If you’ve seen the excellent US animated series Family Guy, you may be familiar with this clip of Stewie Griffin performing a version of Elton John’s Rocket Man:


Naturally I assumed when I first saw this that the writers had come up with this particularly absurd performance. How wrong I was. Back in the dim and distant past (the 1970s), some fule invited (or possible allowed) host William Shatner, notorious “interpreter” of hit songs, to, er, perform this track at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards. We are blessed that a recording of this momentous event has survived. Do watch it all the way through to fully appreciate its, um, brilliance.

I’ve posted the remaining answers to the opening lines quiz meme. I’ve impressed at quite how many were got, and not surprised that a not very successful Roxette single, a Bluetones B-side, a David Devant remix and tracks by the very obscure Midget and Elcka went unidentified. I am a little surprised that no-one recognised Hit Parade from the Beautiful South album Painting It Red.

Good fun anyway – thanks to all who played. I recommend it to the blogosphere 🙂

This meme has appeared all over teh internets in the last few months, including on Mike’s blog, Gordon’s blog, Lisa’s blog and Rob’s blog (and Rob’s just put a new round of 25 up).

Here’s how it works: I’ve set my iTunes to shuffle and written down the opening lines of the first 25 tracks to come up, excluding songs where the title is in the opening line and limiting entries to one per artist (and removing one which has already appeared in Lisa’s daily opening lines). All you have to do is pop into the comments* and tell me the name of the song and who recorded it. Not all of these songs are singles – some are album tracks, some are B-sides, and some are pretty obscure.

Oh, and you shouldn’t judge my music taste solely from these 25… Here we go then.

1. “Although my lover lives in a place that I can’t live” Come On Home by Franz Ferdinand identified by Mark

2. “I pick up the phone, I’m dialing your number while I pray you’re at home, at home and alone” A Thing About You by Roxette (artist identified by Neil)

3. “No-one wrote a song for me, just instrumental, not too long” Hit Parade by The Beautiful South

4. “And maybe we’re just kids who’ve grown, and maybe not” The Chemistry Between Us by Suede identified by phil

5. “From the mountain tops down to the sunny street, a different drummer’s playing a different kind of beat” Oblivion by Aztec Camera identified by Cat

6. “Please don’t stop me from drinking, oh it’s my only joy” Sick, Sober and Sorry by Gene identified by Adam

7. “I stand in the distance, I view from afar” Confide in Me by Kylie Minogue identified by David

8. “These mist-covered mountains are a home now for me” Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits identified by Alan

9. “I don’t know when to go out, I don’t know when to stay in” The Final Arrears by Mull Historical Society identified by inspector34

10. “Is it wrong to want to live on your own?” Sheila Take A Bow by The Smiths identified by Cat

11. “I can’t see why you’re not satisfied with what you’ve got, it might not seem like much to you, to me it seems a lot” Kylie and Jason by Midget

12. “Twitching, turning, itching, burning, finding my space, finding my place” Don’t Stand Me Down by The Bluetones

13. “I’ve been around and around but I’ve got nowhere to go now” Lenny by Supergrass identified by Antonia

14. “I’m hearing images, I’m seeing songs no poet has ever painted, voices call out to me straight to my heart, so strange but we’re so well-acquainted” I Let The Music Speak by ABBA (artist identified by Neil)

15. “Hello! Hello! My name’s Terry and I’m a law-abider” The Irony Of It All by The Streets identified by SwissToni

16. “On a morning from a Bogart movie in a country where they turn back time” Year of the Cat by Al Stewart identified by kat

17. “We’re on our own we don’t need anyone, we live deep down, deep down underground, it helps us” Statuesque by Elcka

18. “It was pretty bright upon the rainbow bridge tonight, I could see into your window even though you’re far away” Wrapped Up In Books by Belle & Sebastian identified by Neil (artist) and phil (track)

19. “First time, I did it for the hell of it” Something 4 The Weekend by Super Furry Animals identified by inspector34

20. “You smelled an Eldorado pussycat, and it was a bright grey day” Imposters (Mixed Up) by David Devant & His Spirit Wife (artist identified by Sarah)

21. “Well I went to a movie with a girl last night” Dressed Like A Cow by The Coral identified by Neil

22. “In my mind there’s a face, on my lips there’s a name” From New York To LAby Patsy Gallant identified by Tina

23. “Her hair is hollow gold” Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes identified by Alan

24. “They say that you’re a runaround lover, though you say it isn’t so” The Night Has A Thousand Eyes by Bobby Vee identified by DanW

25. “I hear the ticking of the clock, I’m lying here, the room’s pitch dark” Alone by Heart identified by Biscit

Any takers?

(*Don’t worry if your comment gets eaten by the spam filter – I check through and restore legit comments manually several times a day.)

So I was sitting at home plugged into iTunes, flicking through my comments from last year’s Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? on Troubled Diva (voting is still open on this year’s; don’t click if Su Pollard gives you nightmares). I discovered in the comments a sentence I’d written about Shame, Shame, Shame by Shirley & Company in which I said that I was surprised to recognise the song.

At that moment, iTunes shuffled and started playing that exact track. I can only conclude that my laptop is a witch.