Another Lyrics Game? Harper may have too much time on her hands...

[kniteracy]

Or perhaps I'm just amused by how different two completely random shuffles can be. Comparing this to yesterday's list, you'll see how different two days in the random mp3 shuffle can be! I guess I do have, er, eclectic taste. ;)

20 songs from random mp3 shuffle below the cut tag, for your amusement and consternation. Sing out if you know 'em, don't worry if you don't, Googling is cheating.


Another Lyrics Game?

1. Candles on the table in a darkened room, a long-forgotten voice that sings a half-remembered tune -- guessed by spiritdance
2. They lived at the start of a new century, when New York was horses and carriage
3. My friend said she could see no way ahead, and I was probably better off without you
4. Once upon a time, you felt so fine, do the bump and grind in your time, didn't you? -- guessed by fionnabhar
5. Hold on, hold on to yourself, for this is gonna hurt like hell -- guessed by filkerdave
6. You were brought from the workhouse to live with us
7. Polly, she's kind, she's pretty and she's fine, she's fallen for a sailor and he to her proved kind
8. While I was out a-riding the graveyard shift midnight 'til Dawn, the moon was as bright as a reading light for a letter from an old friend back home.
9. All towns have a place where decent drivers are not safe
10. Only three minutes and I couldn't get out
11. Got money, I'll do anything for you -- guessed by wheezinggirl
12. My father left me an acre of land -- guessed by fionnabhar
13. I found our names carved in the bark of the old sycamore tree -- guessed by filkerdave
14. Oh, my hat is frozen to my head, feet they are like a load of lead -- guessed by occams_pyramid
15. Wake up.....A good morning ma'am. Your early morning call. You must wake up! Wake up! -- guessed by smallship1
16. My oh my, but you do look a killer, never mind the duds, just look at that hat!
17. All the old paintings on the tombs, they do the sand dance don't you know -- guessed by filkerdave
18. It was three in the morning when she took me apart -- guessed by redaxe
19. Your burning skies are neverending cross your red-rush plains -- guessed by fionnabhar
20. All on one cold wintry night and the winds blew cross the wild moors

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

5) Sarah McLachlan, "Hold On"

Is number 6 a typo?

13) cadhla, "Sycamore Tree" innit?

17) Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

[telynor.livejournal.com]

All correct, and yes, 6 was typoed. Fixed now.

[wheezinggirl.livejournal.com]

11 is Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails...I do believe.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

You are correct, of course. People are always surprised when they find I have a copy of Pretty Little Hate Machine. ;)

[spiritdancer]

1) Seanan McGuire, "River Lies" (so, is the one here the cut from Pretty Little Dead Girl or from Stars Fall Home?)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Correct. This was PLDG, but I have both rolling around somewhere.

[spiritdancer]

I took a look at iTunes after I posted, and I, in fact, seem to have _4_ different copies of that song *shakes head* No wonder I knew it when I saw it :-)

[tollermom]

1. Seanan McGuire's "River Lies"

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Correct, but already guessed in a comment above you by spiritdance.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

#4--"Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan
#12--"An Acre of Land," er, Ralph Vaughan Williams?
"19--"Singing Land," Dougie MacLean

[telynor.livejournal.com]

All correct, though #4 is the Black 47 cover (yes, really), and I'm sure someone must have called that song "An Acre of Land." This is the Robin Williamson version, with the "Ivy, Sing Ivy" chorus, and that's what he calls it. It's actually a version of Child #2, "The Elfin Knight", which is of course where we get "Scarborough Fair" from.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

It's called "Acre of Land" on an R. Vaughn Williams version, with a "Sing, Ivery" bit between.

Paging Lady Mondegreen....

[hvideo.livejournal.com]

Unless Black 47 decided to rewrite the song when they did their cover, that should be:

"Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?"

i.e. the Dylan words, not

"Once upon a time you felt so fine, do the bump and grind in your time, didn't you?"

Re: Paging Lady Mondegreen....

[telynor.livejournal.com]

One of those instances of my having always gotten those particular lyrics wrong, I think-- looks like ladymondegreen has the same ears I do!

(Though I must cop to some amusement when filkers grumble that someone's gotten the words wrong.) ;)

[mdlbear]

Thought I recognized 4, but didn't have the title on the tip of my mind.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I could hear his dulcet tones from word one, but I had to sing it through to get the title. :-)

[occams_pyramid]

14: Know it but not the title - something like "cold haily windy night"?

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Absolutely right. The version on this morning's shuffle was Steeleye Span, with Martin Carthy.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

15. Waking the Witch, Kate Bush. From The Ninth Wave.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Yes. Among my favourite Kate Bush songs.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Jig of Life is my favourite from that sequence.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Ah. For a moment I thought I had nothing more than had already been identified. Then I saw 15: "Waking the Witch" by Kate Bush and was reminded that there are lots of folks I still need to see live. Which thought was only compounded when I saw 18. "Tear Stained Letter" by Richard Thompson (who is, I think, at the very top of the list of Never Seen and Must See, with perhaps only The Decemberists to equal him).

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Alas, someone already guessed Waking the Witch, but you're right on both counts with Tear Stained Letter and Richard Thompson in general. I saw him years ago on the Mirror Blue tour, and I've rarely seen anybody work that hard. If you have the chance, he is not to be missed.