Dispatches 13
April 2001 LET IT
BLEED "Should
five per cent appear too small / Be thankful I don't take it
all Cause I'm
the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman" The Beatles,
"Taxman." But you knew that. Apparently,
a White House official gave a handful of reporters a copy of
the budget office's unofficial theme song, the Rolling
Stones' classic "You Can't Always Get What You Want." What
would Mick and Keith think? I wonder. Actually, given the
abolishment of the estate tax, maybe "You Got The Silver"
might be appropriate. JASON,
WE HARDLY KNEW YE Friday the
thirteenth? It seems triskaidekaphobia is sort of passe by
now. But hell, I'll take any excuse to make a list. So here
goes, a superstitious mix-tape: Stevie Wonder's
"Superstition" (one of the greatest funk basslines of all
time), Janet Jackson's "Black Cat," Thelonious Monk's
"Friday the 13th," Cream's version of "Born Under a Bad
Sign," and all the great variations on "Knock on Wood":
Eddie Floyd's original languid version, Otis Redding's
energetic soulful version, David Bowie's glam version, and
Amii Stewart's canonical disco one. THAT
CINNAMON, THAT'S HOLLYWOOD Added to
my list of online diversions is Scott Slonak's
1990s
Lyrics Quiz.
It's a really simple concept: there's a list of lines from
200 different songs that were popular in the '90s, and all
you have to do is name the song each line came from. It's
infinitely frustrating to stare at a lyric and have the song
on the tip of your tongue. Took me forever to remember that
"life is demanding without understanding" is a line from Ace
of Base's "The Sign." (For those more enamoured of other
decades, a quick search for "1980s Lyrics Quiz" or "1970s
Lyrics Quiz" on Google should bring up other similar
quizzes.) For those who need something else to do on the
weekend, here's my personal addition to that list, using
lyrics from the '90s and the '00s (the noughties?). Time to
play name that tune, a fairly easy version:

1. "Come tomorrow / Tomorrow I'll be gone"
2. "I'm dreaming away / Wishing that heroes, they truly exist"
3. "Our funk zooms like you hit the Mary Jane"
4. "I've got a premonition / This girl's gonna make me fall"
5. "I've been on the outside looking in / Let me into your heart"
6. "I'm gonna tell my son to join a circus so that death is cheap and games are just another way of life"
7. "I think it's time I found a new religion"
8. "Girl, I wanna waller in the back of my Impala"
9. "Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue"
10. "She only comes when she's on top"
11. "In the end we shall achieve in time / The thing they call divine"
12. "I'm not ready to leave, it's too scary to die"
13. "Sway lo, do-si-do like you loco"
14. "Tell me, tell me, the words to define / The way I feel about someone so fine"
15. "Earned his Masters Degree from Harvard College / Built his house from his architect knowledge"