Elie's Expositions

A bereaved father blogging for catharsis... and for distraction. Accordingly, you'll see a diverse set of topics and posts here, from the affecting to the analytical to the absurd. Something for everyone, but all, at the core, meeting a personal need.


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Monday, November 03, 2008

Musical Monday #66

Welcome to the 66th 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, as well as the common theme of the set of songs. While this edition is not quite as ambitious - or at least not as lengthy - as some of my recent ones, I hope it will still provide something of a challenge!

Today again, as is often the case, there are two sub-groups of songs (1-18 and 19-25). Both relate to the same overall theme, but in different ways.

1) "See the thorn twist in your side"
2) "Giving up I close my eyes"
3) "Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink"
4) "Breaking me out of the spell I was in"
5) "You're happy when I'm on my knees"
6) "To give all that love that you've been hiding"
7) "Baby, it's time, so why waste it in chatter?"
8) "You know that I could be in love with almost everyone"
9) "Just like a willow, we would cry an ocean"
10) "Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay!"
11) "Lead you to the supermarket checkout"
12) "I took my baby on a Saturday bang"
13) "I was doing my very best Bogart"
14) "Girl you got the look, as if you wrote the book"
15) "I've been standing out in the rain"
16) "All along I knew I'd lose you"
17) "We'll be happy together, unhappy together"
18) "Snake eyes in heaven - the thief in your head"

19) "Won't be happy 'till he's seen you cry"
20) "One has diamonds in his pockets"
21) "No one else can have the part of me I gave to you"*
22) "Not my brand you understand"
23) "His confidence never needs a crutch"
24) "With a host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance"
25) "It's not often easy, and not often kind"

Good luck and enjoy!


* No, this isn't by Vincent Van Gogh :-)

32 Comments:

At 11/3/08, 11:36 AM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

21) Torn between two lovers - Mary MacGregor
22) Him - Rupert Holmes

 
At 11/3/08, 11:39 AM, Blogger trn said...

Oh, I sort of recognize so many of these, but can't fully identify them!

The next line for 25 is "Did you ever have to make up your mind?" I think that is also the title.

I can't make up my mind about how to vote. Is that the theme?

 
At 11/3/08, 11:44 AM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

6) Sooner or later - The Grass Roots.

 
At 11/3/08, 11:46 AM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

trn,

It's not voting.

Did you ever have to make up your mind - which I did not recognize, good work - is by the Lovin' Spoonful.

Put it together with 21 and 22 and I think you can figure out the theme of the last bunch.

 
At 11/3/08, 1:21 PM, Blogger LEL said...

1.With or Without You-U2
11.One Way or Another-Blondie

 
At 11/3/08, 2:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

2 - 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
20 - Two Princes - Spin Doctors

-- Clayton

 
At 11/3/08, 2:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

3 - Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi

-- Clayton

 
At 11/3/08, 2:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I notice that all the songs guessed so far in the first group have the word "or" in the title, and the second group involve making a choice. So if the theme is not specifically voting, maybe it's decision-making in general?

-- Clayton

 
At 11/3/08, 4:17 PM, Blogger trn said...

Thank you for your kind words, Soccer Dad.

Nice job picking up on the use of "or," Clayton.

 
At 11/3/08, 4:31 PM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

TRN and Clayton, I guess I have to concede. (Oh there's that election term.) I was confident that the theme - at least in the last few - was infidelity or romantic triangles. But Clayton, clearly got it and TRN too. Voting or more specifically, choosing.

 
At 11/3/08, 8:47 PM, Blogger Yitzchak Goodman said...

19. "This Boy"--Beatles

 
At 11/4/08, 2:00 PM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

I finally remembered another "or" song. "Ready or not (here I come)" by Rare Earth and the Temptations.

I can't be certain, but I'm guessing #7.

Wasn't there a Jimi Hendrix song with "or" in the title?

 
At 11/4/08, 5:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

trn: Thanks!

Soccer Dad: Perhaps one day you will elect to devote a Musical Monday to that theme? That it has been the primary inspiration for many songs needs no debate...

-- Clayton

 
At 11/4/08, 9:59 PM, Blogger LEL said...

5.Should I stay or Should I go-The Clash

 
At 11/5/08, 11:42 PM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

Another "or" song:

Stand or fall by the Fixx.

I have no idea if it's there. But maybe someone else does.

There have to be more "or" songs, but I can't recall them. And based on an e-mail Elie sent me, obviously one is a song I'm very familiar with. Now you know what I do while I'm commuting: running song titles through my head.

 
At 11/6/08, 12:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here are the guesses so far, along with the remaining clues:

1) With Or Without You - U2
2) 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
3) Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
4) "Breaking me out of the spell I was in"
5) Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash
6) Sooner Or Later - The Grass Roots
7) Ready or Not (Here I Come) - Rare Earth/The Temptations
8) "You know that I could be in love with almost everyone"
9) "Just like a willow, we would cry an ocean"
10) "Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay!"
11) One Way Or Another - Blondie
12) "I took my baby on a Saturday bang"
13) "I was doing my very best Bogart"
14) "Girl you got the look, as if you wrote the book"
15) "I've been standing out in the rain"
16) "All along I knew I'd lose you"
17) "We'll be happy together, unhappy together"
18) "Snake eyes in heaven - the thief in your head"

19) This Boy - The Beatles
20) Two Princes - Spin Doctors
21) Torn Between Two Lovers - Mary MacGregor
22) Him - Rupert Holmes
23) "His confidence never needs a crutch"
24) "With a host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance"
25) Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind - The Lovin' Spoonful

 
At 11/6/08, 1:30 AM, Blogger trn said...

Maybe Live or Let Die is in there? Black or White?

Choosing "or" songs is so clever, Elie!

 
At 11/6/08, 9:00 AM, Blogger Elie said...

TRN, I actually had "Live Or Let Die" on my working version of this list for awhile, until I found out the title is "Live And Let Die"! :-) A case of live and learn, I guess.

David aka Soccer Dad did find a couple of "or" songs I missed, including the Fixx song above and one other he emailed me. Still hoping someone will get #10, but I think the quote I picked was too hard - though it's probably the only non-giveaway line in the song for someone who knows it. Also, a hint I gave Soccer Dad earlier: this song fits the category to a somewhat lesser extent.

 
At 11/6/08, 10:47 AM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

Yes. I was thinking about Live or Let Die too. And Stand or Deliver. I guess I have conjunction disjunction. :-)

Another one:
Scarb Or oughFair.

Sorry.

 
At 11/6/08, 1:02 PM, Blogger trn said...

Oops!

Thank you both for letting me know that I was in good company when I made my mistake.

Ha, conjunction disjunction. What's your dysfunction?

Now I'm thinking of conjunctivitis. Uch.

 
At 11/6/08, 4:04 PM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

OK, I finally remembered another "or" song. "Do it or die" by the Atlanta Rhythm Section. The problem is I don't see lyrics that I recall.

(Another possibility "Is this a cool world or what?" I'll leave it as an exercise as to who it was by and what else she was famous for.)

 
At 11/6/08, 5:33 PM, Blogger trn said...

I just thought of the refrain "Believe or not I'm walking on air," but I don't know what the proper title of that song is.

 
At 11/6/08, 6:17 PM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

I think the title is "Believe it or not," which is the theme. Which number is that?

 
At 11/6/08, 6:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It might be #4. Just a guess, but those lyrics fit the rhythm of the verses in the song. I think SD is right that the title is "Believe It or Not", also known as the theme from 'The Greatest American Hero', by Joey Scarbury.

-- Clayton

 
At 11/6/08, 8:30 PM, Blogger Elie said...

Way to work together guys!!

 
At 11/6/08, 10:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool! I'll take that as a confirmation that we got it right.

Still trying to puzzle out #10. It sounds *so* familiar...

-- Clayton

 
At 11/6/08, 11:40 PM, Blogger trn said...

That kind of working together is exactly what I like best about this. So much fun!

 
At 11/7/08, 8:30 AM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

Based on an e-mail from Elie, 10 might be Simon and Garfunkel or by Paul Simon. I just listened to one of their greatest hits albums, and there were not "or" songs.

Something about paying dues reminds me of "Red Rubber Ball" by the Cyrkle, which was written by Paul Simon.

 
At 11/7/08, 10:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

a-HA!

10 - A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission) - Simon and Garfunkel

"Well I paid all the dues I want to pay / and I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce / that all my wealth won't buy me health / so I smoke a pint of tea a day"

*whew!* Thanks for the hint!

-- Clayton

 
At 11/7/08, 10:39 AM, Blogger Soccer Dad said...

Ahh. I didn't recall that the parenthetical part of the title.

Great catch.

 
At 11/7/08, 4:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Welll... I did have to look at a list of all the S&G songs on my computer to find it, myself. I hope that's not cheating too much...?

-- Clayton

 
At 11/9/08, 10:47 AM, Blogger Elie said...

Great job, Soccer Dad, TRN, Laura, Clayton, and Yitzchak! Together, you ID'ed 13 out of 25 songs (and extra credit to Soccer Dad for finding two or three more that I missed!), as well as the theme, which was choosing between alternatives – with obvious relevance to this past election week. The first group of songs thus all have titles containing the work "or", and the latter group were more generally on the subject of choosing.

The full list of correct responses:

1) "See the thorn twist in your side"
– "With Or Without You", U2
2) "Giving up I close my eyes"
- "25 Or 6 To 4", Chicago
3) "Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink"
- "Wanted Dead Or Alive", Bon Jovi
4) "Breaking me out of the spell I was in"
- "Believe It Or Not (Theme from Greatest American Hero)", Joey Scarbury
5) "You're happy when I'm on my knees"
- "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?", The Clash
6) "To give all that love that you've been hiding"
- "Sooner Or Later", The Grass Roots
7) "Baby, it's time, so why waste it in chatter?"
- "Sooner Or Later", Madonna
8) "You know that I could be in love with almost everyone"
- "Alone Again Or", Love
9) "Just like a willow, we would cry an ocean"
- "It's Now Or Never", Elvis Presley
10) "Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay!"
- "A Simple Desultory Philippic, (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)", Simon and Garfunkel
11) "Lead you to the supermarket checkout"
- "One Way Or Another", Blondie
12) "I took my baby on a Saturday bang"
- "Black Or White", Michael Jackson
13) "I was doing my very best Bogart"
- "Ready Or Not", Jackson Browne
14) "Girl you got the look, as if you wrote the book"
- "Ready Or Not", Lou Gramm
15) "I've been standing out in the rain"
- "All Or Nothing", Cher
16) "All along I knew I'd lose you"
- "Right Or Wrong", George Strait
17) "We'll be happy together, unhappy together"
- "Come Rain Or Come Shine", Ray Charles, Eric Clapton…
18) "Snake eyes in heaven - the thief in your head"
- "Be Quick Or Be Dead", Iron Maiden

19) "Won't be happy 'till he's seen you cry"
- "This Boy", Beatles
20) "One has diamonds in his pockets"
- "Two Princes", Spin Doctors
21) "No one else can have the part of me I gave to you"
- "Torn Between Two Lovers", Mary MacGregor
22) "Not my brand you understand"
- "Him", Rupert Holmes
23) "His confidence never needs a crutch"
- "Split Decision", Steve Winwood
24) "With a host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance"
- "Freewill", Rush
25) "It's not often easy, and not often kind"
- "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind", Lovin' Spoonful

Thanks again all! Look for MM #67 at Soccer Dad tomorrow 11/10, and then #68, another collaborative edition, back here on 11/17.

 

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