Lyrics meme

[nmg]

From swisstone and various others:

1. Get your playlist together, put it on random, and play!
2. Pick your favorite lines from the first 25 songs that play!
3. Post and let everyone you know guess what song the lines come from!
4. Cross out the songs when someone guesses correctly!

The lyrics

1. It's wrong to wish on space hardware
   zotz and bibliogirl
2. He always beat me at Subutteo / Cos he flicked a kick and I didn't know
   zotz, bibliogirl and flickgc
3. Pitsea, Thundersley, Hadleigh, Leigh-on-sea, Chalkwell, Prittlewell, Southend's the end of you
   swisstone
4. They smelled of pubs and Wormwood Scrubbs / And too many right wing meetings
   zotz
5. Take control of the population boom / It's in your living room / Keep a generation gap / Try wearing a cap
   swisstone
6. How can it be that we can say so much without words? / Bless you and bless me, bless the bees and the birds
   zotz and bibliogirl
7. It's a good thing you don't have bus fares / They would fall through a hole in your pocket / And you'd lose them when there's snow on the ground
   bibliogirl
8. I have every comfort and every sport / And my residence is at Hampton Court
   john_callaghan
9. Now I lay me down to sleep / I hear the sirens in the street / All the dreams are made of chrome / I have no way to get back home
   killtest
10. There are people going to the stratosphere / Soldiers fighting with the Cong
    killtest
11. There's brown bread, white bread, all sorts of wholemeal bread / It comes in funny packages with writing on the side
    bibliogirl has half the answer, but killtest named the band
12. My monster in black tights / You're everything a freak like I likes
13. Mother! I can never come home again, because I seem to have left an important part of my brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire
    zotz, bibliogirl and flickgc
14. The question doesn't matter / The answer's always "aye" / The best view of all / Is where the land meets the sky
    killtest
15. Get a taste for home taping / Fetishists of map-making
    bibliogirl
16. Everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stemmed rose
    zotz and bibliogirl
17. I wish today could be tomorrow / The night is dark, it just brings sorrow anyway
    bibliogirl
18. The juice of the carrot, the smile of the parrot / A little drop of claret - anything that rocks
    killtest
19. Underfoot the ground is patched / With climbing arms of ivy wrapped / Around the manzanita stark and shiny in the breeze
    killtest
20. From your ankle up I'd say you sure you are sweet / From that down there's just too much feet
    ias
21. Black car drives through the town / Some guy from the top estate / Left a note for a local girl / And yet he had it all on a plate
    killtest
22. Long distance information, get me Jesus on the line / I need communion, confirmation, absolution for my crime
    killtest
23. Five years ago, I was a four stone apology / Today, I am two separate gorillas
    swisstone
24. Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out / Come and keep your comrade warm
    bibliogirl and flickgc
25. Voyez / Ces oiseaux blancs / Et ces maisons rouillees
    killtest

Comments

[zotz]

1. Billy Bragg - A New England
2. Undertones - My Perfect Cousin (Flicked to kick, i think - from what I remember of the adverts, anyway).
4. The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
6. Labi Siffre - It Must Be Love
13. Pulp - Sorted for Es and whizz
16. Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows
24. Elton John - Nikita(?!)

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

1. Billy Bragg or Kirsty MacColl - A New England
2. Undertones - My Perfect Cousin
6. -- judging by the rest of these, I reckon it's more likely to be Madness's cover version of It Must Be Love, not the original
7. Paul Young - Love Of The Common People
11. Paul Young again -- Toast (actually, wasn't it his first band? I can't remember the name)
13. Pulp - Sorted For Es And Wizz
15. MJ Hibbett and the Validators - Hey Hey 16k (hurrah!)
16. Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows
17. Kirsty MacColl or the Kinks - Days
24. Beatles - Back In The USSR

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

2. My perfect cousin
13. Sorted for E's and whizz
24. Back in the USSR - Beatles

Gosh, that was a poor show....

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Yes to all bar 24. I was actually listening to the Madness cover of It Must Be Love, and I'm not even sure if I've heard the original.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

No. 7 was recorded by Paul Young - I was listening to the Stiff Little Fingers cover. I was indeed listening to the Madness cover of no. 6. No. 11 was another Paul Young band, so you're half right.

I was listening to the Kinks' version of Days which differs from Kirsty's cover; she sings "The night is long / It just brings sorrow let it wait".

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

Astonished that no-one's got 3, which is of course 'A13 (Trunk Road To The Sea)' by Billy Bragg, though the line is actually 'Southend's the end! If you ...' and so on to the next line. Also surprised no-one's got 5, which is surely 'Too Much Too Young' by the Specials. And 23 is, indubitably, 'the Bonzos and 'Mr Apollo'.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Right on all counts, though in the recording I have of A13, the line is fairly clearly "the end of you". I suspect this may vary.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Listened to A13 again - you're dead right. I spoke too soon.

I actually had to check some of these lyrics before I posted them, since I'm prone to mishearings of the "Beelzibub has a devil for a sideboard" variety. Foolishly, A13 wasn't one of the one's I checked.

[ias.livejournal.com]

20 is Fats Waller and 'Your feet's too big'

[nmg.livejournal.com]

But of course. I'm surprised you haven't worked out nos. 8 or 25 (you've the best chance of anyone of knowing what these are).

[john-callaghan.livejournal.com]

8 is "London Is The Place To Be" - I've got it somewhere, and can't remember who recorded it (Google says Lord Kitchener, but I'm sure I'd remember if it was him).

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Nicely done, sir! I didn't think anyone apart from Isobel was likely to get that. The original (and as far as I'm aware, only) recording is by Lord Kitchener from some time in the early 1950s.

[john-callaghan.livejournal.com]

No. 11 was recordedby the Q-Tips.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Toast was recorded in 1978 - the Q-Tips didn't form until 1979.

[john-callaghan.livejournal.com]

Ah - a quick Google check reveals the true band, although members thereof did go on to form the Q-Tips later.

I'm not much of a Paul Young fan. I also suspect I'm the only person still doing this quiz...

[killtest.livejournal.com]

Q-Tips, sweetie.

[killtest.livejournal.com]

Christ sorry! The Sangre De Toro has been flowing, I mean STREETBAND. D'oh, little whore that Paul was, laying his hat everywhere...

Bugger.

[killtest.livejournal.com]

Well for obvious reasons - see own LJ - I'm late to this and would have done more of the already discovered a la @Tasmania? don't you mean Van Dieman's Land?' johnnycomelatelyism.

9 - Tom Waits - A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun

10 - Velvet Underground - I'm Sticking With You (Fuh King Krist -NO-ONE!? got this?)

11 - Streetband - Toast; as I have already (almost) said elsewhere.

14 - The Proclaimers - The Joyful Kilmarnock Blues.

18 - ohforchristsakePLEASEtellmeyouwerejusthavinganoffdaywhenyoudidn'tknowthiswashisWONDERFULNESS) Ian Dury - Reasons To be Cheerful.

19. - Mister Jerry Garcia aka The Grateful Dead - Saint Stephen (but enough of Morrissey...)

21 - Inspiral Carpets - This is How It Feels.

22 - Wilson Pickett's finest hour, or to put it another way: Carter USM - Midnight On The Murder Mile.

25 - Hmmf! Soundtrack boy! (I had to look this one up, making me work today rassen frassen...) Charles Trenet - La Mer

Do you?

[killtest.livejournal.com]

you know what's really sad... I had a copy of this briefly once... idiot, shoulda kept it.. schmuckinski strikes again...

At least I still have The Freshies - I'm In Love With The Girl On the Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Yup, quite right. I have no idea what/if the Streetband did in addition to this - this is all I've ever heard of theirs.

(and I've seen *quite* enough of Mr. Young with all of the Band Aid retrospectives this Christmas...)

Re: Bugger.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Yep, right to all - I was pretty much expecting that you'd clean up all the ones that no-one else had (though you missed Monster in Black Tights by that radical politician, Screaming Lord Sutch). I am quite appalled that no-one got 18 - you only need to read the words aloud to hear the rhythmic genius of Lord Upminster. I wasn't expecting anyone but a diehard fan of gravel-gargling to get no. 9 (since it's not on Rain Dogs), and although no. 10 was used for a car advert last year, they always stopped just short of the bridge and that lyric.

No. 14 was intended for the various Scots who read this LJ (and who I assume are all too ashamed to admit that they listen to what I consider to be the finest rock'n'roll act to ever come from Scotland). No. 25 is a fave because of its use in the marvellous Funny Bones. I've other chansons in my music collection, but that's one that gets played more than most (there's only so much Piaf I can take at one sitting).

Re: Bugger.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

btw, how's the new place? I know it's not in Dagenham, since you've said as much - whereabouts is it? (better than Dagenham doesn't exactly narrow things down in the South Essex/East London axis). Wherever, I hope it's an improvement, and that life chez vous settles down down to something approaching normality.

Re: Bugger.

[killtest.livejournal.com]

Oh I don't mind The Proclaimers at all. I don't know their stuff as well as I should, but it just so happens the title of that one cracked me up, so I had to hear it a while back now.

Tom Waits was once asked if he protected his voice: "From what - vandals?"

SLS is a blind spot for me, I just had no idea who it was. I don't have anything of his - bar Jack The Ripper on an old videotape soewhere.

I find it hard to believe that of (especially) some of the people on your LJfriends list no-one spotted Ian Dury. He never needed an epitaph, or even a grave marker. He had Sex & Drugs And Rock & Roll, and when I had a turntable my copy of the original 7" got a workout. 'All my brain and body need.' Bless the hoary old bugger.

Not had a TV for close to two years now but the Velets track is purely deranged. I like the mad ones as much as the 'regular' songs. What was good about The VU was that you couldn't separate the two and imagine them by different acts. All their material was pure VU. Bonkers or forlorn.

I try not to think of Piaf when considering French music. It's the totality of cliche. So much more to choose from, contemporary or not. (Actually the last french music I listened to was actually Quebecois - La Volee D'Castors - so probably doesn't qualify) I shall investigate Trenet.

"I was pretty much expecting that you'd clean up all the ones that no-one else had" Christ, more than I did! I find this really quite disproportionately cheering. Thanks.

Re: Bugger.

[killtest.livejournal.com]

Urk! Thank you, I had forgotten to amend the LJFriends-Locked Contact Details as promised before the move. Done now.

Having worked myself into the ground the past week and a half it's habitable. And I am - this is ridiculous because I don't really have anything invested in this place - quietly optimistic that the house itself, as well as the relocation, represents a genuine new start for me. It's just a stepping stone that isn't actually inundated. Possibly a good sign?

Ah, define 'normality' ...and I'll probably be the control specimen that screws the results. But thank you, really, for the good wishes. I DO hope I get somewhere this year, too.

Happy New Year Nick, and to Issy too :o)