Musical Monday #150

Welcome to the 150th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

The songs this week are broken into four sub-themes, 1-8, 7-10, and 11-15, and 16-22. Group #2 is somewhat of a double theme, and the four groups in sequence form an overall theme. The total number of songs is also significant (though this negated any "super-sizing" in honor of the Musical Monday's sesquicentennial, and though there are doubtless other songs that would fit most of the sub-themes).

1) "Watched his hair been turnin' grey"
2) "Tell me why you're looking so confused"
3) "A dog started crying, like a broken hearted man"
4) "She breaks down and cries to her husband"
5) "The millions of faces, but still I'm alone"
6) "You can see it in my eyes, I can feel it in your touch"

7) "All the lights are changing green to red"
8) "Turn that jungle music down, just until we're out of town"
9) "Required from us a song"
10) "It's a fact of life, now man and wife, work full time to just get by"

11) "Take my hand and we'll make it, I swear"
12) "And make them softer for her feet"
13) "Before I put on my makeup"
14) "I have no choice, I hear your voice, feels like flying"
15) "This is the year of the hungry man, whose place is in the past"

16) "Trying to forget you is just a waste of time"
17) "Take your time, I won't go anywhere"
18) "For some California grass"
19) "Found a note there waiting, it said, 'Daddy, I just can't wait'"
20) "Nothing left to chance, all is working"
21) "Times have changed and times are strange"
22) "Like emptiness in harmony"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #148

Welcome to the 148th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

The songs this week are broken into three sub-themes, 1-19, 20-26, and 27-30. Each sub-theme contributes to the overall theme, but in slightly different ways. The 2nd of the three may also spark a bit of deja vu. :-)

1) "You play with words, you play with love"
2) "Don't go on the patio, beware of the pool"
3) "You don't think of them as human"
4) "It's OK on TV 'cause you can turn it off, but don't try me"
5) "Every darkest sky has a shining ray"
6) "I don't really like to stop the show"
7) "In orange, red, and blue, he found it in the zoo"
8) "You've got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet"
9) "And it's tightening 'round my throat"
10) "Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip"
11) "Make me feel fine when I'm feeling wrongly down"
12) "Very clearly a case for corn flakes and classics"
13) "He died about a month ago while winter filled the air"
14) "Starting to collect requested data"
15) "You tell me that your superfine mind has come undone"
16) "I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical"
17) "He grew a beard as soon as he could to cover the scars on his face"
18) "But we haven't done a bloody thing all day"
19) "It was on the old Calcutta in eighteen fifty-three"

20) "Let me be that one girl, for I'll be true to you"
21) "Echo in the distance like the sound, of a windmill going 'round"
22) "Breakfast where the news is read, television, children fed"
23) "Now the valley cried in anger"
24) "I just got to make you my occupation"
25) "Perhaps I'll come to a great success, or possible a dreadful mess"
26) "Often frightened, unenlightened"

27) "Play in sports and skin dive"
28) "But it's no laughing party, when you've been on the murder mile"
29) "The tune don't have to be clever"
30) "They've got to be protected, all their rights respected"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #146

Welcome to the 146th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

The songs are broken into three sub-themes, 1-18, 19-28, and 29-31. Each sub-theme contributes to the overall theme; or more exactly, the second and third sub-themes contribute to the first.

1) "And rest your head for just five minutes"
2) "Sister's sighing in her sleep"
3) "So when you need a little peace of mind, come on over boy, anytime"
4) "There's my chair, I put it there"
5) "And ghostly voices rose from the fields"
6) "How can she use, the things she use"
7) "I ain't been home to see my baby in ninety-nine and one half days"
8) "Why did you throw the Jack of Hearts away?"
9) "Well, I got one foot on the platform"
10) "Loneliness, the face of pilgrims eyes was known"
11) "Chase all the clouds from the sky"
12) "There's a silence here between us, I've never heard before"
13) "Hold tight, we're in for nasty weather"
14) "They studied under Attila the Hun"
15) "The chrome, the steel, the metal dream"
16) "Now we're spinning empty bottles"
17) "He's got a greasy hair, greasy smile"
18) "From the door comes Satan's daughter"

19) "No dark sarcasm in the classroom"
20) "Groove, let the madness in the music get to you"
21) "But he hesitates, then withdraws"
22) "She had hair like Jeannie Shipton back in 1965"
23) "Nobody's perfect, mister, nobody's clean"
24) "If I was walkin' in your shoes, I wouldn't worry none"
25) "I helped a young laddie called Ivan"
26) "Watch the greenbacks tumble"
27) "One more song for the radio station"
28) "Where I thought I heard Tiresias say"

29) "I found a Paradise that's trouble-proof"
30) "Come with me, and we shall run across the sky"
31) "I woke this morning found my hands were frozen"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #144

Welcome to the 144th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

A somewhat less ambitious theme than our special two-parter last time around, but hopefully still a fun diversion. In fact, it's sort of a follow-on to a previous jointly-developed theme, though with no songs in common to that one:

1) "In a cap she looked much older"
2) "How far will you go I say, just to bait a mouse?"
3) "However big you think you are"
4) "The jack-knife barber drops her off at school"
5) "The damn thing gone blind"
6) "Making the life that I had seem suddenly shiny and new"
7) "" (1972) (Mrs. Washington's childhood?) (c.f. MM #40)
8) "She'll be richer by far if her dreams come true"
9) "The wind is low, the birds will sing"
10) "Your servant am I, and will humbly remain"
11) "How can I hurt when holdin' you?"
12) "Oh, all the poet, they studied rules of verse"
13) "Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis"
14) "Her eyes like windows, trickling rain"
15) "Ask any fool that she ever knew"
16) "Have me a time with a poor man's lady"
17) "Taught him how to do the bop and it was grand"
18) "Guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground"
19) "Or is it just a game in my mind"
20) "So you stay out late at night, and you do your coke for free"
21) "He made my lapels an inch too wide"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #142

Welcome to the 142nd edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. This week and next, to mark the third anniversary of Musical Monday, we'll be presenting a special, jointly-developed edition. For today, the challenge is as usual to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs. And while there's a single theme this week, the two groups of songs (1-39 and 40-66) are also distinct from one another in a significant way. Extra credit to the first one who identifies that difference! (And apologies for any that may be incorrectly categorized.)

1) "So why on earth should I moan?"
2) "But his lies can't disguise what you fear"
3) "But you won't need to read between the lines"
4) "A sacred why, a mystery gaping inside"
5) "Hundred thousand changes, everything's the same"
6) "But every now and then I feel so insecure"
7) "Now it's 'us', now it's 'we'"
8) "I've been kicked around since I was born"
9) "Their lips are lying only real is real"
10) "A million lights are dancing and there you are, a shooting star"
11) "Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask"
12) "Burns like a red coal carpet"
13) "No one could look as good as you"
14) "Just because my composure sort of slips"
15) "One day soon, I'm gonna tell the moon"
16) "Can it be that it was all so simple then"
17) "Could it be finally I'm turnin' for home?"
18) "It's a fact, we got a first rate act"
19) "It's certainly a thrill"
20) "Or the mountain should crumble to the sea"
21) "I just might have a problem that you'll understand"
22) "The devil take your stereo, and your record collection"
23) "Take my arms, I'll never use them"
24) "And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live"
25) "Just one look and I can hear a bell ring"
26) "And then you'll want the love you threw away before"
27) "Treasure these few words"
28) "A friend who taught me right from wrong"
29) "But you've got dreams he'll never take away"
30) "Light up the sky like a flame"
31) "'Cause we, could be happy, can't you see?"
32) "Where the unicorn's the last one at the water hole"
33) "I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher"
34) "We stare just a little too long"
35) "If you're seeing things running through your head"
36) "Every one of us has all we need"
37) "Plastic tubes and pots and pans"
38) "Don`t show me faded photographs, just tell it from the heart"
39) "Worlds collide and hearts will be broken"

40) "Send her back to me, cause everyone can see"
41) "My train is going, I see it in your eyes"
42) "I can't stand the beats, I'm asking for the cheque"
43) "Tomorrow's a day of mine that you won't be in"
44) "There's a healing in those guitars, and a spirit in the song"
45) "I'm not gonna stand here and wait"
46) "If the Bible tells you so?"
47) "I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down"
48) "And that cigarette haze has ecology beat"
49) "Starring in our old late, late show"
50) "Jackie, hey what you doing now"
51) "Don't believe the church and state"
52) "He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes"
53) "We were just young and restless and bored"
54) "After my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray"
55) "I'm sitting here waitin' the gun still warm"
56) "More than some pretty face beside a train"
57) "There's a place for us, you know the movie song"
58) "Paintin' walls and sippin' wine, sleepin' on the floor"
59) "So put away your make up"
60) "From out of the East a stranger came"
61) "I tried to laugh about it, hiding the tears in my eyes"
62) "I know I'm gonna love you any old way"
63) "May good fortune be with you"
64) "Yeah, my blood's so mad feels like coagulatin'"
65) "People need some reason to believe"
66) "You'll say, we've got nothing in common"

Good luck, enjoy, and thanks for your support these past three years!

Musical Monday #140

Welcome to the 140th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

There's just a single theme this week, thought there is a loose organization to at least some of the songs:

1) "Gone to soldiers every one"
2) "There's a whole generation with a new explanation"
3) "But 'used to be's' don't count anymore"
4) "And I hide behind the shield of my illusion"
5) "We caught a rattlesnake; now we got something for dinner"
6) "I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon"
7) "Couldn't pressurize my head from speaking"
8) "They feed you scraps and they feed you lies"
9) "She's faced the hardest times you could imagine"
10) "It's the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance"
11) "Give me a lift and I'll hay your wagon"
12) "Wild and wind-blown, that's how you've grown"
13) "Hear the DJ say love's a game of easy come and easy go"
14) "So smile for a while and let's be jolly"
15) "Someday some boy will write in her book, too"
16) "A door marked 'nevermore' that wasn't there before"
17) "In some office sits a poet, and he trembles as he sings"
18) "Born in the valley, and raised in the trees"
19) "Or the lip-print on a half-filled cup of coffee"
20) "I thought it so romantic, and I found you sweet and bold"
21) "You may talk about your Clementine and sing of Rosa Lee"
22) "There isn't any sweetness in your heart"
23) "All you backroom boys salute when her flag unfurls"
24) "For nothing can ever tempt me from she"
25) "Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire"
26) "'Cause a bottle of vodka is still lodged in my head"
27) "She's been dead since 1929"
28) "Neptune of the seas, have you an answer for me please?"
29) "And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight, will you pardon me?"
30) "Flyin' me back to Memphis, honey keep the oven warm"
31) "Tell me if she laughs or cries"
32) "And all I can breathe is your life"
33) "I'll be over at ten, you tell me time and again"
34) "Takes the wheel when I'm seeing double"
35) "As I was walkin' round Grosvenor Square"
36) "Her hair is kinda' wild and free"
37) "To please the lions this day"
38) "My mind's such a sweet thing, I wanna' do everything"
39) "He's there in case I wandered off"
40) "You can fly swinging from your trapeze"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #138

Welcome to the 138th edition of Musical Monday (or is it Tuneful Tuesday this week?), the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

Since this is already late, no long intro - let's get right to the songs:

1) "Say you're leavin' on the seven thirty train"
2) "Wondering what in the world did I do"
3) "Now, I can see every dream, when I look in your eyes"
4) "I've been lookin' for a trace, lookin' for a heart"
5) "And kisses your ear in the early moonlight"
6) "Can't you feel the weight of my stare?"
7) "I'm laid up here lookin' at my shoes, stuck here with these hotel blues"
8) "I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles"
9) "Take a long ride on my motor bike"
10) "I'll never be imprisoned by a faded memory"
11) "They just keep on puffin' how they multiply"
12) "Millions of people living as foes"
13) "You've been hiding out, I know that's true"
14) "Take my chick and we dance about"
15) "Old dogs and new tricks and habits we ain't kicked"
16) "You say he satifies your mind, tells you all of his dreams"
17) "But I never saw my baby 'till the encore"
18) "You know the one, Doctor 'Everything'll Be Alright'"
19) "I can't get any rest, people say I'm obsessed"
20) "I'm so excited, I'm in too deep"
21) "Come on you raver, you seer of visions"
22) "I fear I'll do some damage one fine day"
23) "I don't want to drink my whiskey like you do"
24) "We know you've got to blame someone, for your own confusion"
25) "I lost my power in this world, and the rumors are flying"
26) "Don't touch me I'm a real live wire"
27) "On a wire between will and what will be"
28) "There's no reason why my being shy should keep us apart"
29) "I can't see the things that make true happiness"
30) "And every day the paper boy brings more"
31) "Making friends with shadows on my wall"
32) "I walked through Bedford Stuy alone"
33) "You laughed and laughed and then you left"

Good luck and enjoy!

Aaron's 5th Yahrzeit

Today, the 8th of Iyar, is Aaron's fifth yahrzeit. Though I haven't posted much of anything here lately other than Musical Mondays, there's been quite a lot on my mind, and in particular, I've been thinking about and reliving my experiences of five years ago quite vividly. Perhaps I'll write more about that soon, but for now, here is the d'var torah I delivered at the siyum we held last night.
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B’rshus harav, beloved family and friends:

Debbie and I offer our deepest thanks and appreciation to all of you for participating in tonight’s memorial marking the Aaron's fifth yahrzeit. Your presence, your chizuk, and especially your day to day friendship mean more to us than any words of ours can express.

Another year has passed us by, bringing to us once again to – as Rabbi Kaufman customarily phrases it when speaking prior to Yizkor – that most solemn of duties, commemorating one whom we have lost, and whom we miss so very intensely. For most, Baruch Hashem, such duties are focused solely on loved ones of past generations - parents, grandparents, and the like. But for Debbie and me, whenever we attend Yizkor services, and especially when the eighth of Iyar comes around each year, we must again relive the devastating inversion of life's usual cycle that befell us, our child being taken from us at such a young age, with so much still to accomplish, so much promise left to fulfill.

I was daily reminded of this disarrangement during the first eleven months after Aaron's passing, when I said kaddish for him – the somber and awesome bond between son and father that was, in our case, tragically reversed. And yet, it also provided a kind of relief and closure, to know that I was doing for Aaron what, under normal circumstances, he would have one day been bound to do for me. When those months had passed, I was determined to find a way to maintain, on an ongoing basis, a meaningful connection with who Aaron was, to perpetuate his memory by continuing that which he had begun.

As some of you know, Aaron had the opportunity, on behalf of his 12th grade class at RTMA, to make a siyum on masechte berachos. This occurred at the start of the current daf yomi cycle, just over five years ago, on 24 Nissan 5765, two days after Pesach, and just two weeks before Aaron left us. Aaron had intended to continue his commitment to the daily daf, and how much satisfaction it would have given him – how much naches would it have given me – for him to have participated in the literally tens of additional siyumin that were held during those succeeding years. So I resolved that each year, I would complete a new masechte in Aaron's zechus – as Aaron's shaliach if you will - and conclude with a siyum coinciding with the date of his yahrzeit.

In each case over these past five years, there was particular relevance to the masechte I selected. There were two reasons for my choice this year of masechte Chaggigah, the first a personal and emotional one. I made a siyum on this masechte once before, just over five years ago, on 20 Nissan 5765, the first yahreit of my zaideh Rabbi Avraham Rosenfeld Z'L. His yahrzeit being erev the last yom tov of Pesach, I had neither time nor inclination to call a gathering such as this one, so I made the siyum rather more privately. In fact, the only others in attendance were a couple of my kids, and I clearly remember that Aaron was one of those present, just days before he was to lead his own first siyum.

The other reason for my choosing Chaggigah for today's siyum is a gemara found right in the middle of the masechte. It is likely one of the most well-known aggadatas in all of shas, yet also, ironically, one of the most difficult to understand. On daf 14b, the gemara states, "arba'ah nichnisu lapardes", literally translated as "there were four who entered the orchard" – where "Pardes" is parallel to the English terminology of "Paradise" or "Garden of Eden". As most meforshim explain, these four undertook to delve into the deepest and most mysterious of all knowledge, the kabbalistic meditations relating to the merkava, the metaphorical chariot of God. They thus embarked on a spiritual journey to approach the Divine essence as closely as is possible for any living being to do so.

The gemara goes on to describe how these four tannaim, Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher – formerly known as Elisha ben Avuyah – and Rabbi Akiva, each responded very differently to this experience, and that of them all, only Rabbi Akiva emerged from the "Pardes" unscathed. I would like to focus on the first of the four, Ben Azzai, although his fate is the least commented on in this gemara. It states, [Hebrew] "Ben Azzai glanced at the Divine Presence – tried to come too close to the unapproachable – and perished". [Hebrew] "And of him it is said, 'yakar' in the eyes of God is the death of his righteous ones". The Hebrew word "yakar", ironically, has varying meanings that are nearly opposite. It can mean precious or valuable, but also can mean heavy or difficult. Certainly the death of tzaddikim like Ben Azzai can be understood as "precious" to God, since their souls thereby move up to olam ha'ba, join the yeshiva shel ma'alah. But Rashi focuses on the second meaning here, stating that Ben Azzai's death was also difficult for Hashem, as it were, because he died young, unmarried, with so much unfulfilled potential.

When learning this gemara, I was struck with the parallel between this dual meaning attached to Ben Azzai's death, and an earlier such loss, that of Nadav and Avihu the sons of Aharon, as referenced at the beginning of this week's first parsha. Chazal tell us that Nadav and Avihu were essentially great tzaddikim, and that their death, not unlike Ben Azzai's, was the result of their attempt to approach too closely to Hashem in some type of imperfect manner. Moshe Rabbeinu, when consoling his brother on the loss of two sons, quoted Hashem's own response, [Hebrew] "Through those close to Me will I be sanctified, and before the whole nation, 'ekaved'". Once again a word is utilized, "ekaved", that can have both a positive and negative connotation. It can mean, as per the usual translation here, "I will be honored", but it can also mean, "it is heavy for Me", difficult, as it were, for even Hashem to bear the tragic loss of these young men.

At the start of this week's second parsha, we are told to imitate Hashem, [Hebrew] "be holy, for I Hashem your God Am Holy". But this is so much harder to achieve in some cases than in others. We all keenly experience Aaron's loss as heavy and difficult, but it feels nearly impossible for us to assimilate, or even comprehend, the other meaning of "yakar", to associate such a loss with that which is precious. But I keep in mind that if we can't reach such a level, if all our broken hearts can do is mourn, it is at least a comfort to remember that Hashem is, in some sense, mourning with us, that Aaron's passing is yakar in Hashem's eyes in both senses of the word, difficult as well as precious.

The mishnah at the end of Sotah states, in reference to Ben Azzai, [Hebrew], translated as "when Ben Azzai died, the last of the diligent scholars was gone". And though sometimes I can't help but feel similarly about Aaron's loss, at the same time, his example also encourages me, as I hope it can encourage you all, to try a little bit harder, to give a little bit more, to be the best student, the best worker, the best child, the best spouse, the best friend, the best self you can be. May Aaron’s legacy and Aaron’s memory continue to be both an inspiration and a source of comfort and strength to all of us who knew him, and may his neshama be a malitz yosher for us and for all of klal yisroel. Amen

Musical Monday #136

Welcome to the 136th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

Sorry for the lateness as well as the brevity of this week's edition. If I get a chance I'll add some more examples. It's a single theme this week, but the last song is special.

1) "But don't take a slice of my pie"
2) "Fools have a way of making me lazy"
3) "I was cleaned and skinned and so hard-pressed"
4) "But you can keep 'em for the birds and bees"
5) "I'd fool around and have a ball"
6) "Because they never know who in the world they're gonna beat"
7) "Yeah buddy, that's his own hair!"
8) "She was with the Russians too"
9) "Nine a.m. on the hour hand, and she's waiting for the bell"
10) "That's where they ran into a great big hassle"
11) "Sometimes building you a stairway; lock you underground"
12) "The claim is on you, the sights are on me"
13) "Let me call my wife so I can tell her I'll be late"
14) "Deep where it's hot, hot in Arabia, babia"
15) "Carrying their babies around in a sack on their back"
16) "He said brother like to help you, but I'm unable to"
17) "Yellow lorry slow, nowhere to go"
18) "I found someone new, he's waitin' in the car outside"
19) "Bring along your Cadillac, leave my old wreck behind"
20) "Float a small row boat till our ship comes in"
21) "I'm treating you cool, I'm putting you down"
22) "Some people say it's folly, but I'd rather have the lolly"
23) "Now my advice for those who die"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #134

Welcome to the 134th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

The division this week consists of two groups of songs as well as two individual songs each in their own "group". This arrangement is significant, as is the order of the sets and number of songs in each, as will become clear once the theme is fully solved.

1) "There is no one compares with you"
2) "Freeze all your expressions into words"
3) "Play in sports and skin dive"
4) "All I want for you to do is take my body home"
5) "It's all been a pack of lies"
6) "But you could've said it better"
7) "Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside"
8) "Desert rose, dreamed I saw a desert rose"
9) "Nothing grows and life ain't very pretty"
10) "Do my crying and my sighing, laugh at yesterday"
11) "And his hunger burns, so he starts to roam the streets at night"
12) "When there's no one else around, I'm gonna take you girl and hold you"
13) "Three lullabies in an ancient tongue"
14) "Life's for living, yeah, that's our philosophy"
15) "You won't find a thing to chew"
16) "And the grand facade, so soon will burn"
17) "Don't you know that I'll always be true?"
18) "I'm looking for a woman, but the girl don't come"
19) "But nothin' is real, and no one can feel like you"

20) "Near the village, the peaceful village"

21) "Broken ice still melts in the sun"
22) "I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes"
23) "You can't come back and think you are still mine"
24) "Light a candle, lay flowers at the door"
25) "You left me cold and I'm standin' here freezin"
26) "I've pulled the trigger right at you on billboards and movie screens"
27) "Before the sun is just a bright spot in the nighttime"
28) "Sometimes I feel like I am drunk behind the wheel"
29) "And a train that's passin' my way helps the rhythm move along"
30) "You got your high-heeled sneakers on, slip-in mules"

31) "The all-night watchmen have had their fun"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #132

Welcome to the 132nd edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

Today's edition has four song groups separated by spaces: 1-8, 9-21, 22-26, and 27-36. These represent four entirely distinct sub-themes, which when combined form the overall theme.

Recall that in past years, the MM's that fell around Purim were special in some way. But Purim is over, isn't it? :-)

1) "You can burn my house, steal my car"
2) "I want a short haired girl who sometimes wears it twice as long"
3) "In the middle of the tall drinks and the drama"
4) "Girl, to be with you is my fav'rite thing, uh huh"
5) "Our love got fractured in the echo and sway"
6) "Empty as a pocket with nothing to lose"
7) "He was lyin’ on the ground, a bits and pieces all around"
8) "Before you abuse, criticize and accuse"

9) "Lay me on the ground, fly me in the sky"
10) "And lookin' in the mirror there were fools at either hand"
11) "Well you wore out your welcome with random precision"
12) "My friend the young magician had forbidden me to cry"
13) "Take the chip off of my shoulder, smooth out all the lines"
14) "Loneliness is a cloak you wear"
15) "Oh my dear, now this ship's too hard to steer"
16) "Surely not to live in pain and fear"
17) "Brothers and sisters in every little part"
18) " Hold together, in the worst conditions"
19) "Without that attention, a woman feels undone"
20) "January, February, June or July"
21) "We're in or out of the money"

22) "She'd hold me close and kiss me but her heart was full of lies"
23) "He was a credit to his gender"
24) "The silver in your pocket ain't no measure of a man"
25) "To him you were nothin' but a little plaything"
26) "His wife would cook his meal, as he would change the wheel"

27) "I know who left those smokes behind"
28) "You come and ask me, girl, to set you free, girl"
29) "I get so mean, around this scene"
30) "When he showed up Saturday, I said 'Bye bye baby!'"
31) "Why can't he see, how blind can he be?"
32) "There isn't an ocean too deep"
33) "He was greyhound-bound, but I'm still waiting here"
34) "Thick wavy hair, a little too long"
35) "He drives woman wild, then he drives off in a Mercedes Benz"
36) "And don't take my pictures off a' the wall"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Son Day III

Congratulations to my son Shalom and his bandmates in The Flip for winning the JEC Talent Show "Battle of the Bands" last Motzai Shabbos! First prize is ten hours of time in a professional recording studio, which they plan to use to record two of their original songs, "Down The Road" and "Midnight In America".

Here's a rough-cut video of those songs from Saturday night's event. Sound quality isn't too great, but that's what the studio will be for, I guess. You can catch a glimpse of Shalom in the back, playing keyboards on both songs and bass guitar on the first. And if your hearing is real sharp, you may even hear Shalom's parents cheering on the band like a couple of teenage girls at a Beatles concert!

Midnight In America:


Down The Road:

Musical Monday #130

Welcome to the 130th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

Thare are two separate sub-themes today, songs 1-10 and 11-20, which together comprise the overall theme. The songs in the first group are also in somewhat of a sequence. I was disappointed in not finding more songs for that group; likely there are quite a few recent ones I don't know well that would fit it.

1) "I died in thirty days!"
2) "But it seems the good they die young"
3) "Edsel is a no-go"
4) "Bring on the lions and open the cage"
5) "I laid traps for troubadours"
6) "She never kept the same address"
7) "They sat and watched TV, on their RCA"
8) "We're finally on our own"
9) "Scanning life through the picture window"
10) "It's money for dope, money for rope"

11) "If the puppet makes you smile"
12) "Coming down like an Armageddon flame"
13) "And it makes me feel so fine, I can't control my brain"
14) "Just one day out of life, it would be, it would be so nice"
15) "Exchange the cold days for the sun"
16) "Take a ride on a West Coast kick"
17) "We've all seen it on the movies, now let's see if it's true"
18) "But there's a couple of bananas and a bottle of booze"
19) "From a terminal gate to a black limousine"
20) "He was heading for Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie"

Good luck and enjoy!

Musical Monday #128

Welcome to the 128th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

There is a single theme this week, but the break between songs 14 and 15 separates two groups that relate to the theme somewhat differently. Also, apologies that due to a busy week as well as computer issues, this will be a shorter edition than I had hoped. I do think there are likely quite a few more songs that fit the theme, and hope you guys will find - and add - some of them!

1) "Can you tell me where he's gone?"
2) "All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face"
3) "...or a Sam (no Sam)"
4) "Canada to India, Australia to Cornwall"
5) "He ate a crocodile"
6) "'Cause I'm swigin' thirty pounds from my hips on down"
7) "And he swore to free all of Asia Minor"
8) "He said how dare that man resent an order"
9) "In colors on the snowy linen land"
10) "Dances like a spinning top"
11) "Only takes one itchy trigger"
12) "Look at them bushes out there"
13) "But you were bad you must admit"
14) "Hate was just a legend, and war was never known"

15) "Went down to Geisha Minah"
16) "And now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight"
17) "A panda for sweet little niece"
18) "We fired once more and they began a running"
19) "He throw us all in jail for carrying harpoons"
20) "You know it's three weeks; I'm going insane"
21) "So you think you can love me and leave me to die"
22) "Like my father before me, I will work the land"

Good luck and enjoy!