Witty and pertinent observations on matters of great significance
OR
Incoherent jottings on total irrelevancies
OR
Something else altogether
OR
All of the aboveTwenty First Lines
As usual, first lines from 20 randomly-picked tracks from my collection, where the first line does not itself contain the song title. Your guesses are solicited as to the song titles and artists. I shall score the lines out as they're guessed. Answers in the comments box please. (I have cross-posted this at my LiveJournal Head On A Stick so if something is crossed out and you can't see why, try over there.)
1. Well you must be a girl with shoes like that
2.
The Who: I Can See For Miles (title guessed by Joe, fully guessed by Phil)
3. Shadows are falling and I've been here all day
4.
The Eagles: Hotel California (guessed by Joe)
5.
Tim Rose: Come Away Melinda (guessed by Phil)
6. I didn't say a word, though I am really hurt
7. When the stone is grown too cold to kneel
8. The mob's in town and the guns are out, and Louie knows what it's all about
9. The saints are crippled on this sinners' night
10.
Pulp: I'm A Man (guessed by George)
11. We are standing here exposing ourselves
12.
Mike Oldfield (with vocals by David Bedford): Don Alfonso (guessed by Phil)
13. Ever since I was a little boy, dressing up has always been my greatest joy
14.
Paul Simon: The Boy In The Bubble (guessed by Udge)
15. If we stand here together and we see the world as one
16.
Pink Floyd: Astronomy Domine (guessed by Phil)
17.
The Beatles: While My Guitar Gently Weeps (guessed by Udge)
18. Fell in the street in a drunken heap, there's dark water all around me
19.
Joni Mitchell: The Fiddle And The Drum (guessed by Z)
20. He came in the ballroom, just a crazy old man; his eyes seemed to glaze in the light
posted by Rob @ 23:54
12 Comments:
Wow, seem to know some of them, at least I can sing them in my head if not remember the artists.
2 - I can see for miles - I remember an echoy group from back in the late 60's but not the name
4 - Hotel California - Eagles
15 - Imagine - Johnny L
2 is the Oo, Joe.
12 is David Bedford, "Don Alfonso" - now that really takes me back. (I've still got V, although I haven't played it for at least 20 years.)
I think I've got a couple of others, but I'll let other people come in first.
Of course, I'm going to have David Bedford's out-of-tune singing in my head all day now. Curse you, Saunders.
...out in sunny Spain, out in sunny Spain, I've fought bulls in the sunshine and I've fought them in the rain...
Hee!
Joe, you're wrong on #15.
Teach me to Google them first (I know, not in the rules) to confirm. OK, down in the middle it's "I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one". Well, close but no first line and no cigar. Oh well, one and a half, better than usual.
Is no. 10 Pulp, I'm a Man from This Is Hardcore?
14 is Paul Simon, "The boy in the bubble"
17 is George Harrison aka The Beatles, "While my guitar gently weeps"
Don't know the rest. You do find some odd stuff!
Udge - there are still some fairly well-known songs in there. One of the more obscure ones is by a German sister act (they sang in English but weren't known over here at all AFAIK), and was a moderate hit in Germany for them some years back. I wondered if you might have got it.
As for the oddness, I do have a T-shirt which reads "I listen to music you've never heard of". Just be thankful I didn't pick my latest Oxfam vinyl purchase: Stockhausen's Mikrophonie I and Mikrophonie II. The second is choral so I could have....
Re 10, I liked This is hardcore, but I didn't recognise that line at all. Must get it out again.
Since nobody's bagged it, I'll have 16 - Pink Floyd, "Astronomy Domine". And 5 is Tim Rose, "Come away Melinda" - one of the best war songs ever.
19 - The fiddle and the drum - Joni Mitchell
#18--Red Wine and Promises, by Lal Waterson (performed by June Tabor?)
Er, Anonymous, you're about 17 months late with that. I actually posted the answers a few weeks later here. But welcome to the blog anyway.
Still, good guess with the song. I actually have the original recording on the Watersons' Bright Phoebus, in which it's sung by Norma Waterson with Martin Carthy (not then her husband) on guitar. I recommend the album, particularly for the unique teaming up of Richard Thompson and Martin Carthy as an acoustic guitar duo to provide the bulk of the accompaniments.
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