Monday 18 May 2009

Further Distractions

Another round of "Guess the Song". Last time we tried this, my legions of adoring fans managed a slightly disappointing 44%. We can and must do better!

1. "Blue eyes for miles, pretty as a peach." - Ryan Adams, Pearls on a String
2. "Here she comes with a gun in her hand." - James, Dumb Jam (Jamie)
3. "Well I thought about the army, Dad said: 'Son, you're fucking high!'." - Ben Folds Five, Army (Jamie)
4. "Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk." - Steve Earl, Galway Girl
5. "Staggering home, the headlights throw a shadow up and upon." - Madness, Lovestruck
6. "They call her Jezebel, you might find her in your neighbourhood." - Dizzee Rascal, Jezebel
7. "Well it's not fair, it's not even close." - Alkaline Trio, I Lied My Face Off
8. "I wish I had a Sylvia Plath." - Ryan Adams, Sylvia Plath (Moddey Dhoo)
9. "Ever since I was young, your word was the word that always won." - Brand New, Guernica
10. "Orange sky, don't go." - Ryan Adams, Crossed-Out Name
11. "All the time, every time I need it." - Green Day, All The Time (Jamie)
12. "It's another way to get through the day." - Stereophonics, Is Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today?
13. "Turn the lights down when you cry." - Idlewild, Low Light
14. "I was born in the Merrie City." - The Cribs, I've Tried Everything
15. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking at the barrel of an Armalite." - The Police, Spirits In The Material World
16. "She sat right down on the sofa." - Counting Crows, Hanginaround
17. "God's dead, this state is torture." - James, Gaudi, (Legal Eagle)
18. "So I'm there, charging around with a juggernaut brow." - Elbow, The Bones Of You
19. "I'm running out of time, I'm out of step and closing down." - The Cure, Closedown
20. "You came to me like a dream, the kind that always leaves." - Alkaline Trio, Bleeder
21. "Save me from this way, it be killing me." - Seasick Steve, Save Me
22. "I'm under your spell, God how can this be?" "Once More With Feeling", - Standing (S. Spielbergo)
23. "My dog wears a path on the same line." - Ben Folds, Dog
24. "You say 'Why does everything revolve around you?'." - Barenaked Ladies, Too Little Too Late (Moddey Dhoo)
25. "You and me plainly saw a vision." - James, Hello

Some brief clues. The list includes eighteen different artists; fifteen bands, three solo artists (as always, YMMV with those labels), and one song from a musical. Four of these artists have had videos spring up on this very blog, ten are American, and exactly one isn't a whiny white boy.

Update: That's the musical out of the way. Having thought about this, I think I should alter the clues slightly. Removing 22, there are in fact two incontestable solo artists and eleven definite bands with nineteen songs between them. The remaining five songs are accounted for by two artists that can be considered a band or not, depending on how one views their history, and in fact both artists are represented above both with and without their attendant bands. Thus, the number of artists remaining is between sixteen and eighteen, depending on how you view it.

If we assume for the sake of argument that both qualify as solo artists, then there are eight Americans left, along with six Englishmen (we've already winkled out the only female vocalist in the list), and one representative each from Wales, Scotland, and Canada.

Update II: The Canadians have been caught. Also, we're one Ryan Adams song down, and only nineteen unknown songs remain. If S. Spielbergo still wants to guess at random, he's down to a mere 171 possible combinations...

Update III: Having spent a little while discussing the possible provenance of number 17 with Garathon yesterday, it amused me to hear it suddenly blaring from the shuffle feature on his Netbook. Legal Eagle noticed this coincidence first, hence he receives the honours.

29 comments:

Dan Edmunds said...

22. "I'm under your spell, God how can this be?"

Is from Once More With Feeling - Buffy performed by the cast and I believe is called "Under your Spell"

SpaceSquid said...

Very close, but incorrect. There's a reason I included the lyrics after "I'm under your spell"; there are two songs from OMWF that start with those same four words.

Good work on identifying the one musical, though.

Dan Edmunds said...

Oh it’s the duet with Giles then. Which is something like “Under Your Spell / Standing in your way– Refrain”?

Gooder said...

Are you counting the Buffy one as the musical?

SpaceSquid said...

It's "Standing", but you're certainly close enough. The first hurdle falls.

jamie said...

2. James - 'Dumb Jam'
3. Ben Folds Five - 'Army'
11. Green Day - 'All the Time'

A few others ring some vague bells, but nothing concrete as yet.

SpaceSquid said...

All three correct.

jamie said...

Since the first few I answered, I couldn't be arsed and have googled some of the ones that sounded familiar. Am now heartily ashamed I didn't recognise one, and am very surprised at the countenance of another. Won't let on what they are though, let's see how others do.

Dan Edmunds said...

From the previous quiz I’m going to guess that the inferior Adams will make an appearance somewhere. Is it considered legitimate if I go with Ryan Adams as a guess for numbers 1, 4-10, 12-21 & 23-25? It’s not so much music knowledge but knowledge of your taste for Whiney White Boys…

SpaceSquid said...

Adams is in there, that's all you can have.

Dan Edmunds said...

OK the methodical approach…

1?

SpaceSquid said...

Fine. There are three Ryan Adams songs, and unless you can guess all three simultaneously, or provide one along with the correct title, you get nothing.

Since there are more than a thousand possibilities, I think that should put a stop to your hi-jinks ;)

Dan Edmunds said...

Boo! My knowledge of such music is non existent, so my only chance was gamesmanship…

How about if I post a list of all the possible permutations give the information provided? I think I could MacGyver an Excel spreadsheet that would do it… Might be a bit long for your comments section though…

SpaceSquid said...

It would be faster to just download some Adams, which would have the added benefit of allowing you to learn why your opinion of him as "inferior" is so tragically, desperately wrong.

Dan Edmunds said...

Well I have just discovered a new benefit in kind, whereby me doing work earns me free HMV MP3’s to download. I only have two at the moment… If I was to pick a Ryan Adams track to download which would you recommend?

SpaceSquid said...

What are you in the mood for? Morose, slightly less morose, seemingly cheerful but with a morose undertone?

Dan Edmunds said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dan Edmunds said...

I guess given the options seemingly cheerful but with a morose undertone… I can always try and ignore the lyrics…

SpaceSquid said...

You could try "Hallelujah" from Demolition, or "Dance All Night" from Cold Roses.

SpaceSquid said...

Ironically, my i-Pod shuffle function just reminded me that "Firecracker" from Gold would work pretty well, too.

BigHead said...

I can identify exactly the same number as you'd be able to if I did another of these.

Nick said...

8. Sylvia Plath by Ryan Adams

Moddey_Dhoo said...

Barenaked Ladies - Too Little Too late

In checking my suspicion I was shocked to find there have been a good few Barenaked Ladies albums I had totally missed and feel I will now have to investigate.

Nick

SpaceSquid said...

8 and 24 both correct, Moddey.

Dan Edmunds said...

Only 24% so far and rapidly being pushed down the blog... Not looking good, that's a 45% drop since last time. Clearly your music taste has become even more incomprehensible.

SpaceSquid said...

Indeed, and it'll be off the front page in a day or two.

I blame Mozz, who saved us from total disaster last time now, but is now conspiciously absent. It's probably because I said Shadowcat is overrated...

Tomsk said...

I don't recognise any of these, which could be distressing if I own any of them.

Tom

SpaceSquid said...

As far as I know you don't any of them Tom, so you're safe.

jamie said...

Well, I've also done worse than last time, and my caving into the temptations of Google has disqualified me and doomed us further. I take full responsibility.

*falls on sword*