[M]emetics

With apologies for the delay, here are the actual answers to last week's pop quiz:

1. "I have a dream, a song to sing to help me cope with anything."
     ABBA, "I Have a Dream" (Gold)
2. "I returned a bag of groceries, accidentally taken off the shelf before the expiration date."
     They Might Be Giants, "Dead" (Flood)
3. "Here I stand, looking out to sea, where a thousand souls have prayed and a thousand lives were laid on the sand."
     Iona, "Here I Stand" (Iona)
4. "Robin, the hooded man."
     Clannad, "Robin (the Hooded Man)", (The Collection)
5. "One, two three four... Oo-ooh, oo-ooh..."
     Queen, "Innuendo" (Innuendo)
6. "Life's a bitch then you die, black Hell."
     The Pogues, "Hell's Ditch" (The Rest of the Best)
7. "My life goes on in endless song..."
     Enya, "How Can I Keep from Singing?" (Shepherd Moons)
8. "Yo; el otoño. Yo; el vespero."
     Enya, "La Soñadora" (The Memory of Trees)
9. "Well, I was born an original sinner..."
     Eurythmics, "Missionary Man" (The Ultimate Collection)
10. "It was upon a Lammas Night, when corn rigs are bonny..."
     Magnet, "Corn Rigs" (The Wicker Man soundtrack album)
11. "Eurus, Afer Ventus..."
     Enya, "Caribbean Blue" (Shepherd Moons)
12. "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line..."
     ABBA, "Take a Chance on Me" (Gold)
13. "Much has been been said of the strumpets of yore..."
     Magnet, "The Landlord's Daughter" (The Wicker Man)
14. "He's a hypnotist, hypnotist of ladies."
     They Might Be Giants, "Hypnotist of Ladies" (Apollo 18)
15. "I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay..."
     ABBA, "Money, Money, Money" (Gold)
16. "Toe to toe, dancing very slow..."
     Blondie, "Rapture" (Atomic: The Very Best of Blondie)
17. "What is there left for me to do in this life?"
     Queen, "Was It All Worth It" (The Miracle)
18. "When the ship runs out of ocean and the vessel runs aground..."
     They Might Be Giants, "Women and Men" (Flood)
19. "Why is the world in love again?"
     They Might Be Giants, "Theme From Flood" (Flood)
20. "Another red-letter day..."
     Queen, "Friends Will Be Friends" (A Kind of Magic)
21. "Bright the light through my windowpane. Shield my eyes from the beam."
     Audience, "I Had a Dream" (Life on Mars soundtrack)
22. "Monday finds you like a bomb that's been left ticking there too long..."
     Eurythmics, "I Saved the World Today" (Peace)
23. "I spy a boy, I spy a girl..."
     Pulp, "I Spy" (Different Class)
24. "Wasted youth! Wasted youth!"
     Meat Loaf, "Everything Louder than Everything Else" (Bat Out of Hell 2)
25. "Tell me that you've got everything you want, and your bird can sing..."
     The Beatles, "And Your Bird Can Sing" (Revolver)

...hence my embarrassment.

Minimal Kudos Points go to Not Invented Here for identifying 3., 4. and 7. and (implicit in her very correct diagnosis of "way too much ABBA") 1., 12. and 15.. Matthew (I'm not entirely sure which one) identified 10. and 13., Jon Dennis 9., 14., 23. and 25., Pete 2. and 24.(sort of), 19. and 20., Rebecca 11.. Simon BJ implied he knew what 5. was, but wasn't saying.

I conclude that you're all incredibly ignorant about The Pogues and Blondie, and are becoming regrettably lax regarding the works of Queen.

For the record, I'm ashamed of the Enya and the Abba, and wish the Walkman had picked a less banal Clannad track. And something from the two discs full of The Pet Shop Boys.

And more Beatles, obviously. Nothing confers musical respectability like a Beatle.