Amy's Free Library of Rock!

Love it: I got tagged for this on Facebook but because it is awesome (and any public posts here automatically get sent to Facebook anyway; and it was magnolia___ who tagged me there anyway) I'm putting it here as well. The instructions are as follows:

Think of 15 albums, CDs, LPs (if you're over 40) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dig into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill.

Read that-- that's a slightly different angle than just naming your favorite albums. I enjoyed naming my favorite albums too, but this implies more of an All-Time Thing, a HISTORY of oneself and ones album listening if you will. Exciting! I've even given you links to the Last.fm page for each album (or something similar at least) so if you're lucky and it HAS samples you can listen to them! So here goes, in chronological order of when I discovered the album:
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Then on a similar topic, like two weeks ago I said to vovat, "Sure! I love music memes! If you give me a letter I will most definitely make a post about five songs beginning with that letter!" So, although this happened at least two weeks ago, I still technically was not lying if I do it now, SO:

Five Songs starting with the letter N. I think I had "N" last time I did the five song thing, but that was awhile ago, and there are many songs that begin with N, so let's do it again! the directions say including downloadable links is awesome, but you'll just have to settle for streaming links on Last.fm.
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richard wright dies at 65

You know, I don't know the inner backstories of any other band the way I do the Beatles, so I learned something new from this article-- judging by the songs and albums they mention his working on particularly, I think Wright was quite strongly responsible for the particular Floyd sound I like best. Hmm. RIP. Enjoy the great gig in the sky.

I know I'm way behind on posting any actual real life updatable information, and I do have a lot to write about apparently, but I also have a lot to do-- probably why I haven't written much in the first place-- so I'll see how much time I have once I accomplish everything else I have to do here tonight.

Okay, so last night at work I realized what I forgot to do last Thursday when I posted that long bunch of things (this is where all the people who aren't on my Friends Page but are reading along say "You posted last Thursday? What?" Um, sorry. There was just some not-for-the-public stuff in that post. Granted, there was also a lot of pointless stuff in that post also, but you know how it is...)-- MY FAVORITE STUPID LIVEJOURNAL TIMEWASTER EVER!!! vovat decided to do it again, so since HE did I figured that was a good enough excuse for ME to...

PLAY THE GUESS THE LYRIC GAME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now thanks to the wonderful world of Last.fm I don't even actually have to sit LISTENING to random songs, I can just go back and see what I DID listen to recently! (Note: don't try to cheat by looking at my Last.fm profile. I listened to more stuff since I made the list, and I also took out duplicates I'd played the lyric game on before, so it would just confuse you more than help you anyway. Plus it's just un-sportsmanlike). So I actually did most of this last night, in between actually helping people with library things and also inexplicably helping some girl on AskHerePA find the official home page of her favorite singer, which she got so distracted by that she forgot that that hadn't been her actual question.

SOOO, if you're new here and have never played the Guess the Lyric Game, the rules are Post the first line of the next Insert-number-here (typically, it's about 20, but I tend to get carried away) songs that randomly come up on your music-player-that-plays-random-shuffled-songs, and everyone else has to guess what they are. When I play, I like to give partial credit for close answers-- if you know the artist but not the title, if you obviously know the song but can't remember the actual name of it, etc. This list is a combination of songs everyone should know and songs that are more obscure, from a wide variety of decades (though, admittedly, mostly 60s), so don't worry about the ones you don't know, just tell me what you know! I'm going to screen comments so nobody can pull the "Somebody else guessed the only ones I know!" excuse. LAter this week or early next, depending on turn-out, I'll post answers.

Sorry for length, but I'm not cutting, because this way you're more likely to see a song you know and say, "Hey, wait, I KNOW that one, I guess I'll play after all!" And here we go:
Edit: Adding Clues! The simplest clues to add is the Decade and Genre Clue, so that's what I'll do, so you can at least narrow down which radio station you might have heard it on, etc...

1. "Laugh when your eyes are burning, smile when your heart is filled with pain" (I gave you two lines because I have no idea if anyone is going to know this one. I don't think anyone I know in real life, but maybe one of you other people-- I've never seen your music collections)'00s singer-songwriter, but you probably haven't heard it on the radio--there's a big chance you or someone you know (besides me) has the CD though

2. "The lock upon my garden gate's a snail, that's what it is." (If you know it, you know it. And if you ever lived with me, you definitely know it) '60s folk rock. But let me reiterate: When I say "if you ever lived with me you definitely know it," I don't mean "You've probably heard me play it"-- I mean "I have actually sat you down and FORCED YOU TO LISTEN TO THIS SONG." No kidding. You'll remember when I tell you the answer, I know.

3. "There's something happening here, but what it is ain't exactly clear" (easy assuming you actually know what the title is)60s um folk rock I guess, but yeah, if you don't actually know the title you won't know the title-- give me a clue that you know the song and I'll give you partial credit!

4. "The feeling is clear, clear as a blue sky on a sunny day" (kind of an ironic first line after the last one, isn't it?) 70s cheesy pop ballad

5. "[Title], you don't have to put on the red light"actually, I'm not sure... late 70s early 80s? Probably more closely associated with 80s?

6. "After all the jacks are in their boxes..." (I could totally just keep writing the lyrics to this one because they're all awesome, but I'll stop now) 60s blues rock

7. "[title, twice] again, racing through my brain" 90s or maybe early 00s pop

8. "Looking out a dirty old window, down below the cars in the city go rushing by" 80s pop. Went ahead and added another line to see if that helps any.

9. "Don't think me unkind, the words are hard to find" 80s I think... new wave pop?

10. "[Title, half the title] deep inside, oh yeah..." 60s blues rock

11. "You made a fool of me, but them broken dreams have got to end" (I have a lot of music by this group, but luckily for you this is probably the only one most of you know) 70s ...poppy progressive

12... uh, okay, I'll keep this one: "This looks familiar, vaguely familiar..." but I will have to warn you, I've got a lot more music on my computer recently that isn't your typical radio-type song. That said, most of you have probably heard this song, it's just not what you're expecting. 70s... showtune?

13. "Tonight's the night we're gonna make it happen..."80s pop

14. "[a bit of refrain that is way too much variations on the title, so skipping to the first verse:]I'm gettin' bugged drivin' up and down the same old strip..." 60s pop

15. "If everybody had an ocean..." (That one I'm SURE you don't need more of, even though it's short) 60s pop. Seriously. If everybody had an ocean, WHAT WOULD THEY DO WITH IT? Come on, you know this one

16. "[Title] there's no heaven..." (same there) 70s ballad

17. "[title twice] It looks like everybody in the whole wide world is [title again]" 60s blues rock

18. "[title] please believe me, I'll never do you no harm" 60s blues rock

19. "Talking to myself and feeling old. Sometimes I'd like to quit; Nothing ever seems to fit;" 70s ballad. Easy listening even. I added another couple lines too.

20. "Tonight it's very clear as we're both lying here..." 80s ballad. Think it was a movie theme too, if that helps

21. "[title a lot, then verse] Nothing to do to save his life..." 60s psych-pop

22. "Half a mile from the county fair, when the rain came pourin' down..."70s singer-songwriter, folk rock, something
Skipping the next two because the first one doesn't have any lyrics that AREN'T some variation of the title and the second one is in Portugese and no one would know it anyway. Moving on:

23. "It's been a [title] time..." (I don't know, that seems good enough, especially if I give the Repeat Artist clue) 60s psych

24. "Look around your world, pretty baby" 90s pop

25. "Saturday night and you're still hanging around..." 70s... I don't know what genre. Rock. Singer-songwriter.

26. "It's getting near dawn, when lights close their tired eyes" (man, I think adding the second part makes it too easy, but just the first one is too hard... oh well then, if it's easy, it's easy) 60s awesome wailing psychedelic blues rock-- wait a second, Maggie, did you not get this one?

27. "[title] makes a man take things over" (hmm, hard, I had to look that one up. It's not an obscure song, though, it's just a hard lyric) 70s prog rock, new wave, something

28. "Your day breaks, your mind aches..." 60s, I don't know what genre, but if you know it you already know it anyway

29. "Wanting you the way I do, I only wanna be with you..." (oddly enough more people might know this song by the first line of the SECOND verse, for reasons I'll explain when I give the answers if necessary) 70s singer-songwriter, but I think a better clue MAY be the first line of the second verse: "If you're out on the road, feeling lonely and so cold..." Ringing any bells yet?

30. And finally, this one's for you Maggie: "[title], got my chips cashed in..." (think that should be enough)70s folk rock I think. Yes, Maggie got it, but maybe you can too!

As for artist repeats, this time we've got: 5 and 9 are by the same artist; sheez, I don't know why I didn't shake this one up a bit but 10, 18, 21, 23, 28 are by the same artist, 1 and 16 are by (different) former members of the band, and here's a tantalizing clue for you, one of those aforementioned former members sings backup on 27 (which is otherwise by someone completely unrelated); 14 and 15 are by the same band and they're both easy, come on; and 20 is by a former member of 4, but I don't know how many of you are going to know that anyway.

So yeah, have fun and stuff.

Okay, might as well paste in some surveys while waiting for Sam to fall asleep for his nap (WIDE awake, that one), and for Jason to remember that he went downstairs to shovel the driveway, so that I can FINALLY get to the grocery. And not die.

These surveys were done over the past few days-- the first is half a few days ago and half yesterday, the second is last night, the third this morning... so you know where the answers are coming from.

( a bunch of surveys, and quite a lot of length, including images, so be warned )

The end

Hey all! I guess I'll post answers to the Latest Marvelous Lyric Game, but if you haven't played yet, pop on over and give it your best anyway, because I care and want you to succeed in life.

This round's winners are marisa724 (40 pts), vovat (26), rockonliz127 (3), punterschlagen (14), and tigger18325 (15 1/2)! You may note that they all have very different scores, except the latter two who were quite close, but they all are the clear winners because, dangit, they played the game.

Now for an explanation of the game they played:
( answers! Don't peak until you play! )
Ok, that was fun, but it's time for Sammy's bath.

My friends page has been unusually quiet over the past few days. Granted, I have one Friend in Europe and one in a state of Moving, so that cuts the list back by two regular posters. So instead of having things to read when I'm sitting here with a baby on my lap looking for something I can DO with a baby on my lap, I worked on a couple good ol' Livejournal games that had appeared on my Friends page over the past couple weeks. That's how LONG it took to work on them actually, because A) I was often typing one-handed, and B)though I was whiling away time, I was whiling away VERY SHORT BITS of time at a time.

But the first one I HAD, just HAD to do... um, again... because unwittingly my new Friend marisa724 posted it just the other week in her journal. And hey, like I need the excuse. You got it. It's....

The Magnificent-Though-Much-Maligned Guess-the-Lyric Game!!!!

Since Marisa did just the first lines, and since just first lines seemed to work so much better last time we played, first lines it is again, although there were times I would have picked other, cooler lines instead. Still, must give y'all a fighting chance. Maybe with the people who have friended me since the last time we played, they'll be more people who are willing to take the guesses.

And yes, I do give points for guessing. 2 for each correct title, one for each correct artist (3 points possible per song!), and partial points for guesses at genre, decade, and other information, like "Ooo, I swear I know this, it's really fast and the next part goes something like..." Assuming you're not totally off.
So here are thirty random songs played by my computer on shuffle over the course of-- how long it took me to actually listen to thirty songs:

1. "Let me take you to the movies, let me take you to the show..."
2 "Say [title] and you'll be free..."
3. "I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told..."
4 "I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today..."
5 "Ground control to Major Tom..."
6 "Come on and dance. Come on and dance. Let's make some romance"
7 "And I never thought I'd feel this way, and as far as I'm concerned I'm glad I got the chance to say..."
8 "You say the hill's too steep to climb..."
9 "Move yourself: you always live your life never thinking of the future"
10 "Hello, is there anybody in there?"
11 "Some folks are born made to wave the flag..."
12 "Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day..."
13 "Well, justa look at that girl with the lights coming up in her eyes.'
14 "You make me weep and wanna die"
15 "Holding you close undisturbed before a fire"
16 Okay I am skipping this one because the first line is the title and the rest of the lines are unintelligible. It was Zeppelin, "NObody's fault but mine."
Instead, I'll replace it with this other song that has nothing to do with it except that it happens to be the song that's on right now: "All is quiet on [title]." I wonder if that's enough.
17 "Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come"
18 "[title],out there in the cold, getting lonely, getting old..."
19 "I never knew how complete love could be, til she kissed me and said baby, please, [title]"
20 "To lead a better life, I need my love to be here."
21 "One morning I woke up and I knew that you were really gone."
22 "Well I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'"
23 "Every day she takes a morning bath, she wets her hair"
24 "Because you're sweet and lovely, girl, I love you"
25 "Well I heard some people talking just the other day, and they said you were gonna put me on the shelf."
26 "Well no one told me about her, the way she lied"
27 "Leave your cares behind. Come with us and find..." Dudes, I bet you can at least name the genre.
28 "They put a parking lot on a piece of land Where the supermarket used to stand."
29 "'There must be some kind of way out of here,' said the Joker to the Thief."
30 "A man walks down the street; he says, 'why am I soft in the middle, now?'"

Artists that are repeated: 2,4,20,and 24, with 23 by a former group member; 30 is by a former member of 3; 8,10,12, and 18 are all by one which has been grossly underrepresented in this game in the past--oo, and only one of them is somewhat obscure this time, the others are among their most well-known; 15 and 21, though unfortunately in the past no one on my friends list has EVER seemed to know any songs by this group even though they're relatively famous. The group is. 15 is pretty not famous, unless you know the group, but like I said, no one here seems to. Angie does, dangit. She loves them even more than I do. Angie needs to get on LiveJournal. Especially since she quit MySpace. Anyway.

So seriously, do some guessing. I only do this because I care.

Okay, then there was this little survey I found on vovat's page...I think. It's been awhile. And considering how unserious I took most of the survey, you might wonder why I bothered. But that's because I'm just that psycho about surveys.
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It's hot in here, and I know it's cooler in Sammy's room because I put the fan on in there-- and I was just in there-- but I keep thinking I need to keep checking on him to make sure he's not overhot. I'm paranoid about overheating him. Although i never get close. When he was just a few weeks old he kept screaming because he was overCOLD and I never did figure it out. Jason did, luckily. Well anyway.

Well, now that you all expect me to pop at any moment, I feel like I ought to check in a bit more frequently just so you know that I am still here, and actually at the moment don't feel in much danger of popping in the next few days-- I'm sure he will be waiting 'til april after all. It helps that I did decide to quit work a week early. The amount of stress this takes off me! Not having to worry about whether or not I will make it through my scheduled day, and even MORE not having to worry about THAT DRIVE-- that latter is probably the biggest relief. I'm just not up for long drives anymore, especially ones that require unpredictable traffic jams and bizarre lane change dances such as the ones that take place coming out of/going into (depending on your direction) the Fort Pitt Tunnels! So instead I am home where I am not in danger of car accidents and can rest every hour if I need to. ALTHOUGH it is beautiful and spring and now I wish he WOULD hurry up and get out here so I can START GARDENING. I weeded a bit of what I could reach of the raised portion around the patio, but am physically unable to do any more than that!

And here's a survey from vovat:
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Now it has started to thunder, so I'd better get off this thing...

I've been really abnormally sleepy the past three days. I mean, abnormally sleepy compared to how I've been the past, eh, four months? Which was abnormally sleepy compared to how I'd been a year before that. But the past three days it's like I hit first-trimester-sleepy again. Still, when vovat posted variations of TWO of my most favorite LiveJournal games, I had to find the energy to post them myself!

The first I know you've ALL been waiting for me to resurrect again... Yes, it's the amazing Guess the Lyric Game!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the instructions for this variation:
Step 1: Put your iTunes or equivalent on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Bold out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

I WILL bold when someone guesses correctly, but I HATE when y'all use the excuse that somebody already guessed the one you know, so GUESS ANYWAY. I will score like so: 2 points for each correct title; 1 point for each correct artist; 1/2 a point for if you correctly guess the genre or describe the song in some other way (ie, like if you're like "I know this, it's that fast 80's dance song, uh...")
So far, this is the best game yet-- half the songs have been guessed! I'll go add decade clues, as well as commonality ratings, to the rest, just so you can narrow your brains down a bit...

1. All the waiters in your grand cafe leave their tables when you blink.
2. [Title, which is actually the entire first line or two] Give me life, give me life, keep me free from birth...
3. Desert loving in your eyes all the way; if I listen to your lies would you say (I had to look up that first line and it STILL doesn't sound familiar, so I added the second line too)(extremely '80s. Like, a song somebody would put on a CD of the Top Hits of the '80s. In fact I think that's where I got it. So, you know this song, you just might not know the words).
4. I went down to the [title], fell down on my knees ('60s, though based on an old blues number. Easy if you know your classic rock, moderately difficult otherwise)
5. I know just how to whisper, and I know just how to cry (cheesy '80s. Depends how well you know your cheesy 80s)
6. Johnny, take a walk with your sister the moon; Let her pale light in to fill up your room.
7. I want my, I want my MTV...
8. All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes ('80s. Why is it nobody can get the 80s songs? Well, Nathan got #7. Anyway this is moderate. Easier than #5)
8.5 (because I'm pretty sure no one knows it, but I'll leave it in anyway just in case). The river flows, it flows to the sea; wherever that river goes that's where I want to be ('60s I'm pretty sure, though it MIGHT be early '70s. No, think it's '60s. It's just hard. That's why it's a .5)
9.[title], I think it was the Fourth of July
10. I realize you're seeing someone new; I don't believe she knows you like I do (either the late 80s or early 90s. Moderately big)
11. Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you...
12. In the shuffling madness of the [title], runs the all-time loser headlong to his death.
13. Just a small-town girl living in a lonely world, took a midnight train going anywhere.
14. I'd like to be under the sea in an [title] in the shade.
15. [title] I can hardly express my mixed emotions and my thoughtlessness. (very early 80s. I say VERY on purpose, because otherwise it might confuse you to the artist. You've probably heard it).
16. I don't know how I'm gonna tell you I can't play with you no more (early 70s. You probably don't know it unless you are really familiar with this band or somewhat familiar with the soundtrack of a particular movie)
17. A winter's day, in a deep and dark December...
18. Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream/I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been (that one I put two lines just because it's hard) (70s, very big song by this artist so it depends on what music you listen to. Also, this song was sampled by a rap song in the 90s. No, it is NOT "Under Pressure")
19. What'll you do when you get lonely, nobody's waiting by your side? (70s, although it was remade in an entirely different style by the songwriter in the '90s. You definitely have heard the 90s version at least, though the original is extremely big in classic rock history)
20. I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together (and if you don't know this one from that line, you don't know this one at all, sucks to be you)
21. [title], do what you wanna do. I can't tell you who to sock it to.
22. [title], we got fun and games, we got everything you want...
22.5 (also, think there's a slight chance some people know it but probably don't know what it's called) Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends; we're so glad you could attend, come inside... (70s. The song itself isn't that obscure, but I doubt anyone but a progressive rock fanatic or a deejay knows the title)
23. (this is harder too, but at least the title is the refrain) Beat is getting stronger, music's getting longer too... (70s. On the harder side. Other songs by this group are more familiar)
24. When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all.
25. Every night I say a prayer in the hopes that there's a heaven. (80s. I sang this in chorus in high school so it seems really easy to me, but maybe it's not)
26. All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
26.5 (there's no way you know this unless you're really cool) Oh where are you now, pussywillow that smiled on this leaf? (early 70s. like I said, I'd be BEYOND impressed if you got this. Definitely the hardest song on the list... maybe Maggie can take a decent stab at the ARTIST, but that's about it)
27. If you said goodbye to me tonight, there would still be music left to write
28. [title] had green eyes like yours, lady, like yours. (late 60s. Somewhat hard. The title is a character from folklore/legend-- there's your clue)
29. My baby said she's travellin' on the [title]
30. What goes up must come down. [title] got to go 'round.

And because I always give the duplicate artist hint: 1 and 27 are the same artist; 11, 14, 20, 29 are the same artist and 2 and 15 are by former members of such; 16 and 18 are the same artist; 24 is by a former member of 17; groups 4 and 19 share a very key member (in fact they're both off the same CD which is a Best Of that person), as do groups 8.5 and 28.

Okay, that game sums up the first part of my username, so on to the second part:

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
( The list is under the cut. Don't forget not to read the comments until after you guess on the music game! )

So, hey, you know the Guess the Lyric game that I always insist is so fun but everyone else hates because they claim it's too hard? Well, I just had a brilliant idea-- it's time to play it for CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

I mean, come on, Christmas carols, they're easy, everyone knows them, right? I mean everyone on my F-list.

But since I don't have Christmas music on my random shuffle music player, I just chose the one of my Christmas CDs that has the most traditional carols on it-- ie, songs everyone knows-- and am going to put lyrics from those songs down instead. There are twelve songs, and since they are all freakin' easy-- I swear they are this time-- I've done my best to try to pick less obvious lines, sometimes from the second or third verses (but only when people actually KNOW the second or third verses, not like the second or third verses of "O Holy Night" or "Jingle Bells," which incidentally are not on this CD anyway); but there are some songs that are just really obvious even if I DO use second or third verses, so nobody has any excuse to not get any!!!!!!

Once again, post your reply before reading the other replies-- show me what you can do, and I don't care if anybody answered the only one you know before you got a chance to! You're not supposed to read their reply until after you post yours! So there!

Here they are:

1. "While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy."

2. "While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love." (random stupid hint: this song has the exact same meter as "House of the Rising Sun." You can sing them interchangibly. I've done it. Because I'm a dork that way)

3. "Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning"

4. "One seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere, filling the air" (I've heard multiple lyrics to this song, but these are the ones I know best, AND the ones they use on this CD, so it all works out. I think the song was originally an instrumental anyway).

5. "The kingdom of this earth is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ..."

6. "Where the treetops glisten..." (that is totally all I'm typing because this one is way too easy)

7. "He sings a love song as we go along..."

8. "I have no gift to bring... that's fit to give a King..."

9. "And the government shall be upon his shoulders..." (this is probably the hardest song on here, but enough of you are educated in classical music enough to have at least heard it before. More than just my sister whom I know has heard it lots of times. Actually, this CD is copied from a CD that is probably sitting across the room from where she is right now, and if she really wanted to she could walk over and compare track lists and get every single one of these, but what's the fun of that?)(HINT: this song is closely related to #5)

10. "Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile..."

11. "How steadfast are your branches!" (this is one of my absolute least favorite traditional carols. In fact I had to look up the lyrics because I never bothered to learn them, and usually just tend to sing the title over and over again. This makes it another incredibly easy one I think, especially to my sister, who I'm pretty sure does the same thing).

12. "Glories stream from heaven afar; heavenly hosts sing alleluia..."

See? You can do that!

*(Read: "Amy's")

... this will be one of those weekends that I won't be posting anything either. I don't know if I'll be on here to read youse guys's stuff tomorrow morning or not, but in the afternoon we are off on our camping adventure. Jason hopes he does not have to rescue everyone from Complete Lack of Camping Experience. I just hope I can eat the food.

I'm all hyper because somebody on the jimhensonfans community posted a link to this page with all these Muppet song mp3s. I used to have a lot of Muppet soundtracks on tape, but the tapes vanished into oblivion, I think on our family's trip to Missouri the summer of '00. Anyway.