Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The surprising top-ranked song for 1966 was also one of the more unique Number One songs in the history of the rock era, largely due to the topic and subject matter of the lyric. It topped the charts for five weeks, more than any other record that year, and with it occupying a place in the Hot 100 for 13 weeks, scored 1204 points. What was the song about?
2. The song ranked number two for 1966 was another release that seemed to spring out of nowhere right to the top of the charts. Spending 15 weeks within the Hot 100 with three weeks at Number One, it earned 1143 points, just a little more than 60 points from the top ranked song of the year. See if you can name it with this lyrical clue.
"Now everyone knows just how much I needed that gal
She wouldn't have gone far away
If only you'd started ringing your bell"
3. "And when the sun comes up I'll be on top
You'll be way down there lookin' up
And I might wave come up here
But I don't see you wavin' now
I'm way down here wonderin' how
I'm gonna get you but I know now
I'll just cry, cry, I'll just cry"
These are lyrics from the third ranked song from 1966. It spent one of its 15 Hot 100 weeks at Number One scoring 1046 points. What tearjerker was this?
4. "'Cause I'm leavin' in the morning and I must see you again
We'll have one more night together 'til the morning brings my train
And I must go, oh, no, no, no, oh, no, no, no
And I don't know if I'm ever coming home"
This thinly veiled protest song became a Number One hit and was ranked as the fourth biggest song of 1966 with 1016 points. But what song was it?
5. "Baby, I can't make it without you
Please, I'm begging you baby
If you go, it will kill me
I swear it, dear, my love can't bear it"
The Righteous Brothers sang these desperate lines in their three week chart topper from 1966. With 13 weeks in the Hot 100, it scored sufficient ranking points (1003) to cop the fifth position in the year-end recap. Do you recognize the song?
6. Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels scored the sixth ranked hit of 1966. It peaked at Number Four and earned 1003 points by virtue of a 14 week stint in the top 40. The song was a medley of two old, funky R&B hits. One part was "Devil With A Blue Dress On", originally recorded in 1962 or 1963 by Shorty Long. The second part was a cover of a raunchy top ten hit recorded by Little Richard in the late 1950s. Can you identify that Little Richard classic that became part of this medley?
7. "Oh, I'm beginning to think that man has never found
The words that could make you want me
That have the right amount of letters, just the right sound
That could make you hear, make you see
That you are drivin' me out of my mind"
These were lines from the song ranked at number seven for 1966 with 987 points. It was a million selling Gold Record and Number One for three weeks during its 14 week chart life. What song was it?
8. "Now if you feel that you can't go on
Because all of your hope is gone
And your life is filled with much confusion
Until happiness is just an illusion
And your world around is crumbling down"
This slice of lyric is taken from the eighth ranked song from 1965 with 973 points. Performed by The Four Tops, it remained on the Hot 100 for 15 weeks, the top 10 for seven weeks and Number One for two weeks. What song was it?
9. Instrumentals, once chart staples, became less popular during the mid-1960s. In 1966, Roger Williams recorded a cover of the theme song to a popular movie and was rewarded with a Number Seven hit that maintained a presence within the Hot 100 for 21 weeks, four weeks longer than any other song recorded that year. As such, it scored 967 points and vaulted into ninth place of year-end rankings, the first instrumental since 1962 to finish among the top ten ranked songs for the year. What piece was this?
10. "I, I love the colorful clothes she wears
And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair
I hear the sound of a gentle word
On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air"
This is the first of two verses from the tenth ranked song from 1966, much of the song taken up by extended renderings of the chorus and variations thereof. Although it charted for 14 weeks and topped the charts for one of them earning 948 points in the process, it seems to have grown in stature over the years and is now deemed to be a classic in some quarters. What was this hit?
11. "You keep saying you got something for me
Something you call love but confess
You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't have been a'messin'
And now someone else is getting all your best"
This song, ranked number 11 for 1966, spent 14 weeks in the Hot 100, seven weeks in the top 10 with one week at Number One. Accumulating 943 points, it earned five points less than the song at number ten despite having almost identical chart statistics. What song was this, the performer's debut single and biggest solo hit?
12. "All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey
I've been for a walk on a winter's day"
These lines are from the debut charting success for one of the biggest yet shortest lived groups of the mid-1960s. What was the title of this song that earned 940 points to finish 1966 ranked number 12?
13. The Beatles were not to be overlooked entirely in 1966. They had two Number One hits that year and one of them slid into the 13th position in the year-end rankings with 928 points. See you if you can name it with this lyrical assistance.
"Life is very short and there's no time
For fussing and fighting my friend"
14. "To him you were nothin' but a little plaything
Not much more than an overnight fling
To me you were the greatest thing this boy had ever found"
This hit rode the charts for 15 weeks reaching the top in November 1966, all this culminating in 925 points and the 14th spot in these rankings. The boy was Johnny Rivers... what was the song?
15. Here are a couple of lines from a song that topped the charts for two weeks in 1966. With 916 points earned over a 13 week period on the charts, it was ranked number 15 for the year.
"I need love, love to ease my mind
I need to find, find someone to call mine
But mama said"
What did mama say in the next line of the lyric? It was the song's title.
16. "Up to the moment when we said our first hello, little did we know
Love was just a glance away, a warm embracing dance away
And ever since that night, we've been together
Lovers at first sight, in love forever"
The song to these lyrics was a Number One hit in 1966 and performed sufficiently on the charts to capture the 17th position in the year-end recap. Do you know it?
17. The following lyric segment comes from the record ranked number 19 for 1966. It was a three week Number One hit and had it spent somewhat more than 11 weeks on the Hot 100, it surely would have moved into a top ten ranking. What song was this?
"Cool town, evening in the city
Dressing so fine and looking so pretty
Cool cat, looking for a kitty
Gonna look in every corner of the city"
18. The song that placed at number 22 for 1966 had a lyric that contained many images that became ingrained in the minds of the youthful "thinkers" and "philosophers" haunting coffee houses and student union pubs around North America. This was no vacuous love song! Let's see if you can identify the song with just this one reference?
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls"
19. "Superman or Green Lantern ain't got nothin' on me
I can make like a turtle and dive for your pearls in the sea
You can just sit there thinking on your velvet throne
'Bout all the rainbows you can have for your own"
What song is this, an early example of the "psychedelia" craze that would soon pervade the charts? It was Number One for a week in the late summer of 1966 and was ranked the 28th biggest hit of the year.
20. Ranked number 52 for 1966, what song is represented by the following lyric? It was the first big Stateside hit for yet another British group, peaking at Number Five on the Hot 100. Here's a sample of the lyric.
"All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella, we employed it
By August she was mine"
Source: Author
maddogrick16
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
gtho4 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.