a and buying heaven she's stairway to

March 18, 2008 10:09 PM

Rock 'n' Roll lyrics rewritten in alphabetical orderand then you're sposed to guess the song from whence they came. Courtesy of the delightful Matthew Baldwin at The Morning News.
posted by Kibbutz (73 comments total)

Baldwin HTH Matthew mean "Mefi's own" you
posted by dersins at 10:14 PM on March 18, 2008

And whassa matter with line breaks/?
posted by kozad at 10:15 PM on March 18, 2008

I know, but I we just love him so much that maybe we should set him free.
posted by Kibbutz at 10:16 PM on March 18, 2008

first
is
obvious
one
pretty
the
posted by trip and a half at 10:22 PM on March 18, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

I'll just let you all know I was wicked good at this. I just wish it were an actual game.
posted by sourwookie at 10:32 PM on March 18, 2008

I missed the Ben E King, Patsy Cline, And Johnny Cash.
posted by sourwookie at 10:38 PM on March 18, 2008

.....and I should have spoilered that. Sorry.
posted by sourwookie at 10:39 PM on March 18, 2008

Yeah. Well #7's "colitas cool corridor" is a quick gimme too, long before you get to "tiffany twisted"(in that order, natch). Still fun, though "rewritten" isn't really the right word.

"Sorted", maybe.
posted by rokusan at 10:41 PM on March 18, 2008

at I really suck that.
posted by dirigibleman at 10:42 PM on March 18, 2008

Also, anyone who doesn't get #13 on the first two words must now quit the Internet and go home. :)
posted by rokusan at 10:42 PM on March 18, 2008

The weird thing is that for a ton of the songs my eyes would catch one word that was an immediate gimme. "Narwhal." "Colitas."

"Locker" in #2 and "boulevard" in #5 triggered the right answers immediately, which is kind of strange, really.
posted by litlnemo at 10:45 PM on March 18, 2008

I got about 7 or 8

/praematurus schindleria
/and big butts cannot i lie like
posted by kurumi at 11:10 PM on March 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Community: FilterMeta weblog
posted by bwg at 11:11 PM on March 18, 2008

How many non-Canucks can get this one?

a all and blue-green blues bourbon can't clean complete danced dead-shake dixie don't forsake I I'm in is loose man memory muddy my New on Orleans river sidewalk sinking skies smokey so street swim that the this under wanna we what's
posted by bwg at 11:19 PM on March 18, 2008

That was very entertaining. For many of the songs one word triggered it (fuel-injected, scaramouche, beatlemania) and for others I had to mentally move the words around for a bit. Some of those songs I have never known the lyrics to (#9 has lyrics?). I like how the numbers go in #33.

I am resisting the impulse to reorder this comment alphabetically.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:23 PM on March 18, 2008

Huh, it's funny how many different one-word giveaways #5 has. For me it was "amusement".
posted by equalpants at 11:40 PM on March 18, 2008

a and baby be become can come couldn’t fire
funeral get girl hesitate higher
i if in is it know liar light lose love mire
much my night no now on only our pyre
say set that the through time to try untrue
wallow was we would yeah you


(good like no pretty this?)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:44 PM on March 18, 2008

Wow, my eyes have never glazed over that quickly in my life.
posted by Inversehelix at 11:47 PM on March 18, 2008

Babe bad I driving heavy it's know mad me she's so want you.

A always back baseball bat beat brat can do like lose oh on the uh-oh with what yeah you your.

A ain't all and but caught classed cryin' dog friend just high hound lie mine never no nothin' of rabbit said that the they time was well when you.

(most of the songs in this askme are fun candidates for shortest alphabetized version, but I think my three above garner top-notch recognition.)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:22 AM on March 19, 2008

*quits the internet and goes home
posted by chrismear at 12:23 AM on March 19, 2008

A A A Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Blue Bomp Bomp Bomp Bomp Bomp Bomp Bomp Da Da Da Dang Dang Dang Ding Ding Dip Dip Dip Dong Moon
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:28 AM on March 19, 2008 [8 favorites has favorites]

and magic makes morning move music the your
posted by bwg at 12:42 AM on March 19, 2008

Mainly pretty easy, but still fun.

I wonder how many songs would be identifiable by one word. I imagine that "Bismillah" is pretty obvious, and I can only think of one song with "obsolete" in the lyrics. And "Schindleria", of course.
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 3:25 AM on March 19, 2008

So, now we need someone to sing these in alphabetical order. Any takers?
posted by flatluigi at 3:59 AM on March 19, 2008

Back in '95, the liner notes to Aimee Mann's release I'm With Stupid contained all of the lyrics to every song arranged in a single giant alphabetical-order list. She was helpful, though, in that the words comprising song titles are in bold.
posted by jburka at 4:02 AM on March 19, 2008

It's a game show waiting to happen. You give the players one word at a time, then keep adding words, saving the most obvious words for last... whoever guesses it first, wins.

Bonus Round: you only get one word for each song, and "pass" if you can't guess anything. Player with the most correct guesses in the bonus round wins the big bucks.
posted by litlnemo at 4:10 AM on March 19, 2008

How many non-Canucks can get this one?

a all and blue-green blues bourbon can't clean complete danced dead-shake dixie don't forsake I I'm in is loose man memory muddy my New on Orleans river sidewalk sinking skies smokey so street swim that the this under wanna we what's

Is it The Tragically Hip, New Orleans is Sinking and I Don't Wanna Swim?
posted by jonp72 at 5:13 AM on March 19, 2008

A part of me wants to write a script that will grab random songs (maybe cross referenced against some best of list or another) from lyricwiki.org, sort the lyrics alphabetically and delete the duplicates, to make this an infinitely amusing web-toy

...and another part of me wants to wait until someone inevitably does it for me.
posted by choc0bot at 6:18 AM on March 19, 2008

Those are easy; I'm just annoyed I didn't think of it first, since I love games with lyrics.

my eyes would catch one word that was an immediate gimme
Here, name the song: landmine.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:21 AM on March 19, 2008

If you try this with Dio songs you end up with the same list of words every time. I knew it!
posted by Wolfdog at 6:23 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wait, rokusan, you actually understood the lyrics being sung in #13?

I think the ease of these is largely dependent on your state of mind.* I've been awake for over an hour now, but it still feels like the amphetamines haven't kicked in yet, and my brain is having trouble remembering that it's 1 I'm supposed to be adding to 1 and not something else.

I wonder if there are any pairs of songs, that would give the same lists if you did this to just their chori. Er..."choruses".

I was thinking the same think, flatluigi. As I read the lists, they kept trying to run through my head in the (sorta) melody of REM's, It's the End of the World and We Know It.

*And also on whether or not you know any lyrics other than the chorus. A lot of songs don't have very identifiable words in the chorus.
posted by ErWenn at 7:02 AM on March 19, 2008

Since the song was the subject of one of my favorite defective yeti postings, I'm surprised he didn't include this one:

a, a-ha, ain't, all, always, and, askin, ass, at, baby, back, be, boy, boys, breast, brother, brothers, but, buy, can, can't, check, cocoa, cos, could, crazy, daily, dance, dancing, datin', demonstrating, disco, do, Dolce, don't, down, drama, drive, drunk, feel, Fendi, fly, front, Gabbana, get, girl, givin', go, gon', got, ha, hand, hey, honey, hump, humps, I, ices, if, I'm, I'ma, in, inside, it, jeans, junk, just, Karan, keep, lady, let's, little, look, lookin', love, lovely, lovin', lump, lumps, make, man, me, met, milk, milky, mix, money, move, my, NaDonna, next, nicely, no, not, of, off, oh, on, out, puff, pull, real, really, religion's, riiiiiiight, said, say, scream, seven, sex, sexy, sharin', she, she's, shirt, so, some, spend, spendin', spending, standing, start, taken, takin', that, the, their, them, these, they, this, time, to, touch, treat, trunk, tryin', tryn'a, up, wanna, want, we, wearin', what, wit, with, work, yea, you, your

(And I can't believe I actually spent the time to figure out how to do this.)
posted by Killick at 7:21 AM on March 19, 2008

air around ass care don't in like move put the up you your
posted by Wolfdog at 7:23 AM on March 19, 2008

Here's one of my faves:

out, wipe
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:27 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

This is heavily biased towards 70s "classic rock", which is my Kryptonite, and thus I could hardly figure out any of them. I only got "Satisfaction" because I'm so familiar with Devo's version, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" because no other song uses the word "scaramouche", and "No Woman No Cry" because of "trenchtown", and "Rock Lobster" because of "narwhal". And, embarrassingly, "Piano Man", even though I hate it.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:28 AM on March 19, 2008

I thought I was going to rock at this, but I didn't get many. It killed me that a few of my favorite songs are on here, and of those I only got 1 (#35 ) and missed three (#15, 28 and 48). In hindsight, I can't believe I missed those last two since there are a few words that should have made it obvious. "beatlemania" in #35 was a dead give away.

Would somebody please make a list like this for 60's garage, power pop, and/or the first wave of punk? Or am I gonna have to figure out the easy way to this and do it myself?
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:37 AM on March 19, 2008

Here's one of my faves:

out, wipe

I'll top you: tequila.
posted by Kibbutz at 7:46 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'll top you: tequila.

doo doo doodoodoo manamana
posted by bwg at 7:52 AM on March 19, 2008

Is it The Tragically Hip, New Orleans is Sinking and I Don't Wanna Swim?

Well done, jonp72! (though the precise title is simply New Orleans Is Sinking)
posted by bwg at 7:55 AM on March 19, 2008

Apparently, uniqueness is key. Someone should run this against the English word occurence frequency lists and see if it can be confirmed that songs with on average more frequently occurring words are easier to get and vice versa.

Also:

a be but can catch cause don't end find finds friend give how if in into is it just know light looking love only out promise recognize sad searching step the this too true unless until up was who will with you you'll your you're
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:08 AM on March 19, 2008

The only one I got instantly was #33.
posted by danb at 8:14 AM on March 19, 2008

I originally read the text of the original link as "Rick Roll lyrics written in alphabetical order", and thought to myself, "why"?

Great post, though. I enjoyed the quiz.
posted by King Bee at 8:16 AM on March 19, 2008

SPOILER ** SPOILER

Wow... Now I'm thinking U2 should come with a parental advisory warning: "then these through tips to tongue walls warm was what will with yes you".
posted by Mike D at 8:35 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Would someone kindly explain the meaning of "Walk This Way"?
Been bugging me for years.
Pleeease?
posted by Dizzy at 8:40 AM on March 19, 2008

a aching and any around ask been blind both but commitments cry desert do don’t down each feeling for from full game get give going gonna goodbye gotta guy heart’s how hurt I if I’m inside it just know known let lie long love make me never no of on other play rules run say see shy so strangers tell the thinking this to too understand up wanna we we’re we’ve what what’s wouldn’t you your you’re
posted by gingerbeer at 9:11 AM on March 19, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

Would someone kindly explain the meaning of "Walk This Way"?
Been bugging me for years.
Pleeease?

It's a bunch of words that sound neat together. It's cock rock, there's no deeper meaning to be found. The same answer also applies to Stairway To Heaven.
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:16 AM on March 19, 2008

As I read the lists, they kept trying to run through my head in the (sorta) melody of REM's, It's the End of the World and We Know It.

You too? I kept expecting to see this:

a aeroplane afraid alone alternatives an and as at automotive baffled Bangs Bernstein birds birthday bleed bloodletting book boom breathing Brezhnev bright Bruce burn burning but by candle caught cavalier cheesecake churn clatter clear combat coming common continental cropped crush decline divide do don't down dreamt drift dummy earthquake end escalate every eye fear feel feeling fight fine fire for foreign furies games get government great group grunt had heart heel height her hire hour hurricane hurry I in incinerate is it its it'll it's jellybean know latter left Lenny Leonard Leonid Lester lies light line listen lock look low man me means motive mountains neck needs nice night no not notch of offer oh other overflow own o'clock party patriotic plane population pretty psyched rapture renegade reporters represent return reverent right save serve serves seven sit site six slam slash snakes solutions some speed starts steer step strength symbiotic T.V. team tell tethered that that's the then this time to tournament towers trumped uh uniform up vitriolic wasn't watch we wire with world you your yourself
posted by SpiffyRob at 9:32 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

a about act ah all an and are around as be body bug but can carefully come could do doesn't don't be better easy Em ends face fast feel fine for forever forget free friends friendship from future G get give go goodbye got gotta handle hasty have here's how I if in is it I'll just know lady last listen like likes love lover make MC me my never now on past place precious real really say see she's slam so taking tell that that's the then think time to too together try V wanna want wasting way we what who wind with won't yo you you'll your Z zigazig
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:41 AM on March 19, 2008

some video artist, i can't remember who, re-cut the video to "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash into alphabetical order. it's hilarious to watch. i feel like i saw it on vvork or wmmna. help!
posted by clockwork at 9:45 AM on March 19, 2008

there it is. it was Oliver Laric!
posted by clockwork at 9:47 AM on March 19, 2008

Okay. I googled gingerbeer's post. And then I stripped out some words and regoogled it. I just persevered through the most unlikely and laughable rickroll ever.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:37 AM on March 19, 2008

Heh. Wondered how long it would take someone to get that. King Bee's post gave me the idea.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:49 AM on March 19, 2008

Back in '95, the liner notes to Aimee Mann's release I'm With Stupid contained all of the lyrics to every song arranged in a single giant alphabetical-order list.

Mission of Burma did the same thing in 1983.
posted by anagrama at 12:50 PM on March 19, 2008

Okay. I googled gingerbeer's post. And then I stripped out some words and regoogled it. I just persevered through the most unlikely and laughable rickroll ever.

This one is more labor intensive for the victim — at least, assuming they don't sight-read well.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:04 PM on March 19, 2008

Buck Owens: Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Buck Owens? WTF?
posted by neuron at 1:26 PM on March 19, 2008

I'm way to young for this--I thought #9 was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:37 PM on March 19, 2008

13/50, and a big d'oh for the fourteenth one, where I moused over just a moment too soon.

Hey, but check this out: I just ran some of these through sort -r and ...

your you're you yes words word wonder won't with wind will who's who white whispering whispered when what west we wants wall walks voices very us two turns tune trees tree to time through thoughts those there's there then the that than taller sure stores still stand stairway spring spirit soul soon songbird sometimes smoke sings sign show shines she's she shadows seen run roll rock road rings reason really queen piper's piper paths our ooh one on of now not new my misgiven meanings me may makes looking look long listen light lies leaving lead laughter last lady knows know just join it's it is in if i humming how him here's to my sweet satan hedgerow heaven hear head have hard gold go glitters gets get forests for feeling everything echo down don't did dear day dawn crying come closed clean change case can came calling call by buying but bustle brook blow be at as are and all alarmed a 'cause

posted by eritain at 3:36 PM on March 19, 2008

How do you guys do this?
Oh. You have a sorting program.
I am such a clueless monkeyboy.
posted by Dizzy at 3:39 PM on March 19, 2008

P.S.:
a afghanistan again aids airline alabama always and anymore arabia are around away ayatollah's back bardot baseball bay beatlemania beats been begin belgians ben berlin bernie bien birth bloc blown brando bridge british brooklyn's budapest buddy burn burning but california campanella can't castro catcher charles checker chi children china china's chou chubby clock cohn cola communist congo control crack crockett dacron davy day de dean debts didn't dien dimaggio disneyland do doris dylan edsel eichmann einstein eisenhower else elvis en-lai england's falls fight fire foreign fortune gaulle glenn goetz gone goodbye got grace h-bomb harry have heavy hemingway ho holly homeless homicide hoops hula hur hypodermics i in invasion iran is it james jfk joe john johnny joseph juan kennedy kerouac king korea krushchev kwai land law lawrence lebanon liberace light liston little mafia malcolm malenkov mantle marciano marilyn martial mccarthy metal mickey minh miss monkey monroe moonshot nasser new nixon no no-go north of ole on pacific palestine pan panmunjong pasternak patterson paul payola peron peter peyton phu pigs place politician pope presley princess prokofiev psycho punk queen ray reagan red rhee richard ride river rock rockefeller roller rosenbergs roy russians rye sally santayana say sex shore since south space sputnik stalin starkweather start still strange stranger studebaker suez sugar suicide synghman take team television terror thalidomide the to toscanini tried trouble truman turning u-2 under vaccine vets walter wars was watergate we what wheel when will winchell winning woodstock world's x
posted by eritain at 3:54 PM on March 19, 2008

Dizzy: On a Unix-like command line, use cat we-didnt-start-the-lyrics | perl -pe 'tr/A-Z/a-z/; s/[,.]//g; s/\s/\n/g' | sort | uniq | perl -pe 's/\n/ /g'

cat just takes one or more filenames and spits out their contents in one file; the first wodge of Perl contains commands to smash upper case, nuke a couple punctuation marks, and replace other whitespace with newlines; sort does what you think it does; uniq collapses sequences of identical lines; and the last bit of perl turns all the newlines into spaces for easy reading.
posted by eritain at 4:01 PM on March 19, 2008

Thank you eritain!



What is "unix"?
posted by Dizzy at 4:19 PM on March 19, 2008

Dizzy: What is "unix"?

Unix is an operating system used by geeks people know exactly what they want their computers to do geeks. Other popular Unix-type operating systems are Linux and BSD.
posted by flatluigi at 4:22 PM on March 19, 2008

I just used the sort function in Word, and took out duplicates. I'm lazy like that.
posted by gingerbeer at 5:09 PM on March 19, 2008

And this "Word" would refer to....?
posted by Dizzy at 5:51 PM on March 19, 2008

Brucellosis.
posted by EarBucket at 6:21 PM on March 19, 2008

I was thinking 'quixotic' myself.
posted by flatluigi at 6:27 PM on March 19, 2008

now take those alphabetical words and create a new verse. very oulipo

#43

Father Butterflies trembles
Stomach sweat covers my mother
Between animals inside violets
Each courtyard scream sounds so satisfied

She's standing alone, demanding
Don't leave me never, darling
Touch this bold body tied up
Maybe that's how we bloom

Your kiss is like a strike
You've got pride when you're even
Feel what they can make
Picture an ocean engaged

A chorus can cry and I will chase
What if I'm too just
Why have at it?

Chase cold poses of doves in heat
All dream of the other world, dig

Do you feel curious?
posted by mrgrimm at 6:38 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

This game reminds me of this song.
posted by ErWenn at 10:51 PM on March 19, 2008

after better do ever faster harder hour is it make makes more never our over stronger than us work
posted by ALongDecember at 11:29 PM on March 19, 2008

Ooh, this one you can turn into a hip free verse poem:

always be do
i
i'll know like love me
new please
so somebody
someone to true
you
posted by ALongDecember at 11:37 PM on March 19, 2008

just long six song's this words
posted by Navelgazer at 5:03 AM on March 20, 2008

ba crying kum lord my o praying singing someone's yah
posted by mrgrimm at 8:25 AM on March 20, 2008

And this "Word" would refer to....?

Microsoft Word, the typing program.

Actually, if you're using a Mac (with OS X, not 9 or before) you are using Unix. It's just got a colorful candy shell on top of it. The program Terminal is used to get to a command line where you can type in commands (and command pipelines like the one I gave, where each program gives its output to the next one). But I'm not sure if you have the Perl programming language automatically, or if you have to install the developer tools first.

BTW, don't let my example form your opinion of Perl too much. It demonstrates the scariest way to use the ugliest part of the language.
posted by eritain at 8:39 PM on March 20, 2008