Head On A Stick

 

Happy birthday, Gillian!

 Stupid f***ing LiveJournal isn't letting me upload a picture of a birthday cake. Well, that''s what you get for using these useless blogalikes.

It was a nice cake. I enjoyed it. I'll upload it to my blog and you can see it there.

Have a great birthday anyway.  

Rob

(Cross-posted with slight modification from Eine Kleine Nichtmusik.)

Here are the first lines from 20 randomly-picked tracks from my collection, where the first line does not itself contain the song title. Your guesses are solicited as to the song titles and artists. I shall score the lines out as they're guessed. (You might want to check the comments over on the EKN post to see what's already been guessed there.)

1. Well you must be a girl with shoes like that 

2. I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise The Who: I Can See For Miles (title guessed by Joe, fully guessed by Phil) 

3. Shadows are falling and I've been here all day 

4. On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair The Eagles: Hotel California (guessed by Joe) 

5. Daddy, Daddy, come and look, see what I have found Tim Rose: Come Away Melinda (guessed by Phil)

6. I didn't say a word, though I am really hurt 

7. When the stone is grown too cold to kneel 

8. The mob's in town and the guns are out, and Louie knows what it's all about 

9. The saints are crippled on this sinners' night 

10. Laid here with the advertising sliding past my eyes Pulp: I'm A Man (guessed by George) 

11. We are standing here exposing ourselves 

12. I am a toreador, I am for sure, I kill bulls by the score, and sometimes more Mike Oldfield (with vocals by David Bedford): Don Alfonso (guessed by Phil) 

13. Ever since I was a little boy, dressing up has always been my greatest joy 

14. It was a slow day, and the sun was beating on the soldiers by the side of the road Paul Simon: The Boy In The Bubble (guessed by Udge) 

15. If we stand here together and we see the world as one 

16. Lime and limpid green, a second scene, a fight between the blue you once knew Pink Floyd: Astronomy Domine (guessed by Phil)

17. I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping The Beatles: While My Guitar Gently Weeps (guessed by Udge) 

18. Fell in the street in a drunken heap, there's dark water all around me 

19. And so once again, my dear Johnny, my dear friend Joni Mitchell: The Fiddle And The Drum (guessed by Z)

20. He came in the ballroom, just a crazy old man; his eyes seemed to glaze in the light 

The title of this journal (Head On A Stick) was inspired by discussion on the Feedback page of this week's New Scientist about misprints inspired by copy taken down over the telephone. For example, a software product was described as having a "dragon drop interface". Apparently back in 1999 Feedback reported on a Sheffield newspaper's personal ad which read "Professional man, 45, head on a stick, seeks similar woman."

Which made me think that perhaps the pleasure-seeking miscreants - such as highwaymen - whose crania ended up decorating London Bridge back in Olden Times had been pursuing a head on a stick lifestyle. And who better to exemplify that than Barbara Windsor in Carry On Dick?



Anyway, I've always enjoyed mondegreens, to which the New Scientist examples above are clearly related.