This Week's Music Quiz

I like to do this a little earlier, like sometime on Saturday afternoon, but ran into a little snag today. First, another little computer irritant. I use Musicmatch Jukebox for my music player. Yahoo! bought them out. I decided to do my part for the transition and upgrade to the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. Everything went smoothly except for actually having any music in my library. Whenever I tried to add my tracks to the library the player would have a fatal error and shutdown. After uninstalling and reinstalling about three times, I finally traced the problem to one music track. When I deleted that one track the process ran like clockwork. Strange. Then my wife wanted to get online to check her mail for a minute. About three hours later she finally got off the puter and I got on and played with my new music player for a while. And here we are...

Here are the lyrics to random tracks from my music library. See if you can name that tune.

1. 1973 - A one-hit wonder, but what a hit! This one will take you back. From the beginning...

Day after day I'm more confused
So I look for the light in the pouring rain
You know that's a game that I hate to lose
And I'm feelin' the strain
Ain't it a shame

2. 2005 - A song from the latest album by a pretty popular rock band. From the beginning...

I reside in 209,
You're in 208
You moved in last Friday night,
and I just couldn't wait
So I tried to call across the hall,
to ask you out someday
But a lineup formed outside your door,
And I was way too late

Well I'd rather start off slow
This whole thing's like
some sort of race
Instead of winning what I want
I'm sitting here in second place

3. 1998 - An album track from a band that's been around since the early '80s. From the beginning...

As the sun comes up, as the moon goes down
These heavy notions creep around
It makes me think long ago
I was brought into this life a little lamb, a little lamb
Courageous, stumbling
Fearless was my middle name
But somewhere there I
Lost my way
Everyone walks the same
Expecting me to step
The narrow path they've laid

4. 2002 - I've had this band come up before, but not this song. This is from their self-entitled debut album. The title never comes up in the song. The song starts with the chorus, so this is the chorus, followed by the first verse...

Please help me cause I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out
Please help me cause I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

And every time I think I've finally made it
I learn I'm farther away than I have ever been before
I see the clock and its ticking away
And the hourglass empty
What the fuck do I have to say

5. 1984 - This band was fairly big on college radio stations around the mid-'80s, but fairly unknown everywhere else. I've always like the sentiment of this song. From the beginning...

Seven o'clock in the morning and I'm riding the overnight train
I've got ten tons of luggage but I left it behind when I came
I look at my watch, says September seventeen
We're riding past some place where I've never been
And I'm waving through the window as we go
Somebody says "Well, hey, what are you waving at?"

6. 1988 - This is the first song on a fairly memorable self-entitled debut album. The woman is still recording today. This song also starts with the chorus which we have to skip to keep from giving away the answer. First verse. Only verse really...

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

7. 1980 - A rock 'n roll classic. First verse...

She was a fast machine
She kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman that I ever seen
She had the sightless eyes
Telling me no lies
And knockin' me out with those American thighs
Taking more than her share
Had me fighting for air
She told me to come, but I was already there
'Cause the walls started shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was achin'
And we were makin' it

8. 1987 - A very eclectic, little known band. The theme of this song is "a wise man was telling stories to me about the places he had been to and the things that he had seen." Here's a couple of those stories in the middle of the song...

Four small boys playing ball in a parking lot
A preacher, a teacher, and the other became a cop
A car skidded into the rain
Making the last little one a saint
One more light goes out in America

A young girl tosses a coin in the wishing well
She hopes for a heaven while for her there's just this hell
She gave away her life
To become somebody's wife
Another wish unanswered in America

People having so much faith
Die too soon while all the rest come late
We write a song that no one sings
On a cold black stone
Where a lasting peace will finally bring

9. 2002 - Another eclectic band that's not as well-known as they should be. From the beginning...

Well, I sat down next to a photograph
Tried my best, almost made her laugh
She was my toughest crowd
But there in the way was a mountain up in the clouds

Well, I can't sleep and I'm not in love
Well, I can't speak without messing up
Eyes tell of what's behind
And hers showed the way to a long and a lonely climb
But through failure I'll proceed
And she'll see how far I've come

And it's you and me in the sun and sea
I'll offer my arm to yours
It seems to me no mystery
It isn't

10. 2005 - A track from the third and latest album by band with quite a few rock hits. From the beginning...

The shades go up
Mother's staring down
She don't know where he's been
Or how long he's been out

She said "Boy, I'm tired of waiting up
While you're out with your friends"
He said "Mom, I'm tired and I'm living my life
The best way that I can"

If you know these (everyone should know at least one or two), leave answers in comments.