In Which Nathan Revives the Lyric-Guessing Game and Eeyore Joins In

[vovat]

I had a dream the night before last where I was wondering where the "Winnie" in "Winnie-the-Pooh" came from. Now that I'm awake, I actually still do wonder that. I remember the books said something about why he was called "Pooh" (and no, kids of the nineties, it has nothing to do with fecal matter), and that his real name was Edward Bear. But I don't recall the "Winnie" actually being used much at all outside of the titles.

Last night, I had a dream that bethje was going out on a date with another man, and I was jealous, but I didn't have any real objection to it. Then there was another dream where I was riding a bus back from somewhere, and when I got off, I saw all these kids trick-or-treating. Since it was supposed to be September, I figured it must be some weird idea the local schools thought up. Maybe I had that "Orange and Black Day" that was in the news last year on my mind.

Anyway, the main point of this post is to provide another set of lyrics for you to guess. rockinlibrarian did this again recently, and I decided I might as well follow suit. There are thirty of them, and they all came up randomly on iTunes, although I skipped quite a few that I didn't know very well or thought were too easy. (Really, is there any line in "I've Got A Fang" that wouldn't automatically give it away to anyone who'd heard the song even once?)

1. Some people say that I am out of my tree, or just a strawberry fool.
2. Men have gargoyles 'round their hearts.
3. We could eat fish all day, not worry about how we smell.
4. On the twisting highway, headlamps and moonlight light the way.
5. Thirty miles by hundred miles by stinking island.
6. Prove it to yourself if you've got something to offer.
7. For when we smite them with our swords in the name of our just Lord, we do bring glory to His name.
8. There she told me that she loved me, not with words but with a kiss.
9. Are you bigger than a breadbox, heavy like a bag of rocks?
10. They say he sprung from the skull of Athena. Think about your own head and the headache he gave.
11. Have you seen her car? Eight-track is the latest!
12. While the glory of God is simple to some, the heaven of headlines is better, and much easier to attain.
13. On request from her dad, she takes a seat centre stage, and starts to play.
14. If you hide yourself away, your country will honor you.
15. Nothing lies like no parade for the highest grade. It's time to call a spade a spade.
16. It's a thousand pages, give or take a few. I'll be writing more in a week or two.
17. We'll meet beyond the shore. We'll kiss just as before.
18. What are we going to do with these bones?
19. We chased the tide as the treasures were gathered.
20. Look at them eating. I guess it tastes real good.
21. Prayers to my chosen deity. Modulation, and I hold a high note.
22. He was the first boy born in space.
23. Am I a fool? I'm not as smart as a rat. I'm much smarter than that.
24. I sing myself to sleep at night.
25. Everybody's having fun, dancing with the skeleton.
26. I noticed that he had a watch and hat that looked familiar.
27. The world is a rock that's spinning so fast, it'll give you jim-jams.
28. You act like you're fourteen years old. Everything you say is so obnoxious, funny, true and mean.
29. Caviar, radiccio, snow pea, scampi.
30. We're the highlights in your hairdo, the extra arms on Vishnu.

I don't think there are any more than three songs by any one artist, but don't hold me to that. I remember messing up on that last time. For some reason, the same artists tended to clump together. I thought about rearranging the list, but that would be too much trouble, really.

Comments

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

Here are my guesses, such as they are:

1. Fruit Nut - XTC
2. Church of Women - XTC
4. Mystery - The Apples in Stereo
5. The Pixies
8. They Might Be Giants
16. Paperback Writer - The Beatles
30. Spring in Spring Fields - The Simpsons cast

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Those are all correct, as far as they go. #8 was actually originally a Monkees song, but it was indeed covered by TMBG, and it was the TMBG cover I was listening to.

[revme.livejournal.com]

8 - Monkees - What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round
11 - XTC - She's So Square
20 - Talking Heads - Big Country
27 - Frank Black - Sir Rockaby
and I'm pretty sure 28 and 9 are Liz Phair, but I'm blanking on the songs.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Those first four are all correct. It was actually the TMBG cover of "What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round" that I was listening to, but there's no way to know that from the lyrics, obviously.

There are indeed two Liz Phair songs on there, and 28 is one of them, but 9 is not.

[dragonxbait.livejournal.com]

He is Edward bear other wise know as "Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don't you know what 'ther' means?" http://winnie-the-pooh.ru/stories/english/bees/ I have the complete Winnie the pooh collection and that is about the best explanation you get.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Actually, I looked it up, and this (http://www.lavasurfer.com/pooh-faq2.html) says that the "Winnie" comes from a bear at the London Zoo. So now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

[dragonxbait.livejournal.com]

:-P That depends on the sort of literary analysis you are doing...in the universe of just the books (and not the book's author's influences) he never mentions the bear at the zoo. But it is interesting to know that that is the real life inspiration!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

That's true, especially when you consider that the name "Pooh" has both real-life (it was the name of a swan) and within-book (it was what he said to get the flies off his nose) explanations.

[alex-a-polukhin.livejournal.com]

Hope, my answer wouldn't be valued as [:]|||||||||[:]

The Winnie part of the name was likely based on an American black bear by the name of Winnie that was at the London Zoo. A Canadian soldier, Lt. Harry Colebourn, had purchased the bear as a cub before going to England during World War I, and brought the bear with him as a mascot for his unit. In honor of his hometown, Winnipeg, Lt. Colebourn named the bear Winnie. When his unit was called to France for action, Lt. Colebourn left Winnie with the London Zoo. Winnie was Christopher Milne's (August 21, 1920 - April 20, 1996) favorite at the zoo, and he was often allowed to enter the cage and play with the bear.

from http://winnie-the-pooh.ru/online/faq/faq.html

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I remember that line, and also the fact that then the narrator says, "'Oh yes I do know what 'ther' means,' and I hope you do too because I'm not going to explain it," and I'm like, "but I DON'T know what 'ther' means!" so I think it's very cruel of him to assume I do. Anyway.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The book implies that "ther" means Pooh is a boy despite the first name "Winnie." This actually kind of makes sense, since the German masculine definite article is "der." Of course, if it was actually the young Christopher Milne who came up with "Winnie-ther-Pooh," then this was presumably just a cute coincidence.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Silly of him to assume that all the young English speaking kids reading his book know German! Ah well. Thanks for clearing that one up for me, it's puzzled me for about the past 25 years....

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said, the similarity to German was probably just a coincidence, but it DOES work, no?

[travspence.livejournal.com]

26. I noticed that he had a watch and hat that looked familiar.

"All We Have is Now" by the Flaming Lips.

The only one I know. /-: I don't even know that fang song you mentioned in the preface.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

You're right. And I wasn't necessarily saying that everyone would have heard "I've Got A Fang" (although I would imagine that most of the people on my friends list have), just that, if you HAD heard it, you'd be able to guess it based on any line. In case you're curious, these are the lyrics (http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Lyrics:I%27ve_Got_A_Fang).

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna guess and say number one is that strawberry song by the Last Car? But that's a total guess.

16 is Paperback Writer by the Beatles.
30, I do believe, is We Put the Spring In Springfield.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

1 is wrong, but that song IS on the EP I bought. The other two are both correct.

[(Anonymous)]

29. Johnny Saucepan, Moxy Früvous

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Correct.

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

sweet! those were some tricky lyrics, my friend.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't really AIMING for tricky. A lot of those songs are ones where I don't even know the lyrics that well. That's one reason why I kind of preferred it when I came up with all the songs myself, because I made sure they were all ones I could guess myself. That wouldn't necessarily make it easier for other people, though, since I can sometimes remember things that others can't. And someone else has correctly guessed #4 on my list, which I never would have gotten myself.

[(Anonymous)]

21. Title of the Song, DaVinci's Notebook

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Also correct.

[onib.livejournal.com]

8> "What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round?" by either The Monkees or TMBG depending on which track you pulled up

21> "Title of the Song" by Da Vinci's Notebook

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Those are both right, and it was the TMBG version for #8.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

I'm always bad at these, but...

16. It's a thousand pages, give or take a few. I'll be writing more in a week or two.

Beatles - Paperback Writer

30. We're the highlights in your hairdo, the extra arms on Vishnu.

I'm not sure, but this sounds like "We Put The Spring In Springfield."

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those are both correct.

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

8. There she told me that she loved me, not with words but with a kiss.

What Am I Doin' Hanging Round?

16. It's a thousand pages, give or take a few. I'll be writing more in a week or two.

Paperback Writer. by The Beatles

30. We're the highlights in your hairdo, the extra arms on Vishnu.

Song from The Simpsons

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yes, and the Simpsons song is "We Put The Spring In Springfield," from the episode "Bart After Dark."

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you know which one I know.

#16 is "Paperback Writer," them Beatles.

All your crazy artists I don't know sure are good for lyrics, though, aren't they?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

You're right about both of those things. {g}