25 first lines (again)
It’s the ol’ 25 first lines blog meme again. You know the drill by now; music player on random, one track per artist, no track where the title is in the first line… leave your guesses in the comments (and yes, we can all use search engines… obviously look one up if it’s bugging you, but don’t pass off the knowledge of google – or lyricsfreak.com – as your own).
- Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood – Billy Joel: New York State of Mind – Pisces Iscariot
- Y’say you’re lookin’ for a place to go where nobody knows your name
- You’ll be… magnet for money. You’ll be… magnet for love – Talking Heads: Papa Legba – Phil
- Wise men say, only fools rush in – Elvis Presley: Can’t help falling in love – Chris Y
- Childhood living is easy to do – The Rolling Stones: Wild Horses – Chris Y
- A diamond necklace played the pawn – The Beach Boys: Surf’s Up – Phil
- Well, you didn’t wake up this morning ‘cos you didn’t go to bed – The The: That Was The Day – Phil
- There’s comin’ a day when the world shall melt away
- She had a horror of rooms, she was tired, you can’t hide beat – David Bowie: Scary Monsters – Phil
- When she said, don’t waste your words, they’re just lies – Bob Dylan: 4th time round – Chris Y
- Here come old flat-top, he come grooving up slowly – The Beatles: Come Together – Chris Y
- It’s an idea, someday in my tears, my dreams – Syd Barrett: Dominoes – Tom Mac
- When all the numbers swim together and all the shadows settle – Psychic TV: The Orchids – Simon
- We got into their little black book, so they came in a spaceship to take a look
- Don’t sleep ’til the sunrise, listen 2 the falling rain
- Hey ho, let’s go! Hey ho, let’s go! Hey ho, let’s go! Hey ho, let’s go! – The Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop – Lucas
- Oh my Lord, I am so bored
- I’d like to drop my trousers to the world – The Smiths: Nowhere Fast – Phil
- There’s space in my car… speed you to heaven
- My soul is in the mountains, and my heart is in the land
- If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream – Van Morrison: Astral Weeks – Chris Y
- Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel – The Doors: Roadhouse Blues – PMM
- I lost my heart under the bridge – PJ Harvey: Down By The Water – Pixie
- Don’t you have a word to show what may be done? – Nick Drake: Way To Blue – Nick and IronMan
- They all see you off at some point… I was always prepared – Stina Nordenstam: Stations – Pixie
A couple of relatively obscure ones, but plenty from the main stream of my collection. Oh, and I turned off my Last.fm plugin for the duration of this. So you won’t find out any answers by checking here.
4. I Can’t Help Falling in Love – Andy Williams
5. Wild Horses – Rolling Stones
10. 4th time Around – Bob Dylan
11. Come Together – Beatles (John Lennon), quoting You Can’t Catch Me, Chuck Berry
21 Astral Weeks – Van Morrison
September 25th, 2006 | 10:30am
by chris y
Well, I’ve got Elvis doing “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, but aside from that you’re spot on with those five, Chris. Of course, it’s safe to say those five were among the easy ones.
September 25th, 2006 | 11:47am
by Jim
That’s why it’s wise to catch these things early.
September 25th, 2006 | 12:14pm
by chris y
Sixteen is the Ramones’ Bliztkrieg Bop.
September 25th, 2006 | 8:46pm
by Lucas
Indeed Lucas. There’s a handful of songs by The Ramones that I’ve always loved, but I never really got into them in a major way. Having recently picked up The Anthology for €12, though, that’s all changed. Almost 60 songs on two discs… I’d recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already have a lot of their stuff.
September 25th, 2006 | 8:58pm
by Jim
3 – Talking Heads, “Papa Legba”
(IHNTA, IJLS Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo…)
6 – Beach Boys/Brian Wilson, “Surf’s up”
(IALS Columnated ruins domino…)
7 – The The, “This is the day”
9 – David Bowie, “Scary monsters”
18 – the Smiths, “Nowhere fast”
(I also knew 4, 11, 16 and 21, but I guess that’s easy to say now.)
September 25th, 2006 | 9:26pm
by Phil
Now this is embarrassing. I’ve just googled another which I half-remembered. Not only is it a song I love dearly, I’ve actually performed it in public. Damn.
September 25th, 2006 | 9:27pm
by Phil
All correct, Phil, though the version of This Is The Day was actually the one on the dis-Infected EP (and is called That Was The Day, though the lyrics are the same).
What number did you google? I’ve sung one of the songs listed in public myself… could it be the same one, we wonders?
September 25th, 2006 | 9:48pm
by Jim
Well, I’m shite at this, but at least I got one that nobody else has yet.
22: The Doors, Roadhouse (or roadhouse blues or something, but my guess is it’s called “roadhouse”)
September 25th, 2006 | 9:59pm
by PMM
Roadhouse Blues it is Paul. And a fantastic track it is too.
September 25th, 2006 | 10:12pm
by Jim
24 – Nick Drake, Way to Blue. A haunting tune.
(BTW, there seems to be something off with your comment numbering – number 10 is showing up as “0.”)
September 26th, 2006 | 7:09am
by Nick
Jim: 24.
September 26th, 2006 | 7:30am
by Phil
1. Billy Joel – New York State of Mind
September 26th, 2006 | 7:42am
by Pisces Iscariot
24. Nick Drake – Way to Blue
September 26th, 2006 | 12:09pm
by IronMan
Well technically Nick got number 24 first, but IronMan (is this the IronMan from HH, I wonder?) also guessed it before Nick’s comment was approved. So they both get the credit. And I have to say, Phil, it takes some balls to cover a Nick Drake song.
I’m surprised it took so long for someone to get No. 1. I know Billy Joel doesn’t have a huge amount of street cred, but even so, it’s a well known song, right?
As for the comment numbering, Nick, thanks for highlighting that. It doesn’t happen in Firefox but I just fired up IE and it does indeed cut off the first digit. Damn! I tested the template in all browsers once I’d finished it of course, but never thought to run the comments into double-digits. I’ll have to look into it.
September 26th, 2006 | 2:43pm
by Jim
23 Down by the water – PJ Harvey
September 26th, 2006 | 2:46pm
by Pixie
Ten to go now that Pixie got the PJ Harvey track. 17, 19 and 25 are probably the three most obscure but the others shouldn’t be beyond the ken of my eclectic readership.
Oh, and I think I’ve sorted out the problem with the comment numbering, but do let me know if my fix has had any unforeseen consequences.
September 26th, 2006 | 2:56pm
by Jim
25 Stina Nordenstam, Stations.
I admit to cheating with this one. I recognised the lyric, but couldn’t remember the song, so I looked it up.
September 28th, 2006 | 3:27pm
by Pixie
That’s rather naughty Pixie. But I suspect nobody else will get it, so I’ll leave it stand. *shakes head* -wags finger- *says ‘tut tut’*
September 28th, 2006 | 3:38pm
by Jim
Number 13 is ‘The Orchids’ by Psychic TV. Which was recently covered by Califone. Both versions are fantastic
September 29th, 2006 | 6:56am
by Simon
Jim – I sing unaccompanied, so I don’t have to compare my guitar technique with Nick D’s (which would be an ordeal). I’ve done a few of his; “Which will” works well, for instance.
September 30th, 2006 | 5:12pm
by Phil
Number eight…could it be Dylan’s ‘The Hour that the Ship Comes in?’?
October 8th, 2006 | 8:02pm
by Odette Keun
I’m afraid, Odette, that it’s not Dylan’s When The Ship Comes In. Mind you, I’ve just looked up the lyrics to that song, and I can definitely see how you may have misremembered it. They’re very similar lines.
As a hint to what Number 8 actually is though; I’ll just say this… the singer / songwriter who first recorded it was, in his own way, as much a giant of American music as Dylan.
And there’s very few people you can say that about.
October 8th, 2006 | 9:55pm
by Jim
12 – Dominoes, syd barret – off his best album, for sure.
November 16th, 2006 | 9:31pm
by Tom Mac