NMLQOTM

Rules

Song Library

Artist Library

Quiz Archive

Quiz #8

Quiz #8
Answers, Results & Commentary

Congratulations to Kathy Krycia the winner of this edition of NMLQOTM with a near-perfect scores of 516 points. Gabriella Ziegler ran a close second, just 1 point back with 515 points and Debra Woolaver followed a very close 3rd with 513 points.

The songs that gave players the most trouble this time were fairly predictable, with lesser-known songs like "Double Dutch Bus", "992 Arguments" and "(I Wanna) Testify" leading the way. Some of the oddball items were "Take The Money And Run" was released as "Steve Miller", and not "The Steve Miller Band", Green Jellÿ had the bizarre diaeresis mark over the final "y" in the group's name, and it wasn't "The Commodores" or "The Five Man Electrical Band", it was just "Commodores" and "Five Man Electrical Band". Note the commas in "Happy Birthday, Sweet 16" and "Right Here, Right Now".

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

01> Beatles, The - When I'm Sixty-Four (1967) <-->
02> Cher - Living In A House Divided (1972) <22>
03> Commodores - Three Times A Lady (1978) <1>
04> Cooke, Sam - Only Sixteen (1959) <28> (Dr. Hook's version fit here, too)
05> Dylan, Bob - The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) <-->
06> Five Man Electrical Band - Signs (1971) <3>
07> Gabriel, Peter/Kate Bush - Don't Give Up (1987) <72>
08> Grass Roots, The - Two Divided By Love (1971) <16>
09> Green Jellÿ - Three Little Pigs (1993) <17>
10> Guess Who, The - Share The Land (1970) <10>
11> Hardcastle, Paul - 19 (1985) <15>
12> Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now (1991) <2>
13> Miller, Steve - Take The Money And Run (1976) <11>
14> Morrison, Van - Have I Told You Lately (1989) <-->
15> Night Ranger - Four In The Morning (I Can't Take Anymore) (1985) <19>
16> Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991) <6>
17> O'Jays, The - 992 Arguments (1972) <57>
18> Parliaments, The - (I Wanna) Testify (1967) <20>
19> Playmates, The - Beep Beep (1958) <4>
20> Ronstadt, Linda - Blue Bayou (1977) <3>
21> Sedaka, Neil - Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen (1961) <6>
22> Simon, Paul - American Tune (1973) <35>
23> Skid Row - 18 And Life (1989) <4>
24> Smith, Frankie - Double Dutch Bus (1981) <30>
25> Styx - The Best Of Times (1981) <3>
26> Three Dog Night - Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues) (1974) <33>

THEME:

This time around, the theme was a challenge to math-phobics everywhere, as the lyrics, titles and artists presented one long mathematical equation. Beginning with song one's "When I'm **64**", moving to song 2's "Living In A House **DIVIDED"" on to "***Three*** ***TIMES*** A Lady", and on through the rest of the 26 songs, you were presented with the equation:

64 ­/ 3 x 16 x 5 x 2 / 3 x 19 x 2 - 4 - 992 x 1/3 -16 x 18 x 2 (double) x 3 = almost exactly 1,518,896.

Given that this wasn't a math test, I was more interested in your ability to discern the mathematical equation than I was in your ability to accurately solve it. In fact, to be entirely precise, you would have to observe the primacy of multiplication and division over addition and subtraction in the order of mathematical operations, so the answer would be something entirely different anyway. Congratulations to Kathy Kyrcia and Debra Woolaver, who spotted the hidden theme! Several other folks "thought" they spotted it, noting that there were a lot of titles and artists with number and mathematical operations references - but all of these players mentioned that some songs didn't quite 'fit'. My guess is that they didn't look at the lyrics too.

TRIVIA:

Though I touched on it in an earlier quiz, it's worth noting that today is the 36th anniversay of the Beatles' first-ever US concert appearance. The Fab Four appeared on a bill with Tommy Roe, The Chiffons and The Carvavelles (two London-born teenage girls, who took a remake of Ernest Tubb's "You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry" to the #3 spot on the US charts in 1963).

Remember that the Beatles had been virtually ignored in the United States until mid-January of 1964. "Love Me Do" had been released in England on October 5, 1962, and had gone as high as 17 on the British pop charts. "Love Me Do"'s American debut came almost a year and a half later.

The group's next British release was March 1963's "Please Please Me", their first top ten hit in England. Simultaneously released in the US, and attributed to "The Beattles" on the Vee Jay label, the US record went nowhere. "Please Please Me" was also the title of the Beatle's first UK album (unreleased in the US). The album featured " I Saw Her Standing There", "Love Me Do", "P.S. I Love You", "Do You Want To Know A Secret" and "Twist and Shout", as well as the title song. The US also virtually ignored ""From Me To You", the single released in April of that year.

Finally, the floodgates opened in early 1964, with the American release of the single 'I Want To Hold Your Hand", backed with "I Saw Her Standing There" on January 18 - two months after "Hand" (backed with "This Boy") had provided the Beatles' first chart-topper in the UK. US record buyers were finally ready for the Beatles - the song shot to #1 within 3 weeks of its release, and within three months, the Beatles' chart scorecard read:

I Want To Hold Your Hand #1
I Saw Her Standing There #14
She Loves You #1
Please Please Me #3
From Me To You #41
My Bonnie ( a recording they had made back in 1961 as a backing group for cabaret-pop singer Tony Sheridan) #26
Twist And Shout #2
There's A Place #74
Roll Over Beethoven #68
All My Loving #75
Can't Buy Me Love #1
You Can't Do That #48
Do You Want To Know A Secret #2
Thank You Girl #35
Love Me Do #1
P.S. I Love You #10
Why (again, an old recording with Tony Sheridan on vocals and Pete Best on drums) #88.

"Introducing The Beatles", was released in July of 1963 in the US, but it was 1964's "Meet The Beatles" that charted first, featuring "I Want To Hold Your Hand". One week after "Meet The Beatles" charted, "Introducing" hit the charts - in fact it was "Meet The Beatles" that kept "Introducing The Beatles" from reaching #1 on the album charts, with its 11 week run at the top. By April, the Beatles' third US album, oddly called "The Beatles' Second Album", had also reached #1, as would "A Hard Day's Night" in July of 1964.

On April 4, 1964, Beatlemania had reached such a fever in the US that the Billboard Top 5 that week was "Can't Buy Me Love", followed by "Twist And Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me".

As for "When I'm 64", the song that was included in this edition of the quiz, it's fair to say that it wasn't a favorite of John's. In a 1980 interview, Lennon reportedly said "I would never even dream of writing a tune like that".

On a completely unrelated note, Lionel Richie always claimed that the name "Commodores" was selected when the band agreed to throw a dictionary up in the air in order to end a long-simmering dispute about what to call themselves. Some of us are pleased that they landed on Commodores, others might think "Commodes" would have been more apropos. Sorry to end with a bit of bathroom humor.

Listed below are the points for each player: