Two-Word Lyrics Quiz

In which I steal post ideas from Kate: The following are two-word phrases from songs in my iTunes library that ought to be enough to identify the song in question. Leave your guesses in the comments:

  1. Pre-Raphaelite curls
  2. Chrome horse
  3. Pink torpedo
  4. Jasmine tea
  5. Ashtray floors
  6. Quartet practiced
  7. Lickety splitly
  8. Burnt sienna
  9. Guaranteed personality
  10. Danville train
  11. Balalaikas ringing
  12. Silicon chip
  13. Silicone sister
  14. Toadstool sandwich
  15. Diamond car
  16. Uninterrupted prosperity
  17. Golden fiddle

I’ll stop there, for now.

26 comments

  1. Let’s see . . .

    Just for the record, I know 8, 10, and 17, but don’t like to post them because I have an unfair advantage.

    (8 & 10 were actually candidates for my post that were edited out.)

  2. Just for the record, I know 8, 10, and 17, but don’t like to post them because I have an unfair advantage.

    Those are now 7, 9, and 16, because I had screwed up a tag, and didn’t fix it until after you posted this. But yes, you should know all of those.

    I’m surprised you don’t recognize 8 and 14…

  3. 11 – Beatles – Back in the USSR
    12 – Boomtown Rats – I don’t like Mondays
    17 – I’m suspect “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” has a golden fiddle in it, but can’t recall who it was by and am too lazy to google.

  4. Ooo, 16 is one of my favs: “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” by Cake.

    Yep. My favorite odd trait is “Fingernails that shine like justice,” but it’s too many words.

    11 – Beatles – Back in the USSR
    12 – Boomtown Rats – I don’t like Mondays
    17 – I’m suspect “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” has a golden fiddle in it, but can’t recall who it was by and am too lazy to google.

    Yes to all three. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia is also in the original Izzle Pfaff list from way back when.

    0. – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – The Band

    Yep.

  5. 13 Springsteen– Blinded by the Light
    17 Charlie Daniels– Devil Went Down to Georgia

  6. 2 (Chrome horse) is from Rolling Stone magazine’s choice for greatest song of all time: Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. Am I showing my age?

  7. #6 is “American Pie” by Don McLain.

    #13 is “Blinded by the Light”, as John Novak said, but the version I know is by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

  8. 2 (Chrome horse) is from Rolling Stone magazine’s choice for greatest song of all time: Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. Am I showing my age?

    Not any more than I am.
    I have something like five different versions of that song– all by Dylan, not covers.

    #6 is “American Pie” by Don McLain.

    #13 is “Blinded by the Light”, as John Novak said, but the version I know is by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

    I don’t have the Manfred Mann version, but I know it.

    #3: “Big Bottom” by Spinal Tap

    Yeah, that was pretty obvious.

    1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14, and 15 remain unguessed.

  9. 3: Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

    10: The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

    13: Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama Out

    16: Cake – Short Skirt, Long Jacket

  10. #9 ‘Guaranteed personality’ is The Clash from ‘Lost in the Supermarket’ from London Calling

  11. #15 – Reminds me I haven’t watched The Blues Brothers in ages. “Minnie the Moocher” by Cab Calloway

  12. I hope I don’t embarrass myself with an already answered lyric like at kate’s blog…

    “Jasmine tea” – Spock’s Beard “Revelations”

  13. I am truly ashamed of science blogs for leaving #7 unguessed for so long.

    Tom Waits. Ol’ 55.

    8 may be BNL: life, in a nutshell

  14. 4 is Let It Bleed

    Yep. I haven’t heard the Spock’s Beard song mentioned in #18– I was thinking of the Stones.

    number 1 – Richard Thompson – Cooksferry Queen

    Yeah. I wasn’t sure anybody would get that one– it’s not that well known a song.

    #9 ‘Guaranteed personality’ is The Clash from ‘Lost in the Supermarket’ from London Calling

    Yep. I like the Afghan Whigs cover version better, but it’s a Clash song.

    #15 – Reminds me I haven’t watched The Blues Brothers in ages. “Minnie the Moocher” by Cab Calloway

    I was torn between “diamond car” and “platinum wheel” for this one. Either would’ve worked.

    I am truly ashamed of science blogs for leaving #7 unguessed for so long.

    Tom Waits. Ol’ 55.

    8 may be BNL: life, in a nutshell

    Both correct.

    That just leaves #14. My second choice there was “seasick crocodile,” which ought to completely give it away.

  15. number 1 – Richard Thompson – Cooksferry Queen
    Yeah. I wasn’t sure anybody would get that one– it’s not that well known a song.

    I was just going to mention it, but too late. Not well known, but if you’ve heard it, those are the words you remember.

  16. Number 14 is “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” sung by the incomparable Thurl Ravenscroft in the 1966 animated Christmas special of Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

  17. Weird. I don’t recognize a single one.

    I’m pretty clueless about pop music, but usually I can squeak out ten or twenty percent on quizzes about it, based on commercials and whatnot.

  18. Izzle Pfaff’s original contest I found very easy–there were some I got but I instantly recognized the vast majority of the songs. Your version is more difficult and Kate’s is more difficult still, probably because I’m just not as familiar with as many of the songs on the list–though I’m embarrassed that I forgot about the “toadstool sandwich” line; I recognized 11, 12, 13 and 15 but not that one even though it’s a song I’ve heard many times.

  19. Funny, #14 was the only one I got at first (and immediately!). Then on second reading, I got #3. I expect that says something about my own music tastes.

    #6, which I *should* know, wasn’t familiar at all. #8 seemed somehow familiar, but I didn’t know why until I saw the answer.

  20. Without looking at earlier comments, here are the only ones I got:

    Pink torpedo
    That’s a Spinal Tap tune — “Big Bottom”, is it not?

    Balalaikas ringing
    “Back in the USSR”

    Silicone sister
    “Blinded by the Light”

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