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Quiz about Is There Any Truth to that Song
Quiz about Is There Any Truth to that Song

Is There Any Truth to that Song? Quiz


Some songs are good 'story songs' and many story songs are based on real events. Here are ten; can you place them?

A photo quiz by CmdrK. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
CmdrK
Time
4 mins
Type
Photo Quiz
Quiz #
360,247
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
2377
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 4 (8/10), Alliebaba777 (7/10), suzanneshaw61 (8/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. A Great Lakes ore ship was lost in a storm in 1975. Gordon Lightfoot wrote a very popular song about it. What was the ship's name? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Two immigrants to the United States met in suburban Boston, Massachusetts. In a few years they were convicted and executed for the murder of two men during the robbery of a shoe factory. A song was written about them. Do you know their names? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Three singers died in a plane crash in February, 1959. One song in particular has come to memorialize the accident. Which of these songs is it? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. What song about someone being arrested for littering was a big hit, but was too long for many radio stations to play? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. A U.S. Navy warship was torpedoed before the United States was involved in World War II. Do you know the name of the ship and the song about it? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. A song about racism in America and lynchings of Black people was recorded by Billie Holiday in the 1930s. What is its name? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. A picnic cruise that went awry became the subject of a Bob Dylan song. Which park along the Hudson River in New York was it about? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Natural disasters have always been material for story songs. Which one of these songs was about the 1900 Galveston, Texas hurricane? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Things as well as people have been the subjects of songs. According to this picture, what do you think the name of this song is? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. There have been several songs written about railroad mishaps. Which one of these songs was written about an accident involving the Southern Railway train known as the Fast Mail? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Oct 28 2024 : Guest 4: 8/10
Oct 22 2024 : Alliebaba777: 7/10
Oct 12 2024 : suzanneshaw61: 8/10
Oct 09 2024 : Guest 96: 8/10
Oct 04 2024 : Guest 180: 7/10
Oct 01 2024 : Guest 174: 8/10
Sep 30 2024 : Guest 175: 6/10
Sep 24 2024 : Guest 96: 7/10
Sep 22 2024 : kjshear: 10/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. A Great Lakes ore ship was lost in a storm in 1975. Gordon Lightfoot wrote a very popular song about it. What was the ship's name?

Answer: Edmund Fitzgerald

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the biggest ore carriers on the Great Lakes. Caught in a brutal storm, she sank on November 10, 1975. All 29 crew members were lost. Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot saw a story about the sinking in a news magazine and wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" about it. He considers it his best work.
2. Two immigrants to the United States met in suburban Boston, Massachusetts. In a few years they were convicted and executed for the murder of two men during the robbery of a shoe factory. A song was written about them. Do you know their names?

Answer: Sacco and Vanzetti

Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were suspected anarchists who were executed in 1927. The trial was very controversial; later opinion was that the men were executed for their political beliefs. Woody Guthrie wrote a song about them, "Two Good Men". In 1977, then-Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that they had been unfairly tried. The case remains open.
3. Three singers died in a plane crash in February, 1959. One song in particular has come to memorialize the accident. Which of these songs is it?

Answer: American Pie

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and pilot Roger Peterson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa in 1959. In 1971 Don McLean wrote and recorded the song "American Pie" about the crash which he summarized as "The Day the Music Died"; it became a hit record in 1972.
4. What song about someone being arrested for littering was a big hit, but was too long for many radio stations to play?

Answer: Alice's Restaurant

"I want to tell you about the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where this happened here, they got three stop signs, two police officers, and one police car..." Arlo Guthrie, who wrote "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" swears that the littering story is basically true and that's why he was turned down at his draft (military induction) physical exam.

The song ran for over eighteen minutes and many radio stations of the day would only play it late at night when they didn't have many commercials to play.
5. A U.S. Navy warship was torpedoed before the United States was involved in World War II. Do you know the name of the ship and the song about it?

Answer: Reuben James

The USS Reuben James was a U.S. Navy destroyer assigned to protecting supply convoys sailing from America to the United Kingdom. On October 31, 1941, her captain had positioned her between an ammunition ship and the known position of German submarines. She was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine U-552 near Iceland. Of the 159 crew members, only 44 were saved. Woody Guthrie wrote the song "The Sinking of the Reuben James" to the tune of "Wildwood Flower", a Carter family song. It achieved some national recognition in the 1960s when the Kingston Trio included it on one of their albums.

A clear picture of the Reuben James was not available; this picture is of the USS Saterlee, which was of the same class (Camden) as the James.
6. A song about racism in America and lynchings of Black people was recorded by Billie Holiday in the 1930s. What is its name?

Answer: Strange Fruit

"Strange Fruit" was written first as a poem and later as a song by Abel Meeropol. A white, Jewish school teacher, Meeropol was appalled by the lynchings of Black people and wrote the poem as a protest. When the song was introduced to African-American singer Billie Holiday, she was fearful of retaliation but recorded it and sang it often because of the message it imparted.
7. A picnic cruise that went awry became the subject of a Bob Dylan song. Which park along the Hudson River in New York was it about?

Answer: Bear Mountain

A New York City social club chartered a boat for a Father's Day cruise up the Hudson River to Bear Mountain in 1961. Someone had sold 1,000 counterfeit tickets. The three decks of the boat became overcrowded and fighting broke out. The cruise was cancelled and a dozen people were taken to hospitals. Bob Dylan saw a newspaper story about it and wrote "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" in Woody Guthrie's talking-blues style.

Originally scheduled to be on Dylan's "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album it was finally included in the "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3..." CD set.
8. Natural disasters have always been material for story songs. Which one of these songs was about the 1900 Galveston, Texas hurricane?

Answer: Wasn't That a Mighty Storm

"Wasn't That a Mighty Storm" was written about the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. It was the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. John Lomax first recorded the song in 1934. It was revived by Eric Von Schmidt and Tom Rush, Boston musicians of the folk music revival in the 1960s.
9. Things as well as people have been the subjects of songs. According to this picture, what do you think the name of this song is?

Answer: Telstar

Telstar was the first satellite launched for general communications usage. Launched in 1962, it provided transatlantic communications without depending on cables. It was so popular that a music group named The Tornados recorded an instrumental song by the name "Telstar" which became a number one song in the U.S. and UK.
10. There have been several songs written about railroad mishaps. Which one of these songs was written about an accident involving the Southern Railway train known as the Fast Mail?

Answer: Wreck of the Old 97

"Wreck of the Old 97" was a song about a mail train, engineered by "Steve" Broady. Running one hour late from Washington, D.C. to Spencer, Virginia, Broady was told by a dispatcher in Monroe, Virginia to get to Spencer on time (The Southern Railway had a lucrative contract with the U.S. Post Office). Running at perhaps 50 mph (80 km/h), the train derailed on a steep downgrade near Danville, Virginia. The wreck killed nine people including the train crew and mail clerks in the mail car. The song has been recorded by literally dozens of musicians; from well-known singers like Johnny Cash to The Pubcrawlers, a Portland, Maine Celtic punk band.

The wreck pictured is not Old 97 but a circus train wreck that looked eerily similar to the one in Danville.
Source: Author CmdrK

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
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