" by Gilbert and Sullivan - I know it's quite early in the soundtrack, but not what the title is.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

3 -- correct!

4 -- no, that is NOT "Big Yellow Taxi," although thisbluespirit guessed the same thing. It's not a very obscure song -- at least I don't think it is -- but it must be hard to guess from that beginning. I'll add lyrics to it and you can try again.

6 -- *g* As soon as this one came up, I knew you would get it!!!!!!!!! By the way, I also have "Valleri" and "Last Train to Clarksville" on my iPod. :D

16 -- yes, that is G&S! It's the opening song from Ruddigore. The women's chorus is singing about how they want Rose to hurry up and get married so the village men will stop courting her and pay them some attention. Rose's full name is Rose Maybud (otherwise known as Sweet Rose Maybud, otherwise known as That Soprano With the Etiquette Book).

23 -- yes, that is of course from Iolanthe. It's part of the Act I finale. (As is #20. Yes, I got two tracks not only from the same show, but from the same finale! Although it is a long finale.)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

And oops, I skipped one. You are of course also correct about "California Girls"!