Musical Monday 10 - Answers

Since the answer to last week's Musical Monday is a bit more wordy than usual, I'm giving it a separate post rather than the usual comment. And in fact, as guessed by TRN in the comments (and by Soccer Dad off-line), "words" is the common theme of the set of songs - specifically the spoken word, as all these songs include a spoken component. Congratulations also to LEL, Danny, and Yitzchak, for guessing additional songs.

Parenthetically, there of course are lots of songs out there that are basically tuneless - e.g, "Surfin Bird", or almost anything by The Talking Heads or Bob Dylan. For this exercise though, I tried to stick with ones that had clearly distinct sung and spoken parts. I'm sure at least a couple are sort of judgment calls (e.g, #11), so sorry if any of those threw you off!

The complete list of correct answers, and the spoken portion of each:

1) "I'll never break my promise or forget my vow"
- Meat Loaf, "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", which includes the well-known double-entendre baseball game play-by-play, narrated by the late, great Phil Rizzuto.

2) "Some try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend"
- Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin", ends with the separately-titled Late Lament: "Breathe deep the gathering gloom..."

3) "Can you picture what will be, so limitless and free?"
- Doors, "The End", contains Morrison's infamous "The killer awoke before dawn.." speech.

4) "I ain't seen my baby since a nigh' and a week
– George Thorogood, "One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer". This one is actually mostly a spoken story, but the chorus, which gives the song its title, is sung.

5) "It hides a nasty stain that's lying there"
- 10cc, "I'm Not In Love", "Big boys don't cry" whispered repeatedly.

6) "To walk to school she's got to get up early"
- Stevie Wonder, "Living For The City", has a long (and rather upsetting) interlude in which the protagonist is tricked into carrying drugs into the city, immediately caught, and arrested by the NY police.

7) "Night after night in the dark I'm alone"
- Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack, "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", everyone knows this one, right? Of course right!

8) "I was dying just to ask for a taste"
- Meat Loaf, "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)", begins with a wonderful romantic dialogue between girl and, uh, werewolf.

9) "He likes to show off his physique"
- Ray Stevens, "The Streak", newscasts and other dialogue in between the choruses.

10) "Yeah, from 7 come 11 down in the boys' gym"
- Coasters, "Charlie Brown", with the question "Why is everybody always picking on me?" asked at the end of every verse.

11) "You've been starring in my dreams"
- Rolling Stones, "Miss You", spoken phone call from friends "Hey, whatsamatter man..."

12) "There's a sadness hidden in that pretty face"
- Springsteen, "Candy's Room", Bruce chants the first few lines before the tune kicks in.

13) "What kind of love is this that you're givin' me?"
- Barry White, "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Babe". As with pretty much every song by "The Man with the Velvet Voice", sultry words precede the sultry tune. I picked this one, as it was his only #1 US hit.

14) "No dark sarcasm in the classroom"
- Pink Floyd, "The Wall", ends with shouted dialogue like "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!"

15) "But everyone knew her as Nancy"
- Beatles, "Rocky Raccoon", first verse spoken by Paul in what sounds like a really poor fake Southern US accent. (Well, someone had to get payback for Dick Van Dyke's "cockney" accent in Mary Poppins.)

16) "Dancin' to the rhythm in our heart and soul"
- Bay City Rollers, "Saturday Night", or "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!" as per the song's repeated cheer.

17) "Now you better earn some money"
- Eddie Cochran, "Summertime Blues", several spoken quotations, with my favorite being "I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote".

18) "On the streets where once was pity"
- ELO, "Mr. Blue Sky", starts with faux broadcast telling us that "today's forecast calls for blue skies".

19) "Why don't you tell me who's on the phone?"
- Fleetwood Mac, "Tusk", as Soccer Dad noted, cry of "real savage-like", among others, near the end.

20) "Dance on fire as it intends"
- Doors, "When the Music's Over", yet another long spoken interlude in the inimitable (or is in incomprehensible?) Morrison manner.

Thanks again for playing! Look for tomorrow's Musical Monday back on Soccer Dad, with the 9/17 edition back here.