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Quiz #10

Quiz #10
Answers, Results & Commentary

Congratulations to Kathy Krycia and Bunny Zukowski winners of this edition of NMLQOTM who tied with a near-perfect scores of 494 points. Julie McClelland trailed them only 6 points back with 488 points.

Let's see what we've got here. Although other artists have released "The Midnight Special" without the "The" (cf. Johnny Rivers), the CCR version included here was "The Midnight Special". Not only that, "Cotton Fields" (song #16) appeared on the same "Willy and the Poorboys" album - and I ought to know - this December 1969 release was the first album I ever owned. This is the album that featured "Down On The Corner".

Though some will surely disagree, Jimmy Buffett is a better song writer than he is a grammarian - "Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season" has no "The". Perhaps he leant it to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Listening to the words of this song would have offered no assistance - it's one of those rare songs that doesn't contain the title anywhere in the lyrics.

Someone needs to tell George Strait that the use of an apostrophe connotes possession, rather than plurality. All of his ex's "what?" live in Texas.

The Allman Brothers lost the apostrophe that George Strait found (Ramblin Man).

Though the Charlie Daniels Band was formed in 1971, his "Uneasy Rider", released in 1973, was just Charlie Daniels, sans the band.

Here are the correct titles and artists with year of release and highest charting position on the Billboard Hot 100:

01> Abba - Money, Money, Money (1977) <56>
02> Allman Brothers Band, The - Ramblin Man (1973) <2>
03> Animals, The - The House of The Rising Sun (1964) <1>
04> Avalon, Frankie - Tuxedo Junction (1960) <82>
05> Beach Boys, The - Kokomo (1988) <1>
06> Berry, Chuck - Havana Moon (1957) <-->
07> Blues Image - Ride Captain Ride (1970) <4>
08> Bowie, David - Buddha Of Suburbia (1993) <-->
09> Browne, Jackson - Lawyers In Love (1983) <13>
10> Buffett, Jimmy - Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season (1974) <-->
11> Creedence Clearwater Revival - The Midnight Special (1969) <-->
12> Daniels, Charlie - Uneasy Rider (1973) <9>
13> Diamond, Neil - I Am...I Said (1971) <4>
14> Diesel - Sausalito Summernight (1981) <25>
15> Eagles - Take It Easy (1972) <12>
16> Highwaymen, The - Cotton Fields (1961) <13>
17> Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama (1974) <8>
18> Nelson, Ricky - Travelin' Man (1961) <1>
19> Reed, Lou - Walk On The Wild Side (1973) <16>
20> Rivers, Johnny - (I Washed My Hands In) Muddy Water (1966) <19>
21> Simon & Garfunkel - America (1972) <97>
22> Standells, The - Dirty Water (1966) <11>
23> Starr, Ringo - No No Song (1975) <3>
24> Strait, George - All My Ex's Live In Texas (1987) <-->
25> Was (Not Was) - Walk The Dinosaur (1989) <7>

Listed below are the points for each player:

TRIVIA:

Okay, trivia buffs. What do the songs "This Diamond Ring", "Eve of Destruction", "Monday, Monday", "Windy", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Cracklin' Rosie", "(They Long To Be) Close To You", "I Think I Love You", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "I Am Woman", "Billy Don't Be A Hero" and "Please Mr. Postman" (the Carpenters' version) all have in common?

Yeah, they're all Billboard Number one hits...so let's make it a little tougher....let's throw in "MacArthur Park" (Richard Harris), "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight", "Valleri", "California Dreamin'", "Tin Man", "Lucille", "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town", "Hello Mary Lou", "My Maria", "Where the Action Is", and "Like To Get to Know You".

Getting warmer? Give up?

This quiz contained two more songs that could easily have been included on that list. "Travelin' Man" and "(I Washed My Hands In) Muddy Water" both featured the incredibly prolific musicianship of studio bass guitarist extraordinaire Joe Osborn. So there's a name to drop into the conversation the next time you're trying to score points in a game of musical one-upmanship.

Osborn was a member of what was probably the most important (and busiest!) group of studio musicians in rock history - the rhythm section of Osborn (bass), Hal Blaine (drums) and Larry Knechtel (keyboards).

If you're thinking "wow, I'd like to get this guy in on my next recording project", Joe Osborn now makes his home in Keithville, Louisiana, where he makes occasional appearances with his kids and grandkids in a band they call "Third Generation". If you visit here http://tdm.net/joeosborn/bass2.htm , you'll get a chance to see the back of Osborn's Fender Jazz bass guitar - the same guitar that has been used in every one of those recording sessions. Over the years, he's had all of the artists that he's worked with autograph his guitar on the back. Now there's an eBay item for you.

If you know anything at all about Johnny Rivers, you probably connect him with the Sunset Boulevard club "Whiskey-a-Go-Go". There's an oddball connection to another group in this week's quiz, The Animals, who appeared with their #1 hit, "House Of The Rising Sun". The Animals were a popular attraction in local clubs in their hometown of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in northeast England, and eventually became the house band in a Newcastle bar called "Club-A-Go-Go".

As for "House Of The Rising Sun", this is certainly one of the oldest songs to hit #1 on the Billboard charts (Walter Murphy And The Big Apple Band's "A Fifth of Beethoven" alert). Based on a traditional English folk song (17th century?), the famously bawdy words had been cleaned up quite a bit by the time this song began appearing in publicly-acceptable recordings. Eric Burdon remembers being ten years old when he first heard a version recorded by Josh White, an American R&B artist, but its' recorded history goes back to at least 1928, when it was recorded by bluesman Texas Alexander. "House" was later recorded by artists like Roy Acuff (1938) and The Almanac Singers (1941), the group featuring the legendary folk pioneers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

If you're wondering about the symbolism - A "rising sun" has long been a symbol for brothels in England and the United States. The symbolism remains popular - A brief Internet search found links to a "house of the rising sun" website presenting English translations of Vietnamese literature, a web site by that name offering a list of adult entertainment facilities across the entire US, a "House of the Rising Sun" drinking game, and a parody titled "House Of The White-Haired One" at a site that was created (successfully, apparently) to "Boot Newt" (Gingrich).

The Standells (oh, oh, Boston, you're my home) were from Los Angeles. Dick Dodd (lead singer) was an original Mouseketeer.

Finally, this time around, if you've ever been tempted to stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, take I-40 about 58 miles east of Flagstaff, and there you are. Until next time - take it easy!