Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 July 3

= July 3 =

Bobby Readick and Rags Ragland
I see their name but are not sure if they are the same actors, I am trying to place Bobby and Rags (in The Canterville ghost 1944) to the Bobby and Rags on your page with no picture I can not compare ane the one in the same? Scotty — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.100.67.190 (talk) 00:28, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * We don't have an article about Bobby Readick (who, according to IMDb, only appeared in two films - The Canterville Ghost and Harrigan's Kid) - we do have an article about Rags Ragland. Is your question about another article? Tevildo (talk) 01:06, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Rags Ragland played the soldier who the others told Margaret O'Brien was a "Hoboken Indian". Deor (talk) 23:17, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Music for Psalm 5
In the 1970s a Christian artist recorded a song using the first part of Psalm 5 beginning with "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation...."Who recroded it and is it available? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.138.139.86 (talk) 02:21, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Bill Sprouse Jr., as "Big Bill Sprouse and the Road Home".  on YouTube (music only). Tevildo (talk) 09:41, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Song Index For Each Year
Does anyone know if there is a place online or a book that lists all songs released for radio play in any given year? Looking for a song and need much help to track it down. Thanks. KingB84 (talk) 03:46, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * If you remember some of the lyrics you can type it into Google. -- Jayron  32  13:51, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Or here, we're usually pretty good at that. Us or Google would probably be far more helpful than looking through every song released in a year (of which there must be many thousands, unless you can narrow it down further). Adam Bishop (talk) 17:40, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

This is from the early 80's and I've checked with Google already & many other lyric sites. That's why I need the song index. Thought it might jog my memory. The song was not a top 100 or even 200 song from what I've seen. The woman or group was not a mainstream act. If so, I think I would already have the answer of song title or artist. Joel Whitburn has books out there for charted songs...I thought there might be a place that would list songs released even if they didn't chart. Or maybe all albums released. Any ideas from you "guys" would be much appreciated. Thanks. KingB84 (talk) 21:55, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Early 80's not-so-popular female acts I can think off of-hand may be Wendy O. Williams, The Waitresses and The Runaways. If you tell us a snippet of lyric, or similar sounding acts, or a general genre, we may be able to help you nail it down.  People around here are pretty good at that.  -- Jayron  32  01:21, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Pretty sure it was not the Plasmatics. This was a rock song. Never heard of the Waitresses, so I'll check into that one. Here is the only lyric piece that I can remember. "Some days I get out of bed and I feel like a son of a..." The words trailed off at that point and S.O.B. was not completed. I know it's not much to go on, that's why I'd love to have the info on songs or albums released. At least then I'd know the song is there to be found. As always, any help is much appreciated! KingB84 (talk) 22:01, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

road inspiration
What inspired Herb Alpert to do the song Route 101?24.90.204.234 (talk) 04:40, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't know, but maybe he had fond memories of U.S. Route 101. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:38, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Are you asking about why he wrote the song, or why he named it "Route 101"? - I'm not familiar with the song, but on the latter point it is possible that it might have been something akin to an answer song or homage to the song Route 66. -- 174.31.196.47 (talk) 19:43, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

No, I'm not asking about why he wrote the song, or why he named it Route 101. Baseball Bugs pointed out perhaps Herb Alpert must've had fond memories of U.S. Route 101. (I wonder what type of fond memories.) But Route 66 and U.S. Route 101 have one thing in common. They both end in Los Angeles.24.90.204.234 (talk) 19:51, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Strange-subject songs
I know this following question might be a bit subjective but here goes:

What modern pop or rock songs have the strangest subject material, as in what it's about? I know there's some seriously bizarre stuff out there (so don't go there), but I always wondered this. Most songs have to do with (A) love or anything related at all to it, (B) dancing, especially modern pop music, (C) being in a band or a musician, and/or (D) being an activist against something. Some examples of fairly unusual songs I thought of were "Lightning Crashes" by Live, which is about the miracle of birth (or something like that?), "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", which is about suburban white males acting like "gangstas", "American Idiot", which might fall into category (D) to some people but is otherwise an indirect rant against George Bush, and the legendary "Another Brick in the Wall", about "dark sarcasm in the classroom". And don't count those obnoxious novelty/pop songs written before circa 1970, I know full well those are unusual. 75.73.225.224 (talk) 21:09, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Try some They Might Be Giants. They've got a very wide variety of subject matter. Try their album Apollo 18 for lots of unconventional subject matter. Staecker (talk) 21:22, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * This one. Tevildo (talk) 21:26, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Another Brick basically reminds teachers that they are "just another brick" and not always perfect. I'm quite conflicted since I loved that song my 8th grade year and now I am a teacher. How about the 80's Safety Dance...that was kinda strange. "if you can't dance, then your no friend of mine". — Preceding unsigned comment added by KingB84 (talk • contribs) 22:04, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * To be honest, I think that song went a bit further than just saying teachers weren't perfect. On the album, it is preceded by The Happiest Days of Our Lives which put the next song in context and went a lot further in (shall we say) providing negative publicity for the teaching profession. (And as a someone who was marginally pre-teen at the time it was released, I can vouch for there  being young people of the time (on the eastern side of the Atlantic) singing versions that used word-play on a rhyme for brick.  FlowerpotmaN &middot;(t) 15:48, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Let me second TMBG as a source of non-standard subjects for songs. They have written songs about nightlights (Birdhouse in your Soul), about stellar physics (Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)) about whatever Particle Man is about, etc.  Also other good groups, contemproaneous with TMBG, with "weird" song subjects would also include Devo and The Dead Milkmen.  -- Jayron  32  22:30, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Minor correction - The Sun is in fact a cover version, originally written by Hy Zaret. But TMBG are an excellent source of such material - James K Polk would be my (serious) suggestion, as I can't imagine there are many more contemporary serious songs about nineteenth-century politicians. Tevildo (talk) 23:13, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Novelty song might have some more. There are special holiday songs, like Monster Mash and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, and some general purpose ones, like The Purple People Eater and Lola (song). StuRat (talk) 22:45, 3 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't know that Lola is a novelty song, it's a standard love song with a surprise ending. -- Jayron  32  22:57, 3 July 2011 (UTC)


 * If he'd figured it out a bit later, it might have been even more of a surprise. :-) StuRat (talk) 01:02, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * If you don't find strong language and sexual connotations offensive, check out this act as the subjects of some of their songs are decidedly non-standard. --Roisterer (talk) 08:03, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Two that spring instantly to my mind are The Dead Kennedys (just check them out anyway, but Holiday in Cambodia especially), and Radiohead. I'm thinking especially about Karma Police, Paranoid Android, Fitter Healthier More Productive from the OK Computer album. A little left field jump from Tevildo's ideas takes me to Polk Salad Annie by Tony Joe White... even Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin fits the bill! --TammyMoet (talk) 13:06, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Trying to not to launch into a rant about modern music, but (IMHO) chart music in particular has gotten a lot more literal in lyrical content and less likely to stray into more unconventional areas, in comparison even with the 80s (early part in particular). Album tracks less so. But if we are throwing out examples, would O Superman make it to the top of the charts in 2011? (Just off to check, but I think I have Bela Lugosi's Dead‏ on my MP3 somewhere.)  FlowerpotmaN &middot;(t) 16:21, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I could go on... Check out any of the Arctic Monkeys work, especially Fluorescent Adolescent, When the Sun goes Down, and especially their new single "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" --TammyMoet (talk) 16:46, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, I get it, but what about songs that actually charted? I know fully well 'bout TMBG and the Arctic Monkeys. I'm also thinking about songs with love-like topics that are just somewhat strange, like "Buddy Holly", by Weezer, and even "One Week" by BNL, for its excessive pop-culture references (Kurosawa, Aquaman, X-Files, Sailor Moon, etc). And for the life of me I can't figure out what this song is about. Help! 75.73.225.224 (talk) 16:53, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Mellow Yellow
 * Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
 * She's a Rainbow
 * I am the Walrus
 * 2000 Light Years from Home
 * Careful with that Axe, Eugene
 * Chocolate Rain
 * Bell Book and Candle - Zodiac Club - Philippe Clay - The Bored Assassin (Although that's not the right title)
 * the entire album Caress of Steel.μηδείς (talk) 19:08, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * "Songs that actually charted"? Do you mean hit singles and only hit singles? Or hit albums? Don't discount Radiohead, or The Dead Kennedys for that matter: there were (are?) separate charts for Indie as well as Rock, Country, Classical... I will also give you Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer, Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by the Crash Test Dummies, Veronica, Oliver's Army and Radio Radio by Elvis Costello. --TammyMoet (talk) 19:26, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * The Boxer is a rather straight-forward biographical ballad--how "strange"? μηδείς (talk) 22:45, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Only strange by the definition given by the OP, which see above.

--TammyMoet (talk) 09:48, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The Queen song "'39," about time dilation of all things, wasn't released as a single in the UK or US, but the album it was on did the UK chart. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:02, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
 * "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M. hit #10 in the U.S. One of the backup singers on that song was a member of the The B-52s, who had a #1 in Canada (and #56 in the U.S.) with "Rock Lobster." The Beatles' Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, about a 19th century circus, wasn't a single but is certainly a classic. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:13, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
 * What about this classic historical analysis? Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:55, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, R.E.M. have some pretty strange stuff in their repertoire - Losing My Religion, Stand]], Orange Crush (song), The End Of The World As We Know It... --TammyMoet (talk) 12:13, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The Pixies had a lot of unusual song subjects. Among their charting singles, there are "Here Comes Your Man" (about hoboes who die in California earthquakes), "Planet of Sound" (an extraterrestrial searching space for the source of rock & roll transmissions he's picked up), and "Debaser" (about ''Un Chien Andalou.  There are plenty of album tracks about unusual things as well: "Where is my mind?" (about being chased by a fish while scuba diving), "Dead" (about David and Bathsheba), and "Motorway to Roswell," among others.   --some jerk on the Internet    (talk)  16:27, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Manic Street Preachers have plenty of unusual songs (as well as protest songs). The Holy Bible (album) features songs about serial killers, dictators, the holocaust and anorexia.90.214.166.169 (talk) 09:02, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Short People. Googlemeister (talk) 15:30, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

How about every track on Nick Cave's album Murder Ballads? A concept album where each track concerns the activities of either a murderer or a serial killer. BadmanMonkey (talk) 08:51, 7 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Gosh, there's endless numbers of such songs, even if you ignore deliberate novelty ones. How about: E=MC2, Rat in Mi Kitchen and Turning Japanese, which is supposedly about masturbation. 10 cc had lots of fantastic hits with odd topics, like Dreadlock Holiday, Life is a Minestrone and Rubber Bullets. ELO also had some oddball hits, like Enola Gay and Wild West Hero. --Dweller (talk) 11:11, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I think you'll find Enola Gay was by OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). From a similar vintage, may I suggest Being Boiled by Human League, a song about silkworm larvae being boiled up to make silk. They don't come much stranger than that one! --TammyMoet (talk) 19:09, 8 July 2011 (UTC)