songs that apparently more of you need to hear

...because only two of you got them in my little song-lyric quiz last week.

You're a little like Miranda
Oh baby, she could name a tune
Oh, could she?
Just flip on any radio station
And like two notes in
She's like that's "so and so" from 'eighty-two

...was from "Greatest Hits" by Laptop. On that record, Laptop (Jesse Hartman) attempts to compliment his current girlfriend by telling her she’s a compilation of the best of his former lovers.

Plato, they say, could stick it away--
Half a crate of whisky every day.

...was from

"The Philosophy Song" by Monty Python. Kelly, AKA Warrior Two, knew that one.

Ritual ideas relativety
Only buildings no people prophecy
Timeslide place to hide nudge reality
Foresight minds wide magic imagery

...was from

"E=mc2" by Big Audio Dynamite. One of my favorite songs; I just love the momentum of it even though I don't understand all the words. I know it's a tribute to Nic Roeg movies-clips from them are featured in the video-but that doesn't mean I understand it.

Don't jump before you look
Get hung up on a hook
Before you make a fool out of love.

...was from

"Stop" by Erasure. Also one of my faves by one of my favorite '80s bands, I consider this something of a triumph of minimalism. I fucking love how much they got out of a song that is basically one verse, one chorus, and a riff. The 12" Remix is even more unbelivable.

So I got myself on a streetcar and it drove right into someone,
You know the driver said: "I was lookin' straight ahead!" But he was reading the Toronto Sun

...was from

"My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors" by Moxy Fruvous. I discovered Moxy Fruvous when I saw them open for Nick Heyward and make him look sick. Jen, AKA Jeopardygirl, got this one half right, she knew it was Moxy but guessed the wrong song.

And finally,

in ancient rome
there was a poem
about a dog
who found two bones
he picked at one
he licked the other
he went in circles
he dropped dead

...was from

"Freedom of Choice" by Devo, those influential rascals. In this concert version, it's awesome the way they underscore the point by incorporating a little of our national anthem...