I've got meetings and phone calls most of the day, so here's something to keep you amused. Each of the following two-word phrases is taken from a pop song, some well-known, some faintly obscure. If you think you can identify one, leave a comment containing a more complete version of the line in which it appears-- enough to indicate that you know the whole song. Then supply a new two-word lyric for other people to guess (or don't-- it's all good).
- strobe-lit space
- rowboats landing
- devil jumped
- wearing tulle
- she cat-sits
- circus floor
- said, quote
- talking allegorically
- wrestling gators
- spare bulb
- Texaco roadmap
- sadness hid
- fancy gloves
- platinum chain
- fake Jamaican
- government yard
- blistering cold
- Fidel Castro
- alabaster stones
- zucchini fettucini
- former gophers
- disco hotspot
- silver spaceship
- ain't amoebas
- full-time filth
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As you can guess from the title, I've done this twice before when I had stuff to do that precluded quality blogging. Kate's in Rochester for a court appearance, leaving me home with SteelyKid, so this seems like a perfect occasion for a third go-round.
The pairs of words in the following list are…
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I've got a ton of stuff to do today, and it's the last Friday of summer, so here's a little light entertainment. As in previous editions, each of the two-word phrases on the list below should hopefully uniquely identify one pop song. If you think you recognize…
I should queue up some more PNAS posts, but I think I'm going to save a bunch of them for when we're at Worldcon. And I do have more serious science-related stuff that I've marked to talk about, but it's Friday, and everybody could use a break. So here's a silly pop-music thing instead.
As with…
I was up until almost midnight grading labs, and I have forty-odd grant proposals to read today, so I'm going to be unplugging from the Internet and working on, well, work. For entertainment while I'm paying for my procrastination, here's another two-word lyrics quiz. These two-word phrases each…
16 - "In a government yard deep down inside..."?
Wasn't sure if you wanted another two words from this tune or a fresh one so here both.
Same tune - "evil minds"
New tune - "fool nowhere"
15 - "That Fake Jamaican took every last dime in that scam, it was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand"
Modest Mouse, Float On
My new two-word clue: "Bumblebee mouth"
3) "And the devil jumped up on a hickory stump ..."
Two more words: "dog bite"
12) "Just like Pagliacci did, I try to keep my sadness hid."
Two more words: "glad expression"
13) "Fancy gloves though has MacHeath dear, ..."
Two more words: "scarlet billows"
20) "Not zucchini, fettuccine or bulgar wheat ... "
Two more words: "carnivorous habits"
21) "See my loafers? Former gophers."
Two more words: "albino African"
New song: "usual flair"
"We didn't go back to her place. We went to some place where she cat-sits. She said, 'I know I look tired but everything's fried here in Memphis." Great song: The Hold Steady, "Sequestered in Memphis."
9 - "After all these years wrestling gators
I still feel like crying when I think of what you said to me"
Two more words: kiss-me pucker
16. One of Bob's classics: "I remember when we used to sit in a government yard in Trenchtown." My entry: "electricity howls."
The intention was for the additional two-word phrase to be from a new song, not two more words from the same song.
"...government yard in Trenchtown" is the line I had in mind. I'm not sure what "deep down inside" is.
23. silver spaceship = The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight), TMBG
I can't think of a replacement at the moment. I'll try to think up something sometime today.
Just realized
17. blistering cold = "Stan" by Eminem
OK, that's 2 new entires IOU.
Sorry, didn't play exactly by the rules.
17. "We waited four hours in the blistering cold, and you still said no."
23. "In the spaceship, the silver spaceship, the lion waves goodbye."
I got:
TR1. Eyelashes sparkle
TR2. Peripheral vision
7: I called my Congressman. He said, quote/"I'd like to help you, son, but you're too young to vote"--"Summertime Blues". I don't know the original artist; the version I own is the cover version by the Who.
grg (#4): Making my entrance again with my usual flair--Judy Collins, "Send In The Clowns"
Replacement lyrics:
A. more Spam
B. midnight picnic
come lay your bones on the alabaster stones: "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby," from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
New song:
chilly, chilly
18: "...with Fidel Castro, talking about the fate of the Revolution."
Replacement lyric: new emotion
22: "The disco hotspots hold no charm for you"
25: "You'll wind up in some factory with full-time filth and nowhere left to go"
TR1: "Your eyelashes sparkle like gilded grass"
CN1: Marty McSorley
CN2: spitting gas
CN3: awful crime
Malthus #15: Falling on my head like a new emotion--Eurythmics, "Here Comes The Rain Again"
Replacement:
EL3. runaway American
Eric Lund -
In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream - Bruce, "Born to Run"
P1: Concrete shoes
CN1: "You're the Great One, I'm Marty McSorley,"
New phrase: "counting Loonies"
Eric Lund: "Summertime Blues" was originally done by Eddie Cochran in 1958 (about a year before I was born). A San Francisco band called Blue Cheer did a fairly well-known metal version of it in '67 or '68.
Two for "Fidel Castro"
Field Commander Cohen, he was our most important spy.
Wounded in the line of duty,
parachuting acid into diplomatic cocktail parties,
urging Fidel Castro to abandon fields and castles.
and from Dylan's Motorpsycho Nightmare
I had to say something
To strike him very weird,
So I yelled out,
"I like Fidel Castro and his beard."
And to complete Stan's entry
"electricity howls in the bones of her face"
My two words worth
blue seraph
"The intention was for the additional two-word phrase to be from a new song, not two more words from the same song.
"...government yard in Trenchtown" is the line I had in mind. I'm not sure what "deep down inside" is."
That was from Citi Soleil by The Afghan Whigs, seem to remember you're a fan of them :)
11.Texaco roadmap
"fried chicken on the front seat she's sittin' in my lap
We're wipin' our fingers on a Texaco roadmap"
11b. hate tattooed
21. "See my vest/See my vest/Made from real gorilla's chest/See my loafers/Former gophers/It was either that or skin my chauffers..."
By that master songsmith, C. Montgomery Burns...