Sep.29

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My Gift Is My Song: Don't Fear the Reaper

The end comes for all men (and women, of course, though we thought Elizabeth II might just rewrite the rules). It also comes for all musical acts, either due to the death of a key member, or to internal tensions that make it impossible to keep moving forward, or to a host of other potential issues.

That brings us to the solution to last week's theme. We'll let reader A.F. in New Taipei, Taiwan, lay it out:

The songs are all tracks from the final studio album by the performers.

• "You Never Give Me Your Money," by the Beatles (Abbey Road)
• "Let It Be," by the Beatles (Let It Be)
• "Keep the Customer Satisfied," by Simon and Garfunkel (Bridge Over Troubled Water)
• "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win," by Beastie Boys (Hot Sauce Committee Part Two)
• "All Apologies," by Nirvana (In Utero)
• "You Know I'm No Good," by Amy Winehouse (Back to Black)
• "Oh My Heart," by R.E.M. (Collapse Into Now)

The ambiguity for the Beatles would arise as Abbey Road was the final album recorded by the group, but Let It Be was the final album released (despite being recorded earlier).

That is 100% on target, including the Beatles-related twist. The clue we gave on Saturday is that we almost used "Sitting on Top of the World" from the Cream album Goodbye. Obviously, Goodbye is Cream's final effort. Can't really release another album after you've released one with that title. Unless that subsequent album is We Spoke Too Soon.

The first 10 readers to get it right:

1. J.L. in Hampton, VA
2. M.J.S. in Cheshire, CT
3. B.K. in Champlin, MN
4. W.M.H.B. in Salamanca, Spain
5. J.N. in Zionsville, IN
6. N.S. in North Hollywood, CA
7. F.Y. in Ann Arbor, MI
8. D.L. in Uslar, Germany
9. J.S. in Pittsburgh, PA
10. T.D. in Chicago, IL

As to today's theme, it will be trivially easy if you deploy Google, but what's the fun in that? If you don't take that particular shortcut, we'd put the difficulty around a 5.5. The hint is that the theme was inspired by "A Little Less Conversation," as (Z) listened to that song on his phone. The version on the phone is actually the remix by Junkie XL. If it had been the original, then (Z) would have no reason to think of this particular theme.

We'll give another clue tomorrow; we've got a pretty good one in mind. If you have a guess as to what the theme is, either now or then, let us know here. (Z)