Fifty Years of Rock Lyrics!

This is the last "music monday" post for this decade.  Which made me realize I should probably do something special.  A sort of musical "looking back" over the past decade in music.

Unfortunately, the past decade in music kind of sucks.  So, let's look back at the last fifty years - from 1960 onwards.  And play a sort of game!  I'll post a lyric, one from each year, and you have to guess who it's by, and the title of the song.  Post your answers, and we'll see if anyone can get all 50 right.

All of the songs listed were hits, or at least were widely known.  There are no super indy songs on this list.  Most come from the ranks of pop music, rock music, or r&b.  I won't use the same band more than twice, but the same individual artists might come up a few times. A few lyrics might not be perfect copies (I'm depending on websites for the content).  Have fun!

  1. 1960:  "Do the chairs in your parlour seem empty and bare?/Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?"
  2. 1961: "Wimoweh, Wimoweh, Wimoweh, Wimoweh/Near the village, the peaceful village..."
  3. 1962: "I got up this morning turned on my radio/I was checking on the surfing scene"
  4. 1963: "Three nights and days, I sail the sea/think of girl, constantly"
  5. 1864: "And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy/and God I know I'm one"
  6. 1965: "Suddenly/I'm not half the man I used to be"
  7. 1966: "So fee-fi-fo-fum/look out baby, 'cause here I come"
  8. 1967: "Acting funny and I don't know why/excuse me while I kiss the sky"
  9. 1968: "Every day I get in the queue/to get on the bus that takes me to you"
  10. 1969: "He got monkey finger he shoot coca-cola/he say 'I know you, you know me'"
  11. 1970: "On we sweep with threshing oar/our only goal will be the western shore"
  12. 1971: "You know we've got to find a way/to bring some loving here today"
  13. 1972:  "The ocean is a desert with its life underground/and a perfect disguise above"
  14. 1973: "Singing to the ocean, I can hear the ocean's roar/play for free, play for me, and play a whole lot more!"
  15. 1974:  "There was funky chinamen from funky chinatown/they were trapping them up, they were trapping them down"
  16. 1975:  "The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think/oh, by the way, which one's pink?"
  17. 1976:   "And that time over at Johnny's Place/Well, this chick got up and she slapped Johnny's Face"
  18. 1977:  "You got mud on your face/you big disgrace"
  19. 1978: "I woke up in a SoHo doorway/a policeman knew my name"
  20. 1979: "No dark sarcasm, in the classroom/teachers leave those kids alone"
  21. 1980:  "Toe to toe/dancing very close/barely breathing/almost comatose"
  22. 1981: "Just a small town girl/living in a lonely world/she took a midnight train going anywhere"
  23. 1982: "And the last known survivor/stalks his prey in the night"
  24. 1983: "You're wondering who I am (Secret secret, I've got a secret)
  25. 1984: "So don't become some background noise/A backdrop for the girls and boys"
  26. 1985: "Now she don't even know my name/But I think she likes me all the same"
  27. 1986:  "Turning and returning to some secret place inside/Watching in slow motion as you turn around and say..."
  28. 1987: "Annie are you Okay?/Are you okay, Annie?"
  29. 1988: "In every life we have some trouble/and when you worry you make it double"
  30. 1989:  "Alright stop/collaborate and listen/Ice is back with my brand new invention"
  31. 1990:  "It's been seven hours and fifteen days/Since you took your love away"
  32. 1991:  "Cause nothing lasts forever/and we both know hearts can change"
  33. 1992:  "Some of them try to rhyme/but they can't rhyme like this (go!  go!)"
  34. 1993:  "I wish I was special/you're so fucking special"
  35. 1994:  "In the time of Chimpanzees/I was a monkey"
  36. 1995:  "So please stop explaining/don't tell me cause it hurts"
  37. 1996:  "Breathe in... breathe out... tied to a wheel/fingers got to feel/bleeding through a tourniquette smile"
  38. 1997:  "When you get old and start losing your hair/can you tell me who will still care?"
  39. 1998:  "Like Kurosawa I make mad films/okay I don't make films/but if I did, they'd have a samurai"
  40. 1999:  "I wish that I could fly/into the sky/so very high/just like a dragonfly"
  41. 2000:  "I want the things that I had before/like a Star Wars poster on my bedroom door"
  42. 2001:  "And everything I can't remember/As fucked up as it all may seem"
  43. 2002:  "I wanna run through the halls of my high school/I wanna scream at the top of my lungs"
  44. 2003:  "It was a baby boy/so we bought him a toy/it was a ray gun/and it was 1981"
  45. 2004:  "A fake jamaican took every last dime with that scam/it was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand"
  46. 2005:  "Hold their dreams up to the light/the wildebeest is searching for sight/and we are not going home"
  47. 2006:  "Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananman Square?/Was fashion the reason why they were there?"
  48. 2007:  "You are not to blame for/Bittersweet distractor/Dare not speak its name/Dedicated to all human beings"
  49. 2008:  "My daddy's got a gun/my daddy's got a gun/you better run"
  50. 2009:  "Sometimes you break a finger on the other hand/Think you got me confused for a better man"

3 comments:

  1. Oh... let's see...
    1. Are you lonesome tonight(Elvis, right?)
    2. The lion sleeps tonight(it was used in The Lion King)
    3. Surfin'(Beach Boys.)
    4. ???
    5. House of the rising sun
    6. Yesterday?
    7. Get ready
    8. Purple haze
    9. Magic bus? (i sort of guessed that one...)
    10. Come together?
    11. Immigrent(LED ZEPPELIN)
    12-17. I have no idea
    18. We'll rock you (queens)
    19. Who are you
    20. Another brick in the wall?
    21. Rapture
    22. Don't stop believin'
    23-30. I'm too tired to guess.
    31. Beautiful goodbye?
    32. November rain(Guns n Roses. I love this song!)
    33. ???
    34. Creep
    35. Loser
    36. Don't Speak
    37-45. i'm tired. Again.
    46. Joker and thief
    47. Hypnotize (system of a down)
    48. Reckoner
    49. Hayloft
    50. not a clue.

    The Moral of this Little affair: I have no life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You missed a few, but honestly, you did a LOT better than I would have at this game. And I have owned a good chunk of these albums.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, thanks! You're sweet - for a Leo...

    ReplyDelete