Belated birthday wishes -- and music questions :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Apologetic late birthday greetings to the following people -- hope you all had good days!

sugarannie
for 23rd October

cho_malfoy837
for 25th October

isis_uf
for 1st November

Busy time recently, you know the drill. :)

As for the music questions ... well, it's that time of the month again, the one where I set a pub quiz and desperately try to find linkages to group the songs by and/or songs to fit the linkages. This time I have two things for which I'd appreciate additional suggestions from anyone who has them:


(1) The 'connection' round -- i.e. take words or phrases from the title or artist of six songs to find a connection that has nothing to do with the tracks themselves -- which in this case is The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. I can do five solid ones here:

Arthur Askey -- The Bee Song (not as obscure as it sounds, they're using it for an ad on TV at the moment)
Emile Ford and the Checkmates -- What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?
Neil Young -- Heart of Gold
Radiohead -- Paranoid Android
and of course Level 42 -- er, whichever track I pick, really.

I'm a bit stuck for a good track 6, though. jesspallas suggested something with dolphins, but the only one I have is a pretty obscure Byrds track called Dolphin's Smile. Something in reference to blowing up the Earth would be good, of course; but I used REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) in another quiz recently, and the only others I seem to have which get the same idea are The End Of The World by Mud (no idea either, it was on a 'Best Of' compilation and I can't remember it at all), and Make The World Go Away by Donny and Marie Osmond (which is painful, and like minus three thousand credibility points). Anything else spring to mind?

(2) Anyway, the other round is an Armistice Day theme on the subject of war songs, and given that theme, specifically songs suggesting that on the whole, maybe war isn't that great an idea and we should do less of it. (Why this? I was originally due to do the quiz next week on the 11th itself, but agreed to swap -- but sod it, I'm not thinking up a new theme now! :D)

Current brainstormed possibles are below (songs I actually have), but any alternative or better ideas welcome! I'm sure I'm missing a large number of very obvious ones that just elude me at the moment, and I don't want to include too many obscure ones.

War -- Edwin Starr (duh)
Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) -- Zombies
Out in the Fields -- Phil Lynott and Gary Moore
The Beautiful Occupation -- Travis
The Grave -- George Michael
Eve of Destruction -- Barry McGuire
Red Army Blues -- Waterboys
Universal Soldier -- Donovan
Cambodia -- Kim Wilde
Fortunate Son -- Creedence Clearwater Revival
Shipbuilding -- Elvis Costello
Billy Don't Be A Hero -- Paper Lace or Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
You're In The Army Now -- Status Quo
B.O.B (Bombs Over Baghdad) -- Outkast
Four Minute Warning -- Mark Owen
Bomber -- Motorhead

I'm trying to avoid using Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag by Country Joe and the Fish (because I used that in a round of political songs a few months ago), and The War Song by Culture Club (because it's utter shite). I don't have Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel (although it looks to be on YouTube), and I really will have to look and see if Snoopy Versus The Red Baron is available anywhere, either the Flying Guardsmen version or the one by the Hotshots!


Lyrics: While on the subject of music, the last one of these, a couple of weeks ago, was Slow Hand by the Pointer Sisters from 1981, spotted by magnolia_mama. Here's a glam-rock classic which unfortunately doesn't quite count as a war-themed song: :D

Oh and see a man at the back as a matter of fact
His eyes are as red as the sun
And the girl in the corner let no one ignore her
Cause she thinks she's the passionate one

Oh Yeah! It was like lightning
Everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing
And they all started grooving (1970s)

Comments

[ozma-katiebell.livejournal.com]

Just listened to this yesterday.
Ballroom Blitz!

[snorkackcatcher]

Yep!

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

How about the Clash, Spanish Bombs for the war theme? Or The Tropper by Iron Maiden? Or Rolf Harris' Two Little Boys?

[snorkackcatcher]

Two Little Boys! I'd forgotten that. excellent idea for a bit of light relief -- with that and Spanish Bombs I might get twelve different conflicts, if the former is supposed to be Boer War and the latter Spanish Civil War, which I assume from the lyrics. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

Fairly obvious: Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the USA"

These aren't very obvious, but:

Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sun is burning" (specifically an anti-nuclear war song); the second line of their 'Scarburgh Fair' is a song about war, but unfortunately it's very hard to make out most of the words
The Fureys (or the Chieftains, or The Men They Couldn't Hang) "The Green Fields of France".
Joan Baez (or Peter Paul and Mary, or Marlene Dietrich) "Where have all the flowers gone?"
Lilli Marlene?

Oddly enough, most of the anti-war songs I know are in German.

[snorkackcatcher]

Born in the USa would work (although much as I like Springsteen, I honestly don't think that's one of his best). I don't seem to have the others -- which is surprising, I thought I had Where Have All The Flowers Gone? Oh well. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

Born in the USa would work (although much as I like Springsteen, I honestly don't think that's one of his best).

Oh, I agree entirely, and though I sympathise with his disgust at it being taken by Republicans as a Gung-Ho Patriotic Anthem, to be honest I can see how the confusion occurred. But it's the first thing that came to mind (the rest of my list shows my strong bias towards folk...)

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

HHGTTG suggestions: there's a variety of songs called Hitch-hiker, by among others, the Doors, Neil Young (again) and Creedence Clearwater Revival (Sweet Hitchhiker), which was the one I was trying to recall. (Gave up, had to Google).

War: surely 'Nineteen' by Paul Hardcastle is an option?

[snorkackcatcher]

19, of course. That's the trouble with brainstorming, you think of a lot of obscure ones and miss the obvious ones. I see I haven't used it for two and a half years, so that can go in.

As for Hitch-Hiker songs, the thing is I don't want to give it away by including 'Hitch-Hiker' directly. :) I see I have Green Day doing Hitchin' a Ride though ...

[muggle-prof.livejournal.com]

how about A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall or With God on Our Side, both by Dylan?

[snorkackcatcher]

Yeah, the latter would work (I have the Manfred Mann version). The former ... I've never been entirely sure what that was about. I'm not convinced Dylan did either. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

But when isn't that the case with Dylan?

[snorkackcatcher]

*snerk* A reasonable point ...

[muggle-prof.livejournal.com]

I never knew there was a Mandred Mann version...

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

For the first one, there's always Tennesee Ernie Ford, I guess, but I don't know if he would be recognizable on your side of the pond (he barely is here). I feel like there has to be at least one song about a Ford automobile, but nothing is coming to mind.

[snorkackcatcher]

He is recognisable (at least to people like me with somewhat eclectic tastes) -- back in the 1950s Sixteen Tons was a #1 here and The Ballad of Davy Crockett #3. I suppose it's a toss-up between the two artists really! (I see I do have three other people named Ford, but none of them are exactly well-known.)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

The lyrics are Ballroom Blitz :)

For anti-war songs, always ask a country music fan. We can come up with the pro-war and the anti-war!

-My all-time favorite is a very beautiful Garth Brooks song called Belleau Wood.
-Tim McGraw's If You're Reading This is about Iraq.
-Alan Jackson did Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning as a response to September 11.


There's also the 70's classic One Tin Soldier, Imagine by John Lennon (which I HATE), End of the World As We Know It, Blowin' in the Wind, Forgotten Years by Midnight Oil, Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2... Good luck! :)

Oooh! For the HHGTG quiz, you could use Blowin' in the Wind for the phony question in Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

[snorkackcatcher]

Ballroom Blitz indeed. (And I'm glad somebody else isn't keen on Imagine.)

Don't have much country, unfortunately (I quite like a bit of country from time to time, but only have a few CDs). I did download Not Ready To Make Nice, but that's not really about war as such! Sunday Bloody Sunday -- hmm, might work, although it's debatable whether the Troubles count as a war ...

I must admit, I like the Blowin' in the Wind idea, except that I might get lynched. :)

[sugarannie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the (late) congratulations...
and I don't know whether this is helpful, but when I just tried to find a song connected with "war", my first idea was The Dire Strait's "Brothers In Arms"; although "In The Army Now" is a good choice, too...

[snorkackcatcher]

You're welcome. Brothers in Arms! *facepalm" Of course ...

[lucie-p.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love The Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz"!

As another song for you list I'd suggest Billy Joel's Leningrad.

[snorkackcatcher]

Nice to hear someone else knows it! It's as camp as they come, but gerat fun. And the Billy Joel one would work ...

[lucie-p.livejournal.com]

Please know that it's all your fault that I spent the whole evening hearing a couple of lines in my head, over and over:

Are you ready, Steve? -U-huu.
Andy? -Yeah.
Mick? -Okay.
'ts all right now, so let's goooo!

[snorkackcatcher]

Sorry. :)

[under-crisis.livejournal.com]

my suggestions for the war theme: zombie by the cranberries, russians by sting, and u2's sunday bloody sunday. i dunno, i thought they were pretty obvious choices. check out the lyrics, though, and feel free to tell me i'm wrong :D

[snorkackcatcher]

'Zombie' would work maybe, but I used it in another quiz a few months back and I try not to repeat songs too soon if I can avoid it. :(

[jesspallas.livejournal.com]

I'm probably too late with this but it just now occurred to me - for the Hitch Hiker stuff, you could use Perry Como's Magic Moments because it's on the HH film's soundtrack...

BTW, if you don't mind my asking - did you get my email re: ALMT on Monday?

[snorkackcatcher]

I saw the reviews for the film and decided to avoid it. :)

ALMT: damn, overlooked that with all the other stuff ... I'll get onto it.