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Each entry in the list below represents a paraphrase of (hopefully) well-known song lyrics. Identify the original lyrics, along with the song they occurred in and original performers.

  1. The person in the extremity of the room, illuminated, and with a steadily decreasing control over their anger, is I.
  2. The option, to take a hike on the surface of the nearest star, is as good as any other.
  3. Regarding the large number of friendless ones: I am curious about their origin, and about the place where they will fit in. Visually scan them, twice.
  4. You, the undead corpse: penny for your thoughts?
  5. At no time do I intend to serve as your ox or mule.
  6. Half the usual forward illumination will still suffice to get this vehicle to our domicile.
  7. After an unspecified occurrence, my cranium is in its usual position relative to my calcanei - and without any prior notification.
  8. Modulate your volume, as compression waves created by the larynx travel far.
  9. Similar to a vagrant, my purpose in life is to perambulate without company.
  10. Continue having faith, and don't let go of the specified sensation.
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  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, everybody, it turns out I had misremembered the lyrics I was trying to paraphrase in #9. I've corrected it to a paraphrase of the correct lyrics now. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 22:28
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    $\begingroup$ Upvoted not only for being a fun puzzle, but for actually using songs that I know! Sometimes these song puzzles make me feel so old.... $\endgroup$
    – Pugmonkey
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 23:32

7 Answers 7

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EDIT: for a full list of answers, see the community wiki answer created by Phylyp

Extremely Partial, since I'm really out of touch on these things

    1. The person in the extremity of the room, illuminated, and with a steadily decreasing control over their anger, is I.

      Losing My Religion by R.E.M.: "That's me in the corner / That's me in the spotlight / Losing my religion"

    1. You, the undead corpse: penny for your thoughts?

      Zombie by Cranberries: "In your head / In your head/ Zombie, zombie, zombie, ei, ei / What's in your head? In your head / Zombie, zombie, zombie ei, ei, ei, oh do do do do do do do do"

    1. After an unspecified occurrence, my cranium is in its usual position relative to my calcanei - and without any prior notification.

      Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears: "Something happens and I'm head over heels / I never find out till I'm head over heels"

    1. Modulate your volume, as compression waves created by the larynx travel far.

      Voices carry by Til Tuesday: "Hush hush, keep it down now / Voices carry"

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  • $\begingroup$ #1, #4, #7, #8 are correct. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:31
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielSchepler Why did you accept when it's incomplete? $\endgroup$
    – Dessa Simpson
    Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 23:05
  • $\begingroup$ @DuncanXSimpson - see this explanation by Rubio on accepting answers to multi-part questions. Bass's answer covered the most answers (4/10) and was one of the earliest as well, hence it appears that was the reason it was selected - quite fairly, IMHO - as the accepted one. $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Commented Mar 19, 2018 at 4:23
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    $\begingroup$ @DuncanXSimpson Since I don't want to reduplicate Phylyp's work in collecting all the answers, I added a link to the community wiki answer with all the songs. Thanks for reminding me. $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 19, 2018 at 5:08
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I've collated the correct answers into a single community answer, solely for the convenience of readers to find all answers in one location.

  1. The person in the extremity of the room, illuminated, and with a steadily decreasing control over their anger, is I.

Losing My Religion by R.E.M.
"That's me in the corner / That's me in the spotlight / Losing my religion"
Originally answered by Bass

  1. The option, to take a hike on the surface of the nearest star, is as good as any other.

Smash Mouth - Walkin' on The Sun
"You might as well be walkin' on the sun"
Originally answered by internet_user

  1. Regarding the large number of friendless ones: I am curious about their origin, and about the place where they will fit in. Visually scan them, twice.

Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
"All the lonely people, Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, Where do they all belong? Ah look at all the lonely people, Ah look at all the lonely people."
Originally answered by Paige Meinke

  1. You, the undead corpse: penny for your thoughts?

Zombie - The Cranberries
"Zombie, zombie, zombie, ei, ei, what's in your head?"
Originally answered by Bass and Paige Meinke

  1. At no time do I intend to serve as your ox or mule.

Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones
"I'll never be your beast of burden"
Originally answered by Glorfindel

  1. Half the usual forward illumination will still suffice to get this vehicle to our domicile.

One Headlight by The Wallflowers
"We can drive it home / With one headlight"
Originally answered by DLosc

  1. After an unspecified occurrence, my cranium is in its usual position relative to my calcanei - and without any prior notification.

Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears
"Something happens and I'm head over heels / I never find out till I'm head over heels"
Originally answered by Bass

  1. Modulate your volume, as compression waves created by the larynx travel far.

Voices carry by Til Tuesday
"Hush hush, keep it down now / Voices carry"
Originally answered by Bass

  1. Similar to a vagrant, my purpose in life is to perambulate without company.

Here I Go Again by Whitesnake
"Like a drifter I was born to walk alone"
Originally answered by YeetKid and Will Crawford / Paige Meinke

  1. Continue having faith, and don't let go of the specified sensation.

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
"Don't stop believing / Hold on to the feeling"
Originally answered by DLosc and internet_user

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    $\begingroup$ What answer to accept is entirely at the asker's discretion; usually they pick the "best" answer, using whatever criteria they feel to be best. As I mentioned in my comment on YeetKid's answer, some reward the answer that contains the most significant contribution(s), and some choose to reward the answer which is most complete. Ideally, these are the same answer—the person with the greatest contribution also adds the contributions of others, with attribution, to make a single canonical answer. $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 14:49
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    $\begingroup$ Failing that, perhaps (as happened with this answer) someone with little or no contribution toward solving the puzzle makes a complete Community Wiki answer to avoid the appearance of capitalizing on others' work to gain rep for themselves, doing it simply to provide a single complete answer. From time to time, a minor contributor will turn their answer into a full solution; some people think this is perfectly fine (as is turning comments into full answers) because the act of creating a complete answer is a contribution in and of itself; for others, this doesn't sit well, feeling like theft. $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 14:57
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    $\begingroup$ Regardless, though, it's not for the Moderators to tell an asker which post to accept. We can offer insight on what people commonly do (which you'd find on your own just by looking around a bit), but at the end of the day, it's entirely up to the asker to decide which (if ANY) post deserves the coveted $\color{green}{\checkmark \small\text{Accept}}$ mark. I hope that helps. :) $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 15:00
  • $\begingroup$ Cheers, @Rubio I appreciate the guidance. $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 15:08
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Partial

  1. Regarding the large number of friendless ones: I am curious about their origin, and about the place where they will fit in. Visually scan them, twice.

Eleanor Rigby - Beatles: All the lonely people, Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, Where do they all belong? Ah look at all the lonely people, Ah look at all the lonely people.

  1. You, the undead corpse: penny for your thoughts?

Zombie - The Cranberries: Zombie, zombie, zombie, ei, ei, what's in your head?

  1. Similar to Loki or Pan, my purpose in life is to perambulate without company.

Here I Go Again - Whitesnake: Like a drifter I was born to walk alone ...

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    $\begingroup$ #3 and #4 are correct. #9 is incorrect. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:31
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    $\begingroup$ #9 is now correct (since 1982) [the lyric was changed circa 1982 from hobo to drifter :o)] $\endgroup$
    – Will Crawford
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 13:57
  • $\begingroup$ OK, bonus question: What was the misremembered lyric that I paraphrased as the original "Similar to Loki or Pan, ..."? :) $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 14:25
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5.

I'll never be your beast of burden (from Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones)

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  • $\begingroup$ #5 is correct. (nonsense added since otherwise comment was too short) $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:33
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    $\begingroup$ I was really worried there for a while, when I noticed that the beginning could also have been "Never gonna.." $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:48
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    $\begingroup$ @Bass for more details, see this Meta Stack Overflow post. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:52
  • $\begingroup$ @Glorfindel why why why did i actually click on it $\endgroup$
    – Quintec
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 2:26
  • $\begingroup$ I hate you @Glorfindel :-) $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 7:53
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6.

"We can drive it home / With one headlight" - "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers

10.

"Don't stop believing / Hold on to the feeling" - "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey

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  • $\begingroup$ #6 and #10 are correct. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:32
5
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Partial (just the easy ones)

2.

Smash Mouth - Walkin' on The Sun

But if the offer is shun, you might as well be walkin' on the sun

10.

Journey - Don't Stop Believin'

Don't stop believing
Hold on to the feeling

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  • $\begingroup$ #2 and #10 are correct (though on #2 I was thinking just the last part). $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 20:32
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9:

Here I go again by Whitesnake. Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

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  • $\begingroup$ #9 is correct. (Now do we have someone collect the answers into a single answer I can mark as accepted?) $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Schepler
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 22:33
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    $\begingroup$ @DanielSchepler For puzzles with multiple pieces like this one, some people award the checkmark to the person who contributed the most correct solutions (and optionally give more weight to harder entries, to help break ties.) It's nice to specify a rule in advance, but not necessary. This reduces the angst in picking which answer to accept. Of course, sometimes the person with the most contributions makes the decision an easy one by consolidating all the solutions (with credit to their posters) into their own answer, which is also fine. As is a community wiki, if someone is ok forgoing rep. $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 1:22
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielSchepler we’re not here for the rep, but for the fun puzzles like this one, so by all means, tick the wiki answer, so future solvers will have an easier time checking their answers. You are of course free to award the tick to any answer you want, I don’t actively oppose any rep coming my way :-) $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 14:54
  • $\begingroup$ You were the first (thereby helping others with a rough age/style of music) and gave the most answers @Bass $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Commented Mar 19, 2018 at 4:31

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