Poll-ish Humor

MEN ONLY

Today's poll results from an artistic disagreement between Chatwoman and me. We decided to settle the score, as it were, right here. It is just possible that your answers will not only establish, once and for all, whose taste in music is better, but also determine if music knows a gender divide.

Below are the lyrics to two songs with which you are likely familiar. The questions follow.

---

"Wildfire," by Michael Martin Murphey

She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night.

Oh, they say she died one winter
When there came a killing frost
And the pony she named Wildfire
Busted down its stall
In a blizzard he was lost

She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wilfdire.

By the dark of the moon I planted
But there came an early snow
There's been a hoot-owl howling by my window now
For six nights in a row
She's coming for me, I know
And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

We'll be riding Wildfire
We'll be riding Wildfire
We'll be riding Wildfire

On Wildfire we're gonna ride
Gonna leave sodbustin' behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire

------

"I'm On Fire," by Bruce Springsteen

Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone...
I got a bad desire
I'm on fire

Tell me now baby is he good to you,
Can he do to you the things that I do?
I can take you higher ...
I'm on fire

Sometimes its like someone took a knife, baby
Edgy and dull
And cut a six-inch valley
Through the middle of my soul

At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight train running through the
Middle of my head.
Only you can cool my desire
I'm on fire.

1. Which is the better song?
a. Wildfire
b. I'm on Fire.
c. They are equally bad.
d. They are equally good.

2. In "Wildfire," how old is "she"?
a. She is a child.
b. She is a woman.
c. It is deliberately ambiguous.
d. Who gives a crap?

3. In "I'm On Fire," how old is the subject of the song?
a. She is under 18.
b. She is 18 or over.
c. It is deliberately ambiguous.
d. Who gives a crap?

4. What is the weakest point of "Wildfire?"
a. Sappiness
b. Ambiguousness
c. Poor use of words.
d. It doesn't have a significant weakness.

5. What is the weakest point of "I'm On Fire?"
a. Darkness of message.
b. Ambiguousness.
c. Poor use of words.
d. It doesn't have a significant weakness.

6. If you had to spend a weekend snowbound in a small Adirondack cabin listening to music chosen by your cabinmate, which of these two people would you pick?
a. Me
b. Chatwoman

View results

Note: This is an unscientific survey of washingtonpost.com readers.