For this review of the many inane things locked in my head, we’re going to focus on lyric content and not titles or artists. To set some parameters, most of these songs are from the 70s and 80s. (Sorry, younger folks. You’ll discover as you get older that it’s easy to remember things from the days when you were fresh and dewy. Once you hit the downhill slope of bodily and mental decay, well, the mind simply refuses to accept new intel without a considerable amount of truculence.)
Fair warning, regardless of age: This challenge is a bit tough, so don’t be blue if none of this makes any sense to you. (“Tomorrow is another day,” paraphrased Scarlett O’Hara, as she flopped around in that turnip field or whatever the hell it was.) This lark is not meant as a means of validation in any way, but rather as a bit of whimsy on a late Friday night.
1. In Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana”, who was the victim of the “single gun shot”, Tony or Rico?
2. In Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen”, what did we cheat ourselves at?
3. What did Tony Orlando and Dawn want us to tie a yellow ribbon around? (Bonus question: How many people were in this musical “group”?)
4. In Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”, a big-bellied sheriff got his gun and said what?
5. What can Sammy Hagar not drive?
6. In Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, she tumbles out of bed and stumbles to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of what?
7. In Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon”, what three colors does Boy George keep repeating until you want to claw your face?
8. In Wham’s “Careless Whisper”, George Michael’s guilty feet have got no what?
9. In The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me”, what was the female singer working as when she first met the male singer?
10. In The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat”, where does Belinda Carlisle tell us to jump?
11. According to one of Belinda’s singles, once she ditched the other Go-Go’s, where is heaven?
12. Billy Ocean wants you to get out of his dreams and get into what?
13. According to Michael Hutchence of INXS, what does every single one of us have inside?
14. According to Wang Chung, what should everybody have tonight?
15. Pharmaceuticals aside, Robert Palmer was addicted to what?
16. According to Jim Kerr of “Simple Minds”, what should we not forget about? (Bonus question and possible clue: Name the 1985 John Hughes movie that made this song into a huge hit.)
17. According to John Cougar Mellencamp in “Jack and Diane”, what goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone?
18. In REO Speedwagon’s “Take It on the Run”, what was “Baby” accused of doing, according to a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another?
19. In Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”, the dearly beloved have gathered here today to get through this thing called what? (Hint: The answer here is the same answer as one of the above queries.)
20. In “Only the Good Die Young”, Billy Joel would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the what?”
Please do not scroll past the photo of Cleo the Cat, once again bored out of her mind because her daddies are not doing enough to entertain her, unless you are prepared to see the answers.
The Answers:
1. Tony
2. Solitaire
3. The ole oak tree. (Bonus question: Three.) Bonus trivia: On “The Carol Burnett Show”, the cast spoofed the group as Tony Tallahassee and Dusk, singing “Wrap Your Jammies Round the Old White Pine.
4. “Why’dya do it?” (“Why did you do it?” is also acceptable, for the grammar purists out there.) Bonus trivia: Tony Orlando and Dawn’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” knocked Vicki Lawrence’s “Georgia” out of the top spot on the Billboard charts in 1973.
5. 55
6. Ambition
7. Red, gold and green. (If you’re bored, here’s a link to my snarky review of the video.)
8. Rhythm. (Trivia: George swore this song was about a girl. Uh huh. Yeah, I told those lies, too.)
9. Waitress in a cocktail bar. (Personal trivia note: I know the male singer is Philip Oakey. I have no idea what the name of the female singer is/was, even though I was a Human League fanatic during my younger years. Then again, I’ve always paid more attention to the guys than the girls, so to speak.)
10. Back
11. A place on earth
12. My car. (Beep beep,yeah.)
13. The devil
14. Fun
15. Love
16. Me. (Bonus question: “The Breakfast Club”.) Bonus trivia: Jim Kerr almost didn’t want to make this song because, paraphrasing here, “it didn’t sound like any of our other stuff”. Dude, I bought your next three albums after this, so shut the hell up. I think the popularity worked out okay for you. More bonus trivia: Kerr was married to Chrissie Hynde of “The Pretenders” when this song came out.
17. Life
18. Messin’ around
19. Life
20. Saints
Please share your thoughts in the comments. I’m not so much interested in the number of questions you managed to decipher correctly (although I will be majorly impressed if you got most of them), but I’m more intrigued by the memories that might have been triggered.
Cheers.
Categories: Music
I remembered a lot of these. Broke my arm patting myself on the back.
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Sounds like somebody might need to take some extra calcium pills… 😉
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I believe it was Suzanne from the Human League who sang “Don’t You Want Me Baby” with Phil Oakey. I think the other girl was Joanne. She was in a relationship with Phil Oakey for many years (and possibly still is). I remember reading an interview with them in Smash Hits in the 80’s. She was asked what her favourite phrase was. Her response was “Oh Philly!”. For some peculiar reason that has always stayed with me 🤔
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It’s funny how tiny little moments stick with you. I remember being in a record store during my high school years (very early 80s), and I overheard one employee say to another “you have GOT to get the Human League ‘Red’ album”. The only album I knew about at the time was “Dare”. And the store didn’t even carry the album, as it was an import-only. But I managed to track it down and thus began my true infatuation with the band…
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I want my MTV💃🏼 I only missed one… I might OD on nostalgia
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There are worse ways to go… 😉
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Thanks for all the earworms that will be with me for the rest of the day. J.
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It’s just one of the many services we provide here at Bonnywood Manor…
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Thank you, I can now here Dolly singing 9-5 in my head. Make it go away!!!! 😛 It’s no way to make a living…
Love most of these songs 🙂 Always fun to reminisce about old tunes.
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I spend a LOT of time reminiscing with the old tunes. They just make me happy, and I’m a firm believer in doing whatever it takes to get you to that point… 😉
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You and me both 😉
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My responses (and I think I got them all right, without cheating too. Amazing):
1. In Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana”, who was the victim of the “single gun shot”, Tony or Rico? TONY
2. In Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen”, what did we cheat ourselves at? SOLITAIRE
3. What did Tony Orlando and Dawn want us to tie a yellow ribbon around? (Bonus question: How many people were in this musical “group”?) AN OLD OAK TREE. THREE.
4. In Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”, a big-bellied sheriff got his gun and said what? ‘WHY’D YOU DO IT?’ – He grabbed his gun btw..
5. What can Sammy Hagar not drive? FIFTY FIVE
6. In Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, she tumbles out of bed and stumbles to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of what? AMBITION
7. In Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon”, what three colors does Boy George keep repeating until you want to claw your face? GOLD GREEN AND RED
8. In Wham’s “Careless Whisper”, George Michael’s guilty feet have got no what? RHYTHM
9. In The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me”, what was the female singer working as when she first met the male singer? WAITRESS IN A COCKTAIL BAR
10. In The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat”, where does Belinda Carlisle tell us to jump? AND GET DOWN
11. According to one of Belinda’s singles, once she ditched the other Go-Go’s, where is heaven? IS A PLACE ON EARTH
12. Billy Ocean wants you to get out of his dreams and get into what? HIS CAR
13. According to Michael Hutchence of INXS, what does every single one of us have inside? A DEVIL
14. According to Wang Chung, what should everybody have tonight? FUN
15. Pharmaceuticals aside, Robert Palmer was addicted to what? TO LOVE
16. According to Jim Kerr of “Simple Minds”, what should we not forget about? (Bonus question and possible clue: Name the 1985 John Hughes movie that made this song into a huge hit.) ABOUT ME. MOVIE: THE BREAKFAST CLUB
17. According to John Cougar Mellencamp in “Jack and Diane”, what goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone? LIFE GOES ON
18. In REO Speedwagon’s “Take It on the Run”, what was “Baby” accused of doing, according to a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another? MESSIN’ AROUND
19. In Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”, the dearly beloved have gathered here today to get through this thing called what? (Hint: The answer here is the same answer as one of the above queries.) LIFE
20. In “Only the Good Die Young”, Billy Joel would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the what? SAINTS
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Um, I was so focused on celebrating that the music of the 80s is still on the music player in my mind intact, that I forgot to hoist any memories about those songs. I absolutely loved “The Breakfast Club” and had one of my siblings tell me I was ‘so like that Ally Sheedy” character. Now I would NEVER have carried around all those tampons in my purse “because you just never know when you gotta jam”. That icked me out actually and I still think Sheedy was a shoddy actress, but my opinion only. I grew up hearing “The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia” A LOT and thought it was cool that Vicki Lawrence could sing and not only play “Mama” on that aforementioned Carol Burnett show. That song was one of the first I recall having actual images in my mind as it played. I could see those creepy woods and that cuckolded man creeping around in the dark, as well as the hick town corrupt sheriff… My first exposure to the later to be verified fact that most politicians (judges and elected offices like sheriffs) were corrupt. Brr.
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The thing with the John Hughes movies of the 80s, like “Breakfast Club” and “16 Candles”, is that they spoke specifically to our generation. If you weren’t born during a certain stretch of years, the movies just don’t have the resonance they did with our folks, capturing as they did the messy angst of coming of age at that time. Sure, some of the material is now flakey and dated, but it was perfect for what it was, when it was.
Now, the Carol Burnett Show? I don’t see how anyone of any age cannot appreciate that show. It was zany and clever and wonderful, speaking to all ages. Back when the show was live, my designated young urchin bedtime in the early 70s was at 9pm, right as the show would start. So I would sneak out of said bed and lay in the hallway leading to the den, so I could watch the show along with my oblivious parents. (Well, I think, now, that my mom knew. Moms almost always know. But Dad? He would have blown a gasket if he had known.) Later on, I was allowed to watch it with them, my treachery forgiven or forgotten…
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Lots of good songs here, and I knew the answers to most of them. Breakfast Club is one of our favorite movies. I can pretty much remember the videos of the songs, too. 🙂
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And some of those videos were a real hoot, even though most of them look primitive and crappy now, especially the special effects. But back then? They were magical… 😉
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Whoa! This was hard. I’m familiar with almost all these songs, so it just proves that I do not pay attention to the lyrics.
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No, it just proves that you were so transported by the music that the words didn’t quite sink in… 😉
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Wow! You’re amazing! 🙂
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Please feel free to say that to me any time the mood strikes… 😉
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That was a trip through the attic. I’m happy I could remember the songs. The lyrics? Not so much. 🙂
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I was a lyric fanatic from an early age, and I would gobble up the words. In fact, I even wrote a few songs as a wee bairn. Of course, most of them were odd musings about my G.I. Joe doll or my sister’s Easy-Bake oven, but still, I strove to express myself… 😉
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I’ve heard that Human League song three times in the last week. 😛 They come: they go…
I happened to listen to the lyrics and realized that HE says, “You changed your mind. You better change it back before we both are sorry.” #MeToo wants to know if it can still get a restraining order. 😯
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Now, now. We’re really going to single out THIS song for proof of misogyny during that time? It’s rather tame compared to, oh, I don’t know, all those Whitesnake songs where the accompanying video has Tawny Kitaen achieving orgasm on the hood of a ’57 Chevy. Said with tongue firmly in cheek, because if I actually showed the tongue, I might end up in a courtroom…
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No, No! It’s just that I heard it three times, and finally noticed that particular line.
The group’s name alone, Whitesnake, should be enough for an arrest warrant. 😯
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I knew the songs but only two or three of the answers. As for the memories? Several were popular when I was in college. I spent very little time listening to the radio mainly because I didn’t have one, so that’s my excuse for not knowing the answers. 😉
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Cleo the Cat: “Daddy, did Christi just make up a random excuse for not finishing the job?”
Daddy: “No, that would be YOU, when you refuse to cover up your contributions to the litter box and we all suffer until the air clears.”
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