A Music Meme

As seen at Dr. Crazy's, a music meme almost guaranteed to upset the nun next door and to drive away the stuck in office hour blues.

First, the rules:
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
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING. [EDIT: Technically, as was pointed out to me, this isn't a step, it's a rule. So no cheating.]

Here goes:
1) There was a time when I had nothing to explain
2) Tonight I'm tangled in my blanket of clouds
3) When you reach number ten and think the struggle ends [Hint: This is, I think, a B-Side, and unlike most of the band's songs it was written by Stewart Copeland]
4) I was born my papa's son - a wandeirn' eye and a smokin' gun [Hint: from an alt-country singer's second album out of rehab that had this as the almost-title track]
5) Look up from the hymnal, look 'round at the faces of families closing their eyes [Hint: I don't have any good trivia here, so the band is Cold War Kids, now you can guess the song]
6) ah, heaven - here it is again [Hint: Long before Canadians were doing supergroups and collaborative projects, this group was playing in NYC and has included at different times Bootsy Collins and Michael Stipe. The title is in the quote.]
7) In tired paths of light
8) Now my room has got two windows but the sunshine never comes through [Hint: Heartbreak hotel was on Lonely Street, while this song by an R&B genius featured a similar sounding name]
9) I've been seeing the same old things [Hint: This was a new acquisition, so I've got no trivia. The band is Ted Leo + the Pharmacists]
10) I cover the waterfront, watching the ships go by [Hint: The title's in the lyric. The singer's known for his Detroit style blues.]
11) We've been here too long trying to get along [Hint: Former Runaway wants to know what you want to do]
12) I'm looking for an interruption [Hint: Athens' favorite suns aren't content to rest]
13) I took the train back, back to where I came from [Hint: I guess it's better than walking with ghosts...]
14) I wonder, wondering all around this big place I live [Hint: a member of the Strokes offers this song that shares its title with a Marilyn Manson song]
15) Well, I'm a little bit lonesome, I'm a little bit blue [Hint: lyric has the title; by an Australian country singer]
16) Green hours, blue ropes, hot wax for hearts that are cold [Hint: avant punks? art stars? Karen sends smooches.]
17) Brassy monkey - that funky monkey
18) The street's alive with camera crews [Hint: post-Genesis, this song's about a hell of a way into the photo album]
19) There's a solitary man crying "Hold me!" [Hint: Stan from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind loved the band; the song's got an ace up its sleeve]
20) I'm a high straight in Plainview, a side bet in Idalou [Hint: a Texas alt-country road song, sung by Lyle Lovett's roommate]
21) A very old friend came by today [Hint: this is a cover of an Elvis song, sung by a Texas drummer who wrote a couple of big Stevie Ray Vaughan songs. It's about finding out his best friend's dating his soon-to-be-ex]
22) I got a story, it's almost finished [Hint: early EMO'ish band out of Phoenix (to whom I must say: Go, Spurs, go!!) It isn't about the one you live in...]
23) A wild pack of family dogs came running through the yard one day
24) If you can play the fiddle, how about a British jig and reel? [Hint: Stan's favs back again go just where these hints can go]
25) Lunchtime is just not fair - hot dogs, mustard in your hair [Hint: Young Nashvilel punks should not be taken out to eat]

Interestingly, my .mp3 player seems to somehow weight things even on random, as these aren't particularly surprising songs to come up. To be fair, in some cases I've got a ton of their stuff on my .mp3 player, but a lot of them are things I've listened to recently. And to keep this from being a meme that is completely useless to me except as time filler, if you've got any good music blogs I should be reading, feel free to stick a link to 'em in the comment as well.

And I'll post answers eventually for anyone who really cares.

p.s. The 26th song? "On the Dark Side" by Eddie and Cruisers (or John Cafferty and Beaver Brown Band, depending on how you want to credit it).

Comments

16 Responses to “A Music Meme”
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Sisyphus said...

Hey, did I get in here fast enough to ID # 17??? It's the Beasties, Brass Monkey.

Also, # 2 is the Foo Fighters, but I'm blanking on the title, even if it is a favorite .... "Everlong"? "Walk After You"? hmm.

April 23, 2008 at 5:51 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

You did - and I'll give you #2: "Walking After You" is the song title.

April 23, 2008 at 6:02 PM
e said...

#7 is Apples in Stereo, Sunndal Song

April 23, 2008 at 9:46 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Nice - that was a tough one, too. I'd felt guilty about not giving more of the lyric there.

April 23, 2008 at 9:48 PM
ash said...

well, i feel silly weighing in on one of the easy ones where the song title is actually *in* the first line, but #23 is modest mouse, wild pack of family dogs.

April 24, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

It's funny because there are several that have the song title in them still in there; sometimes those are the hardest.

I've found I have a really hard time picking up the lyrics without having the meter to help me out. I'm only getting pretty obvious ones, even when there's plenty of reason to recognize a song (like having put it on mix CDs for tons of friends).

So no embarrassment for catching one that way.

April 24, 2008 at 11:01 AM

1) "Mess"- Ben Folds Five

That's my favorite band ever and that's all I know unfortunately ;)

April 24, 2008 at 3:37 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Another good one - I was wondering who'd get it.

We're starting to see the more obscure bits get left out. I'm not sure I've got the readership to make offering hints worthwhile. Should I set a deadline and post answers or are there enough folks who want hints?

April 24, 2008 at 3:45 PM
ash said...
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Hints are up for anyone still reading. But they're not - in most cases - meant to be easy.

April 26, 2008 at 7:06 PM
Leslie M-B said...

#4 is Steve Earle, but I don't know which song.

April 27, 2008 at 7:14 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

It is Steve Earle...I'll give another hint on it tomorrow if no one gets it today.

April 27, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Haven't had time to think of another hint today, and since the guessing game seems to be dying off anyway, #4 is "Feel Alright" by Steve Earle.

April 28, 2008 at 8:21 PM
ash said...

keeping this alive...

okay, #6 must be the golden palominos, right? but i can't think of the song title. ditto for # 8, which i'm guessing must be an elvis song.

#12: d'oh! REM, "i don't sleep, i dream"

May 2, 2008 at 8:36 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Kudos on the REM pick, and yes, #6 is by the Golden Palominos. The title is "Heaven."

#8 isn't Elvis, though - didn't mean to confuse with the hint. That was just to suggest that there's a similarity between the song titles. I can tell you that I don't think Jamie Fox covered this one, though.

May 3, 2008 at 12:47 AM
wobblie said...

24 is Straight to Hell from the Clash.

May 3, 2008 at 11:41 PM