Tuesday, January 02, 2007

me according to music

Finlay clambering round what is enigmatically named "Big Tree" - a thousand year old kahikatea you can visit on the equally original "Big Tree Walk".
My sister Felicity and nephew Alex, with the bouncy balls Alex made himself from my Christmas present to him.
Alex with the huhu grubs they found in the forest and threatened to feed us surreptitiously.

So, on JenKneeBee's blog I came across this post, which challenges you to answer a quiz solely with music lyrics - and how could I resist?
1) Are you male or female?
She's the dollars
She's my protection
Yeah she's the promise
In the year of election
Oh sister, I can't let you go
Like a preacher stealing hearts
At a travelling show
- Desire, U2
2) Who are you?
I want to trip inside your head
Spend the day there...
To hear the things you haven't said
And see what you might see
I want to hear you when you call
Do you feel anything at all?
I want to see your thoughts take shape
And walk right out
- Miracle Drug, U2
3) Describe your neighbourhood:
I look at my environment
And wonder where the fire went
What happened to everything we used to be
- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill
4) How do you look?
Welcome to real life
welcome to real life
I've come to realise it's no game
No one is the same
There's so much more to life
Than meets the eye
- Real Life, Evermore
5) What is love?
One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come here to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?...
One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss
- Pride (In the Name of Love), U2
6) If you could say one thing to the person you love, what would it be?
You're the only one who
Holds my hair back when I'm drunk and get sick
You're the only one who
Knows exactly what I mean
- You're the Only One, Maria Mena
I was born a child of grace
Nothing else about the place
Everything was ugly but your beautiful face
And it left me no illusion
I saw you in the curve of the moon
In the shadow cast across my room
You heard me in my tune
When I just heard confusion
- All Because of You, U2
7) What's your secret?
I've been a fool - more than once, more than twice
I'm gonna move to a new town where the people are nice
I hope I never, I hope I never have to sigh again
I hope I never, I hope I never have to cry again
I still want to beam and smile
Happiness is back in style
- I Hope I Never, Split Enz
8) Are you strong?
My breath smells of a thousand fags
And when I'm drunk I dance like me Dad
I've started to dress a bit like him
Early morning when I wake up
I look like Kiss but without the makeup
And that's a good line to take it to the bridge
And you know and you know
Cos my life's a mess
And I'm trying to grow so before
I'm old I'll confess
You think that I'm strong
You're wrong, you're wrong
- Strong, Robbie Williams
9) Where do you wish you were right now?
In a world full of bitter pain and bitter doubt
I was trying so hard to fit in, until I found out
I don't belong here, I don't belong here
I will carry a cross and a song where I don't belong.
- Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot
10) What do you think about your friends?
I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you
- God Only Knows, the Beach Boys
11) Any words of advice?
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now. ...
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's. ...
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly. ...
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. ...
But trust me on the sunscreen.
- Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, Mary Schmidt
12) What do you wish you were doing right now?
Like a bird
Through prison bars
I'm escaping
And behind me on the long highway
Lies all that I've forsaken
Cool river, flow
I am bound for wherever you go
I'm gonna bathe in the river
Gonna hold my head up in the river
Not gonna worry any more
Gonna reach that golden shore...
Mighty river, hear that rushin' sound
Cool clear water, lay my burden down
- Bathe in the River, Mt Roskill Preservation Society feat. Hollie Smith
13) What do you think about drugs?
Sweet the sin
Bitter the taste in my mouth
I see seven towers
But I only see one way out
You've got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison
From the poison stream
Then I floated out of here...
She will
Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand
Still.
- Running to Stand Still, U2
14) If you could say one thing to your enemy, what would it be?
Hate is a strong word
But I really really really don't like you
- Hate (I Really Don't Like You), the Plain White T's
15) What do you do on Friday nights?
I went out walking
Through streets paved with gold
Lifted some stones
Saw the skin and bones
Of a city without a soul
I went out walking
Under an atomic sky
Where the ground won't turn
And the rain it burns
Like the tears when I said goodbye
Yeah I went with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you
I went wandering
- The Wanderer, Johnny Cash and U2
16) What would you do if you won a million dollars?
But while we're waiting we could try saving the world
Or are we storing that up for a rainy day?
I'm anticipating the time when it'll be my turn
It could be fun to try
I think that I'll save the world as a fun afternoon activity
- Saving the World, Brooke Fraser
17) How do you feel right now?
The earth is in a blaze
The world is in a maze
The way of life today
Is strange and odd. Oh Lord
What happened across the sea
May come to you and me
Oh, come let us go back to God
- Come, Let Us Go Back To God, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers
18) Are you for World Peace?
Lay down
Lay down your guns
All your daughters of Zion
All your Abraham's sons...
Here's my heart and you can break it
I need some release, release, release
We need love and peace
- Love and Peace or Else, U2
19) Where were you born?
Aotearoa, rugged individual
Glisten like a pearl, at the bottom of the world
The tyranny of distance didn't stop the cavalier
So why should it stop me, I'll conquer and stay free
- Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Split Enz
20) Any closing words?
Take these shoes
Click clacking down this dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing
Yahweh, Yahweh,
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
- Yahweh, U2
Phew, that just about does it! I'm not going to tag anyone because it does take time, but if you're as sad as me, go ahead! It's very fun.

5 comments:

Trish Ryan said...

ohmigosh...that is impressive, but I'll admit I scrolled through thinking, "please don't tag me...please don't tag me." I would spend hours on a project like this... bedtime would come around and I'd still be in my pj's sitting on the floor surrounded by dozens of cds...

Thank you for your mercy :)

And those grubs do look a bit like something you'd see rolled in sugar and served in a candy store...

Stacy said...

You and Felicity look alike. I don't look anything like my sister.

I, too, am grateful not to be tagged as I am quite lazy and proud of it.

j said...

I love that at least half of these are U2 lyrics. I'm quite impressed :)

Allie said...

Stacy: hmmm, I've never heard anyone say that me and Felicity are alike before...

Stacy said...

Well, it's true that she's making a face in that picture, making it difficult to tell, but it looks like you have the same coloring and face shape.