The following is the textbook definition of “MPSIMS”, also known as “Anthracite loses her freaking mind sometimes”.
Below are 52 pieces of lyrics from New Wave 80’s songs. The significance of the number 52 is that that’s all I can type right now. Who is the artist and what is the song title? Answers will be posted in a parallel thread.
“In Babylon, On the boulevard of broken dreams…”
“In ancient Rome, There was a poem, About a dog, Who had two bones…”
“I understand, Just a little, No comprende, It’s a riddle…”
“Don’t crack up, Bend your brain, See both sides, Throw off your mental chains…”
“We went dancing across the USA, On that crazy King’s highway…”
“Standing there alone, The ship is waiting, All systems are go, Are you sure?…”
“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to run away, I’ve got to get away, From the pain…”
“And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile…”
“I was on a Paris train, I emerged in London rain…”
“Riding on the range, I’ve got my hat…on, I’ve got my boots…dusty…”
“Get out of the state, Get out of the state you’re in, You better beware…”
“Jane plays with Willie, Willie is happy again. Suki plays with Leo, Sahsa plays with Brit…”
“Cherry ice cream smile, I suppose it’s very nice…”
“I never missed a heartbeat, Just sitting in the back seat, Yeah…”
“In time it could have been so much more, But time is precious I know…”
“Come fly with me, What are you waiting for? Come fly with me, Don’t waste a minute more…”
“Listening to Marvin, All night long, This is the sound of my soul…”
“Now I’m towing my car, There’s a whole in the roof, My possessions are causing me suspicion but there’s no proof…”
“I never worry that your love is fake, I’m feeling easy and I’m feeling jake…”
“Sometimes you’re better off dead, There’s a gun in your hand and it’s pointing at your head…”
“I don’t see you guys rating the kind of mate I’m contemplating, I’d let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you…”
“We got the message, I heard it on the airwaves, The politicians, Are now DJ’s…”
“I’ve got your picture, I’ve got your picture, I’d like a million of you over myself, I asked the doctor to take your picture, So I can look at you from inside as well…”
“I got a job waiting for my graduation, 50 thou’ and year will buy a lot of beer, Things are going great, And they’re only getting better…”
“Father gets up late for work, Mother has to iron his shirt then she sends the kids to school, Sees them off with a small kiss…”
“You leave in the morning with everything you own in a little black case, Alone on a platform the wind and the rain on a sad and lonely face…”
“And a perfect dream of life, Gone, Fragile but free we remain tender together, If not so in love, And it’s not so wrong, We’re only human after all…”
“If I, I get to know your name, Well if I, could trace your private number, Baby, All I know is that to me you look like you’re lots of fun, Open up your loving arms I want some, want some…”
“It’s not the way you look, It’s not the way that you smile, Although there’s something to them…”
“Oh, I can’t take another heartache, Though you say you’re my friend, I’m at my wits’ end…”
“You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, When I met you…”
“Down in the street there is violence, And a lots of work to be done, No place to hang out our washing, And I can’t blame all on the sun, oh no…”
“You look in his eye, And you’ll know why, The more you live, The faster you will die…”
“Welcome to your life, There’s no turning back, Even while we sleep, We will find you, Acting on your best behavior…”
“I’m the cruiser, You’re the loser, Me and you sir, Homosapiens too…”
“When I was a young boy, I wanted to sail round the world, That’s the life for me, Living on the Sea…”
“I’m all dressed up with nowhere to go, Walking with a dead man over my shoulder…”
“Can’t seem to get my mind off of you, Back here at home there’s nothin’ to do, Now that I’m away, I wish I’d stayed…”
“The king called up his jet fighters, He said you better earn your pay, Drop your bombs between the minarets…”
“On Ventura, there she goes, She just bought some bitchin clothes, Tosses her head ‘n flips her hair, She got a whole bunch of nothin’ in there…”
“In my mind and in my car, We can’t rewind we’ve gone to far, Pictures came and broke your heart, Put the blame on VTR…”
“See the breaking glass, In the underpass, See the breaking glass, In the underpass…”
“And the Christmas bells that ring there, Are the clanging chimes of doom, Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you…”
“A circumstance beyond our control, The phone, the TV and the news of the world, Got in the house like a pigeon from hell, Threw sand in our eyes and descended like flies…”
“I started drifting to a different place, I realized I was falling off the face of your world, And there’s nothing left to bring me back…”
“Now every time I go to the mailbox, gotta hold myself down, 'Cause I just can’t wait till you write me you’re coming around…”
“Make no sound, tiptoe across the floor, If he hears, he’ll knock all day, I’ll be trapped and here I’ll have to stay…”
“Modern medicine falls short of your complaints, Ooh, try a little harder, You’re moving in circles, won’t you dilate, Baby try - Hey girl, move a little closer…”
“Ah we can go when we want to, the night is young and so am I, And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet and surprise 'em with the victory cry…”
“My fantasy has turned to madness, and now my goodness has turned to badness, The need to possess you has consumed my soul, My life is trembling, I have no control…”
“I was walking up Broadway you know, and there’s this incredible looking Swedish girl having a Cappuccino across the street from Lincoln Center, I started talking to her you know - She said her name was Lola…”
“She’s been with the Rolling Stones, On their tours, And in their homes, I won’t tell you where she’s bound…”
53: “Together we will find a place to settle where there’s so much space”
54: “Hurry, hurry, super scurry, call the troops out in a hurry”
55: “Kriegsminister gibst nicht mehr, und auf keine Dusenflieger”
56: “Qui pourrait m’empecher de tout entendre quand la raison s’effondre”
I guess so this thread doesn’t get too cumbersome, perhaps anyone who cares should read the answers in the other thread here, and post score and comments only here.
I don’t know any of these, as I was 9 when the 80s ended in 1990. However, I can at least give a rough translation of the French lyric in case anyone knew it in English.
Ahem . . . ::cough cough cough::
56: “Qui pourrait m’empecher de tout entendre quand la raison s’effondre”
“What could prevent me from hearing everything when the reason breaks itself down”
More idiomatic, I guess, would be “What could keep me from hearing it all when it’s right in front of me” or something to that effect. Hope this helps . . . I don’t even recognize half the bands on this.
I know 40 of them. Plus one I can remember the tune to, but that’s it. I haven’t checked the Answers page yet, I’ll probably kick myself for the ones I’ve missed.
4/ Howard Jones-New Song . not easy
7/Tainted Love- Soft Cell
8/Once in a lifetime-Talking heads
14/Shy boy-Banarama
17/True-Spandau Ballet
21/Theme to ‘chess’(One night in Bangkok)-Murray Head
23/Turning Japanese- The Vapors. another toughie
27/It’s over-Level 42
31/Don’t you want me?-Human League
43/Do they know it’s christmas-Band Aid
44/Back on the chain gang-Pretenders
49/Safety dance-Men without hats
Some that I knew were already answered.
I looked at the answers afterwards but I stayed honest.
One or two were never hits in the UK such as Zappa
12 / Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
26 / The Communards - Small Town Boy if it wasn’t The Communards, it was one of Jimmy Somerville’s other bands
34 / Midge Ure - Love’s Great Adventure
40 / Frank Zappa - Valley Girl
46 / Katrina & The Waves - Walking On Sunshine
54 / Nena - 99 Red Balloons
55 / Falco - Amadeus
Some to add:
57 / “I used to think that the day would never come - When my life would depend on the morning sun…”
58 / “So you go on your own - And you stand on your own - And you leave on your own - And you go home and you cry and you want to die…”
59 / “We are agents of the free - I’ve had my fun and now it’s time to sell your conscience overseas…”
60 / “There is freedom within - There is freedom without - Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup…”
61 “She’s got cheekbones like geometry and eyes like sin and she’s sexually enlightened by Cosmopolitan”
62 “All I’m saying is enough is enough, if you can’t take a joke then lady that’s tough”
63 “Emotion is a virtue, for you it is the one fatal flaw”
64 “They’ll call us lonely when we’re really just alone”
65 “Here she comes again, with vodka in her veins”
66 “I know these melodramatics don’t make things all right, nor will they make you see things in a different light”
67 “And I’ve found/ that it knocks me to the ground”
68 “I just wish my life could be as strange as a conspiracy”
69 “There were 22 catches when you struck your matches and threw away your life”
70 “Do you think silver turns our locks, what gold do you think paves our street”
“If you’re bleeding, Then everyone can see you’re bleeding, They can call for the Doctor, He’ll provide what the diagnosis says you need…”
“Crying parents tell their children, If you survive don’t do as we did, his son exclaims there’ll be nothing to do to, Her daughter says she’ll be dead with you…”
“When your world is full of strange arrangements, And gravity won’t pull you through, You know you’re missing out on something,…”
“Who needs to think when your feet just go, Who needs to think when your feet just go, James Brown, James Brown, James Brown, James Brown…”
“Where does it go from here? Is it down to the lake, I fear? Ay ay ay ay ay ay, Ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay…”
“It was fun for a while, There was no way of knowing, Like a dream in the night, Who can say where we’re going, No care in the world, Maybe I’m learning, Why the sea on the tide, Has no way of turning…”
“We lied about each other’s drinks, We lived without each other thinkin’, What anyone would do, Without me an’ you…”
“It’s poetry in motion, And now she’s making love to me, The spheres’re in commotion, The elements in harmony…”
“We’re talking away, I don’t know what, I’m to say I’ll say it anyway, Today’s another day to find you, Shying away, I’ll be coming for your love, OK?…”
“It’s obvious we’re cooler now, cooler now, cool cool cool, Cool places tonight, I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go I wanna go…”
“Take your baby by the hand, And make her do a high hand stand, Take your baby by the heel, And do the next thing that you feel…”
“Now you’re grown, so grown, now I must say more than ever, Go toora loora toora loo rye aye, And we can sing just like our fathers…”
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life, Looking at the barrel of an Armalite…”
“The shrieking of nothing is killing, Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis, And I ain’t got no money and I ain’t got no hair…”
“In the hallway, in anticipation, He didn’t know the night would end up in frustration. He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week, All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…”
Oy… I was only 8 when the 80’s ended I probably know a bunch of these but don’t remember the words the titel or who their by (I never can) so here we go…
7 Run Away? by ???
41 Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles
46 Walking on Sunshine by ???
73 - “The Look of Love”, ABC
75 - “Love Plus One”, Haircut One Hundred
78 - “She Blind Me With Science”, Thomas Dolby
81 - “Dance Hall Days”, Wang Chung
82 - “Come on Eileen”, Dexy’s Midnight Runners
85 - “Come Dancing”, The Kinks (a new wave group?)
I know, I know. They’re on a self-titled “New Wave” CD I have, so I didn’t think it through…
Boy, you guys are picking some hard ones. I only got a couple of the ones added by others. Perhaps I am not the Lesbian Mistress of the New Wave 80’s after all?