Can you name the 20 popular songs depicted in these lyric clouds (with the title phrases removed)? Answers can be found on the Speaker Notes tab (at SlideShare.net only), or by playing the Sporcle game at http://www.sporcle.com/games/strags11/cloud3D
ABBA – “Waterloo”. All of the word clouds in this quiz were generated using either Wordle (www.wordle.net) or Tagxedo (www.tagxedo.com). Here, the lyrics form the yellow stripes of the flag of ABBA’s home country of Sweden, except for the key clue word “Napoleon” which is in the French tricolor. Every puzzle image has a few clues like those to help you zero in on the song.
Beyoncé Knowles – “Irreplaceable” (Note “the box to the left”: the main hook of the song and where BK’s soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend is told to put his pile of junk.)
The Buggles – “Video Killed The Radio Star.”. Complete with ghostly lyrics. Yes kids, that’s what an old radio looked like.
ELO – “Fire On High”. Wait, isn’t that an instrumental? Not quite. Near the beginning, there is a backwards-masked voice that intones the song’s only lyrics: “The music is reversible but time is not…Turn back! Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!” Even if you weren’t aware exactly what was being said, I hope the backward-spelled words, the fire, and the electric light bulb were sufficient clues.
Goo Goo Dolls – “Iris”. Probably the toughest one in the set, particularly as many people don’t know the actual title of the song (it never appears in the lyrics, and of course the song has nothing to do with the iris of one’s eye.) “When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am…”
Don Henley – “The Boys Of Summer” (The lyric cloud forms the song’s iconic “Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac”)
Elton John – “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. Did you know the singer was going back home and “hunting the hornyback toad”? I always wondered what that line was until now.
Matchbox Twenty – “Unwell”. The image is a Rorschach ink blot, which were once commonly used in the treatment of mental disorders.
Don McLean – “American Pie” The image is notof McLean – it’s Buddy Holly, whose 1960 death was “the day the music died.”
Steve Miller Band – “The Joker” (So, how many people guessed “Kiss From A Rose”…?)
The Monkees – “Daydream Believer” That’s them in the background, from the 60’s TV show.
Nelly (feat. City Spud) – “Ride Wit’ Me”. The background image is of Nelly……uh, Furtado, that is. At bottom left is Nell Fenwick, the love interest of Dudley Do-Right from the old cartoon series. Neither have anything to do with the song, of course, but the red herrings didn’t fool you because the song’s main hook is right there in green letters: “Hey, must be (the) money”. Right?
No Doubt – “Spiderwebs” Sorry, I’m not home right now, so leave a message and I’ll call you back…..
Owl City – “Fireflies”. Making this one took forever, but it was something of a labor of love. Probably not one quiz-taker in 20 knows the movie whose scenes can be seen through the words in the cloud: it’s Grave Of The Fireflies, a Japanese anime classic and one of most powerful…if brutally heartbreaking…movies ever made.
Prince – “When Doves Cry”. A white dove with one key word in purple, to represent thealbum Purple Rain.
Simon and Garfunkel – “Mrs. Robinson”. From the movie The Graduate, a famous screenshot from which forms the background. Why is the word “Robinson’s” in the cloud if the titles were removed? Because it appears in a verse: “…just the Robinson’s affair”.
Toto – “Africa”. OK, so every once in a while, the obvious answer is correct.
Train – Drops Of Jupiter. A piece of cake for astronomy aficionados. That’s the planet Jupiter in the background, and the Great Red Spot is under the word “best”.
Kanye West – “Heartless”. The coldest story ever told, and a very tough puzzle (unless perhapsyou noticed the reference to “Dr. Evil” in the crevice of the broken heart.)
Dooley Wilson – “As Time Goes By”, from Casablanca. If you call it the greatest movie ever made, you’ll get no argument here. That’s Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman from the famous final scene. Thanks for playing!