May17

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GOP 49

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Heat of the Moment

For last week's headline theme, the Friday hint suggested watching the first 15 seconds of a video we linked to, for the song "Black" by Sons Of Kemet, in which lead singer Joshua Idehen recites a poem. On Saturday, we added: "The most famous example of the theme, in our view, was definitely incorporated into yesterday's headlines, and involves Vincent Price." And now, the answer key, from reader N.S. in Los Angeles, CA:

Ah, thank you for the second hint. In hindsight, I should've gotten it without that. All the songs feature a section of spoken word:

• Trump Legal News: The Trial (Day 14)—Pink Floyd's "The Trial" features vocals delivered as recitative.
  
  
• Trump Environmental Policy: We're Gonna Need a Bigger... Bottle of Sunscreen—In Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," all the lyrics are spoken.
  
  
• Electoral-Vote Presidential Tracking Poll, May Edition: Are We In For a Thriller—Michael Jackson's classic features a "rap" (that's how it's credited on the album) by Vincent Price.
  
  
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Black Magic—"Black," by the Sons of Kemet, is entirely spoken.
  
  
• This Week in Freudenfreude: Nights in White Satin—A beautiful Moody Blues song that concludes with a spoken poem written by drummer Graham Edge.
  
  
• This Week in Schadenfreude: (You're My) Soul and Inspiration—A Righteous Brothers song with a spoken bridge.

Another fun one. I feel like I should've deduced the theme on the first day with the "Thriller," "Nights in White Satin," and "Sunscreen" clues. Had you used one of the Boyz II Men songs from the early 90s that also used the spoken word bridge device, I think I would've actually gotten it.

Thanks, N.S.! Note that: (1) The Luhrmann song is known under numerous titles, but "Sunscreen" by itself is one of them; (2) the Beyoncé song "Bigger" also has a spoken-word component, and so also works for that one; and (3) the Moody Blues song only has a spoken-word component on the album version.

Here are the first 30 readers to get it right:

1. M.B. in Albany, NY
2. J.F. in Fayetteville, NC
3. E.S. in Cincinnati, OH
4. S.F. in Hutto, TX
5. J.C. in Trenton, NJ
6. J.S. in Germantown, OH
7. D.O. in Brookline, MA
8. E.K. in Arlington, MA
9. N.H. in London, England, UK
10. N.S. in Los Angeles
11. W.S. in Tucson, AZ
12. R.K. in Bel Air, MD
13. D.H. in Portland, OR
14. B.R.M. in Aurora, CO
15. M.T. in Wheat Ridge, CO
16. M.K. in Bothell, WA
17. E.S. in Chesterfield, MO
18. M.Z. in Sharon, MA
19. J.N. in Las Vegas, NV
20. T.D. in Chicago, IL
21. M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada
22. D.M. in Oakland, CA
23. B.B. in Avon, CT
24. E.P. in Long Beach, CA
25. D.B. in Farmville, VA
26. O.B. in Santa Monica, CA
27. K.T. in New York City, NY
28. A.J. in Nashville, TN
29. M.C. in Portland, OR
30. L.S. in San Francisco, CA

It was a tough theme, and so it was a good long time before the 30-correct-answer threshold was passed.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word per headline (always to the right of the colon). It's in the Trivial Pursuit category Science and Nature, and we'll give you the hint that you'll need some time to figure it out. If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com, ideally with subject line "May 17 Headlines." (Z)