"World is crazier and more of it than we think, / Incorrigibly plural."

[larryhammer]

Memesheepage gacked from angevin2:

1. Open up your music player. Hit shuffle.
2. Record the first few words of the first 20 songs that come up that do not give away the name of the song. Skip instrumentals, but don't skip the embarrassing ones.
3. Make hapless LJ denizens guess the song names and artists. Google is cheating.
4. Least hapless LJ denizen wins admiration.

I didn't skip the embarrassing, but I did two unintelligible chants as well as the instrumentals.

ETA: answers added.

1. When I climbed into bed last night / weary to the bone / the moon shone a big round spotlight ("Glad to Hear the Rain," Short & Sweet)
2. The whistling gypsies come over the hill / down by the river so shady "The Whistling Gypsy Rover" guessed by kip_w
3. Friday night, I'm going nowhere / all the lights are changing green to red "Babylon," David Gray, guessed by harvestar
4. She comes running in / we're all on fire / she says so hysterically / I'm in the shower ("Stormy Weather," Nina Nastasia)
5. Midnight here and I'm all alone again / chain smoking and I'm in my bed ("Gotta Get Up from Here," Ellie Lawson)
6. ¡Y grita fuego! / mantenlo prendido ¡fuego! / no lo dejes apagar ("Fuego," Bomba Estéreo)
7. Let's go down together / 3 am tomorrow night / I'll take you over anything ("Radio King," original by Golden Smog, this a cover by a Brazilian teenager named Gaby)
8. There's a crack in the mirror / and a bloodstain on the bed / oh you were a vampire / and baby I'm walking dead "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)," Concrete Blonde, guessed by sovay
9. Pidä nurkkapöytä ikkunan vieressä vapaana / olen jo ison kadun varrella ("Saanko jäädä yöksi?" Regina)
10. They tied off your arms / with all their pretty charms / and the same bad lines / that always get you ("Pretty the World," Matt Nathanson)
11. Some are born to plow the fields of home / some are born to happiness and never start to roam "Native Son," Oysterband, guessed by sovay
12. I dream of occasional fanzine mentions / I've been to one too many David Lynch Conventions ("4AD3DCD," Half Man Half Biscuit)
13. Well we bursted out of class / had to get away from those fools / we learned more from a 3-minute record, baby "No Surrender," Bruce Springsteen, guessed by Matt
14. Picture if you can / your auntie in cafe / sipping up spirits / wearing this and that way ("Bijou," Stew)
15. [Name] was born in a motel room / in a broken down part of town / and his mother lay down / beside him by the light of the moon ("Little Eddie," Roth d'Lux)
16. Dic, Christi veritas / dic, cara raritas, / dic, rara caritas / ubi nunc habitas? ("Dic, christi veritas," being Caremina Burana #131, Clementic Consort)
17. Waiting for the super buzz the second dose the inspiration / but something strange is going on ("What Am I Supposed to Say," Lisa Loeb)
18. Ave nobilis / venerabilis / Maria / amicabilis / comes utilis / in via Carmina Burana #11, sorta-guessed by kip_w
19. Well we're heading for a past that you leave not defend / where the downtowns hold the sadness of you can't go back again ("Bought and Sold," Dar Williams)
20. Oh lordy, I've trouble so hard / oh lordy, I've trouble so hard / don't nobody know my troubles with God "Trouble So Hard," Vera Hall/"Natural Blues," Moby, guessed by sovay

A couple easy ones, a couple obscure ones, and one I suspect only janni will know. Have at 'em.

---L.

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Well, on my iPod, #3 would be "The Whistling Gypsy" from, of all places, a Wiggles album. I suspect yours isn't.

#18 looks like two different sections of "Carmina Burana," which means it's neither.

I have nothing.

[larryhammer]

Er, you mean #2. That's been covered by so many people, I think that counts as enough -- my version is Heather Alexander's.

#18 is indeed from Carmina Burana, from a single song. Which two were you thinking of?

---L.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The meter reminds me of O Fortuna, but as I'm effectively being given a second guess, I'm going to go with "Ave Nobilis."

[larryhammer]

Heh.

This isn't one that Orff set, so it's a bit of a stretch to count that as a guess, but I'll count it. It's usually referred to as "Ave nobilis venerabilis Maria" (CB 11) -- this recording by the Clementic Consort.

---L.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

You're too generous! I have that CD, but obviously haven't listened to it enough yet.

Boosey & Hawkes, when I went there in '03, had a fantastic facsimile of the codex those came from (or perhaps one of them), with different colors of ink and everything. It made me drool, but of course I couldn't afford to get it at the time.

One of the unfortunate things in life is that Orff somehow copyrighted the words to the songs he used, and his estate charges extra to print them or translations, so most people don't know just how swell those lyrics really are. I was able to write them all in in my vocal score, using some from a book of medieval lyrics, most of the rest from the subtitles in a TV concert of the piece, and one line that didn't get carried over somehow I scribbled out my own translation based on a lot of brow-furrowing. I used different colors of ballpoint ink to distinguish where the translations came from.

[larryhammer]

Facsimile! *drool* indeed.

I have a modern translation of CB that does two versions for the songs Orff used, one that's optimized for the poetry, one optimized for singing to his music.

---L.

[sovay]

8. Concrete Blonde, "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)."

11. Oysterband, "Native Son."

20. Vera Hall, "Trouble So Hard." Popularized by Moby's sampling it for "Natural Blues."

[larryhammer]

Bingo on all three -- it's actually Moby's version that came up (that would be one of the embarrassing ones).

---L.

[(Anonymous)]

#13: The Boss, No surrender! (Rhymes with "always remember" and "vow to defend-uh".) --Matt

[larryhammer]

I'm surprised it took anyone this long ...

---L.

[harvestar.livejournal.com]

3 is Babylon by David grey.

[larryhammer]

Bingo.

---L.