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Quiz about The Top Hits of 1969  Part Two
Quiz about The Top Hits of 1969  Part Two

The Top Hits of 1969 - Part Two Quiz


A follow-up quiz to Part One, these were songs that couldn't quite eke into an "Elite 15" ranking. Should they have been ranked higher? See what you think!

A multiple-choice quiz by maddogrick16. Estimated time: 8 mins.
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Author
maddogrick16
Time
8 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
224,805
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
11 / 15
Plays
17285
Awards
Editor's Choice
Last 3 plays: Guest 90 (14/15), Guest 24 (9/15), sniffnsnack (4/15).
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Question 1 of 15
1. On its own, this song by The Beatles peaked at Number Three on the Billboard charts. Because the flip side reached Number One, it got lost in the ranking shuffle because records, not songs, were ranked. Today, it probably is more remembered and played than its counterpart. Can you identify it with this lyrical assistance?

"You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
You stick around and it may show
I don't know, I don't know"
Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. The number 18 ranked song for 1969 peaked at Number Three on the Billboard charts. Performed by a British R&B band named The Foundations, the chorus featured this line with one critical word missing - "Why do you build me up ________, just to let me down". What is the missing word? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. "Early in the evenin' just about supper time
Over by the courthouse they're starting to unwind
Four kids on the corner trying to bring you up
Willy picks a tune out and he blows it on the harp"

In 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival had seven songs chart on the Hot 100. Three of them peaked at Number Two but the song that ranked the highest at 19 was this song which only could reach Number Three. It achieved a higher ranking by spending more weeks on the chart, in the top 40 and in the top 10. What song was it?
Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. "Why can't you see
What you're doing to me
When you don't believe a word I say
We can't go on together"

An old friend returns to our top 100 countdown for 1969 with this song that ranked 21st for the year. What song was this that Elvis took to Number One, the last chart topper of his career?
Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival had four hits cracking the top 100 rankings for 1969. What song ranked at 28 is represented by this slice of lyric?

"Hope you got your things together
Hope you are quite prepared to die
Looks like we're in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye"
Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. "Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head"

What "legendary" singer sang these words from the hit that spent three weeks at Number Two on the charts and finished 1969 ranked at number 30?
Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. The Doors had one final big hit before their ultimate dissolution in 1973 and it came with a Number Three hit that placed 34th in the rankings for 1969. Here's a few lines to help you out.

"Can't you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?"
Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. "Lips are sweet as candy, the taste stays on my mind
Girl, you keep me thirsty for another cup of wine
I got it bad for you, girl but I don't need a cure
I'll just stay addicted and hope I can endure"

B.J. Thomas recorded this song and it managed to peak at Number Five on the Billboard charts in 1969 securing enough points to place 38th in year-end rankings. What song was it?
Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. Blood, Sweat and Tears recorded three songs that made an impression on the Billboard chart in 1969... in fact they all peaked at Number Two. The lyric below comes from the 40th ranked song for the year. Which of their hits was it?

"The others were untrue but when it came to loving you
I'd spend my whole life with you
'Cause you came and you took control, you touched my very soul
You always showed me that loving you was where it's at"
Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. "You really should accept this time he's gone for good
He'll never come back now even though he said he would
So, darling, dry your eyes
So many other guys would give the world I'm sure
To wear the shoes he wore"

These lines are from a Number Five hit in 1969 that secured sufficient points to rank as the 50th biggest song for the year. It was recorded by a British studio group called Flying Machine and it would stand as their only hit of any kind, true one hit wonders and kudos to you if you can identify it!
Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. "On Saturday night they need some excitement
Jane gets right and the monkey gets tight
And their voices unite
In the pale moonlight
And it sounds all right"

This was 1969s token novelty song recorded by Ray Stevens. It peaked at Number Eight and finished the year ranked 77th. Name it, please!
Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. "She's leaving now cause I just heard the slamming of the door
The way I know I've heard it slam one hundred times before
And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground"

A song about a Vietnam veteran who returns home "not the man he used to be" and the struggles he's having with his girl as a result. What song was this that finished the year ranked 87th after peaking at Number Six on Billboard's Hot 100?
Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. "When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station running scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know"

With that lyrical clue, can you name the song that squeaked into the top hundred rankings at number 90?
Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. "Your name, it is heard in high places
You know the Aga Khan
He sent you a racehorse for Christmas
And you keep it just for fun, for a laugh, a-ha-ha-ha
They say that when you get married
It'll be to a millionaire
But they don't realize where you came from
And I wonder if they really care or give a damn"

This is a lyric from a song that did not make it within the top 100 ranked songs of 1969 based on Billboard performance. In fact, it might not have even made it into the top 500 as its peak position on the Hot 100 was a miserable Number 70! I include it here for what it did elsewhere - four weeks at Number One in the U.K., six weeks in Australia and I know it was an enormously popular song throughout Europe in 1969. Take your best guess!
Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. "In a couple of years they have built a home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard of Desmond and Molly Jones"

This is another song, by The Beatles, that topped the charts in Australia for five weeks while a cover by Marmalade hit Number One on the U.K. charts for three weeks in 1969. It eventually peaked at Number 49 on the Billboard charts - in 1976, long after the demise of The Beatles. Be careful with your answer!
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. On its own, this song by The Beatles peaked at Number Three on the Billboard charts. Because the flip side reached Number One, it got lost in the ranking shuffle because records, not songs, were ranked. Today, it probably is more remembered and played than its counterpart. Can you identify it with this lyrical assistance? "You're asking me will my love grow I don't know, I don't know You stick around and it may show I don't know, I don't know"

Answer: Something

The flip side that hit Number One was "Come Together". Sinatra often sang "Something" in his performances and boldly dubbed it the best love song ever composed. Unfortunately, he often credited Lennon and McCartney as the composers when in fact Harrison wrote it.

It was the highest charting single The Beatles ever had of a Harrison composition. To show how much this song has grown in esteem over the years, the study BMI commissioned in 1999 to determine the most played songs of the 20th Century revealed that this song placed 24th, the second most played Beatles song after "Yesterday" which was third on that list.
2. The number 18 ranked song for 1969 peaked at Number Three on the Billboard charts. Performed by a British R&B band named The Foundations, the chorus featured this line with one critical word missing - "Why do you build me up ________, just to let me down". What is the missing word?

Answer: buttercup

"Build Me Up Buttercup" was The Foundations' second big hit, their debut North American release, "Baby, Now That I've Found You", charting at Number 11 in 1968. The group was the beneficiary of the song writing and record-producing talents of Pye Record's Tony Macauley, who did work on both of these hits, but their success would be short-lived.

The group was a multi-race octet and despite possessing talented musicians and vocalists among their number, their cumulative song writing skills were negligible.

When Macauley left the label in late 1969, their fate was sealed. Moreover, the members were splitting up into factions and by 1970, the group formally disbanded as that entity and two Foundations groups evolved out of the debris. However, without suitable material, neither group would ever make an impact on the charts again, although one faction survived into the new millennium and remained active on the British oldies circuit.
3. "Early in the evenin' just about supper time Over by the courthouse they're starting to unwind Four kids on the corner trying to bring you up Willy picks a tune out and he blows it on the harp" In 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival had seven songs chart on the Hot 100. Three of them peaked at Number Two but the song that ranked the highest at 19 was this song which only could reach Number Three. It achieved a higher ranking by spending more weeks on the chart, in the top 40 and in the top 10. What song was it?

Answer: Down On The Corner

John Fogerty created Willy and The Poor Boys, his answer to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and "Down On The Corner" was their song. It appeared on the "Willy And The Poor Boys" album and the album cover visually told the story - four guys playing a cheap guitar, tub base, washboard and mouth harp, down on the corner.

"You don't need a penny just to hang around,
But if you've got a nickel, won't you lay your money down?"
4. "Why can't you see What you're doing to me When you don't believe a word I say We can't go on together" An old friend returns to our top 100 countdown for 1969 with this song that ranked 21st for the year. What song was this that Elvis took to Number One, the last chart topper of his career?

Answer: Suspicious Minds

It had indeed been a long dry spell for Elvis in terms of hit records but 1969 marked his return to the charts in a substantial way. Earlier in the year, he scored with a Mac Davis composition,"In The Ghetto", which peaked at Number Three, and he followed it up with this song written by Mark James, a long time Memphis writer/performer. The last Number One hit Elvis had prior to this was seven years earlier with "Good Luck Charm" and his last top ten effort was "Crying In The Chapel" in 1965. In the interim, he did have charting records, normally pap from the "B" grade movies he starred in, but they found favor only with devoted fans and would generally peak in the high teens, at best, on the charts.

James himself released a virtually identical version of the song in 1968 but it went nowhere. When Presley heard it he became infatuated with it and insisted on recording it. It was normal practice in the Presley camp that they would receive publishing royalties for any song that Elvis covered. Record producer Chips Moman owned the copyright for "Suspicious Minds" and adamantly refused such an arrangement but Presley was so keen on recording it that they took the unprecedented step of agreeing to James' terms. With Moman in the producer's chair, Elvis brought to the song the passion that was apparently lacking in James' original and this hit evolved out of the partnership.
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival had four hits cracking the top 100 rankings for 1969. What song ranked at 28 is represented by this slice of lyric? "Hope you got your things together Hope you are quite prepared to die Looks like we're in for nasty weather One eye is taken for an eye"

Answer: Bad Moon Rising

This was one of those three Number Two hits that Creedence Clearwater Revival had in 1969, noted in Question 3. Besides this song and the aforementioned "Down On The Corner", the other two CCR hits to forge a place in this countdown were "Proud Mary" in 27th place and "Green River" in 33rd.

Their brand of "swamp rock" was clearly one of the defining movements of 1969. They managed five more top 40 hits in 1970 but the momentum waned thereafter. This was first and foremost John Fogerty's group and the other group members were wearying of his tight grip on all CCR matters, from song composition to record production and everything in between.

When John's brother Tom left the group to pursue a solo career in 1971, the die was cast and the group formally disbanded a year later after one more undistinguished album as a trio.
6. "Some gal would giggle and I'd get red And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head" What "legendary" singer sang these words from the hit that spent three weeks at Number Two on the charts and finished 1969 ranked at number 30?

Answer: Johnny Cash

"A Boy Named Sue" would ultimately be the biggest pop song of Johnny Cash's long and illustrious career. He first auditioned for Sun Records in 1955 with Presley, Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis and while the others shot to prominence primarily in the R&R genre, Cash steadfastly clung to Country and Gospel music throughout his career. Any success he had on the pop charts (and he had a considerable amount - 48 Hot 100 entries) was purely incidental and merely pointed out his ability to find favor with a broad audience.

In comparison, he had an astonishing 126 entries on the Country charts, 14 of which were Number One hits. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 71 and it is unlikely that we will ever see someone of his ilk again, a true one of a kind!
7. The Doors had one final big hit before their ultimate dissolution in 1973 and it came with a Number Three hit that placed 34th in the rankings for 1969. Here's a few lines to help you out. "Can't you see that I am not afraid? What was that promise that you made? Why won't you tell me what she said? What was that promise that you made?"

Answer: Touch Me

"Touch Me" was the only hit The Doors would have in 1969 and it was a slick production with violins and horns that made their "underground" hippie devotees shudder in horror. It's notable for a wailing sax solo by session man Curtis Amy that closed the song and at the very end, lead singer Jim Morrison intones a barely audible "stronger than dirt", a catch phrase from an Ajax cleanser advertisement at the time. Why? Who knows but the reference no doubt alienated the group further from a segment of their fan base that believed the group was selling out to commercialism. Perhaps Morrison and the boys did err in judgement.

They failed to hit the top 40 charts at all in 1970. Although they rebounded somewhat with a couple of top 20 hits in 1971, Morrison had by then already left the group and would be dead by August.

The remaining members recorded one more album as a trio that failed to make an impression with fans and critics alike before going their separate ways in 1973.
8. "Lips are sweet as candy, the taste stays on my mind Girl, you keep me thirsty for another cup of wine I got it bad for you, girl but I don't need a cure I'll just stay addicted and hope I can endure" B.J. Thomas recorded this song and it managed to peak at Number Five on the Billboard charts in 1969 securing enough points to place 38th in year-end rankings. What song was it?

Answer: Hooked On A Feeling

"Hooked On A Feeling" was written by Mark James, the same chap who composed Presley's hit "Suspicious Minds". Jonathan King, who had a minor splash on the charts in 1965 with "Everyone's Gone To The Moon", covered the song in 1971 and in an early example of "sampling" added a chorus of "ooga chucka's" originally heard on Johnny Preston's 1960 hit "Running Bear". Although his version wasn't overly successful, a cover of it became a Number One smash for Blue Swede in 1974. Third time lucky?

Thomas would have his biggest hit ever in 1970 with "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" and would continue to record similar MOR pop songs with marginal success into the mid-1970s. At that point, a switch in record labels induced him to record songs with a more country orientation and he has focussed his attention on that genre, along with Gospel music, ever since.
9. Blood, Sweat and Tears recorded three songs that made an impression on the Billboard chart in 1969... in fact they all peaked at Number Two. The lyric below comes from the 40th ranked song for the year. Which of their hits was it? "The others were untrue but when it came to loving you I'd spend my whole life with you 'Cause you came and you took control, you touched my very soul You always showed me that loving you was where it's at"

Answer: You've Made Me So Very Happy

"You Made Me So Very Happy" was the debut hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears and it earned 846 points to rank 40th for the year. Their next release was "Spinning Wheel" and it ranked 26th with 912 points. Then came the Laura Nyro composition "And When I Die". With 850 points, it ranked 39th for the year. Pretty consistent statistics for 1969 and an auspicious start for the group.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. They would only have three more top 40 hits and none of those could crack the top 10. By 1973, the group was just a shell of its former self, the nucleus having left to pursue other individual projects. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
10. "You really should accept this time he's gone for good He'll never come back now even though he said he would So, darling, dry your eyes So many other guys would give the world I'm sure To wear the shoes he wore" These lines are from a Number Five hit in 1969 that secured sufficient points to rank as the 50th biggest song for the year. It was recorded by a British studio group called Flying Machine and it would stand as their only hit of any kind, true one hit wonders and kudos to you if you can identify it!

Answer: Smile A Little Smile For Me

Admittedly, this was a tough one. The group really only existed long enough to lay down enough tracks for an album then were sent on their merry way by producer Tony Macauley, a pure one-off effort. However, the song was a nice little number, something of a cross between bubblegum and soft psychedelia.

There were three ways to get this right: 1. You liked it and remembered it, 2. Lucky guess, or 3. Deduction. "Son Of A Preacher Man" was a Dusty Springfield hit so it's eliminated. "That's The Way Love Is" was, along with "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby", Marvin Gaye's follow up hits after "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". "You Showed Me" was a song similar in style but was recorded by The Turtles. All three of these hits also made an appearance in the year end rankings at number 89, 92 and 94 respectively.
11. "On Saturday night they need some excitement Jane gets right and the monkey gets tight And their voices unite In the pale moonlight And it sounds all right" This was 1969s token novelty song recorded by Ray Stevens. It peaked at Number Eight and finished the year ranked 77th. Name it, please!

Answer: Gitarzan

Stevens, the master of mayhem, strikes again with this clever take on the adventures of a modern Tarzan, his biggest hit since "Ahab The Arab" in 1962. His best was yet to come, however. In 1970 he hit Number One with "Everything Is Beautiful", a far cry from his usual off beat recordings but he was back to normal in 1974 with the biggest hit of his career, "The Streak", another novelty item that topped the charts for three weeks.
12. "She's leaving now cause I just heard the slamming of the door The way I know I've heard it slam one hundred times before And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground" A song about a Vietnam veteran who returns home "not the man he used to be" and the struggles he's having with his girl as a result. What song was this that finished the year ranked 87th after peaking at Number Six on Billboard's Hot 100?

Answer: Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town

Up to this point in time, Kenny Rogers was just one of The First Edition, albeit the group's lead singer. With this recording, Rogers assumed a starring role with the group and it was reflected in their name - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition. They were a good group, to be sure, but their blend of moderate psychedelia/pop/country left them in sort of a "no man's land" in terms of establishing a consistent fan base.

This was reflected in their following recordings that generally peaked in the mid-ranges of the top 40 charts.

In 1973, Rogers left the group to pursue a solo career, primarily as a country artist. By 1977, he was not only one of the biggest stars of that genre but still managed to score big crossover hits on the pop charts. He was the definitive "adult" pop idol and remained so right through the 1980s. With the new millennium, those days have long passed but he still remains a popular country crooner, both with his recordings and as a concert act.
13. "When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy In the company of strangers In the quiet of the railway station running scared Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters Where the ragged people go Looking for the places only they would know" With that lyrical clue, can you name the song that squeaked into the top hundred rankings at number 90?

Answer: The Boxer

"The Boxer", which peaked at Number Seven on the charts that year, was released as a single then later included on Simon and Garfunkel's masterful LP "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Like every other track on that wonderful record, it is beautifully produced and I'm somewhat perplexed as to why this song didn't do better on the charts.

William Ruhlmann, a music critic with AMG, provides an interesting interpretation of the lyric. I include it for your perusal.

"Since its appearance in 1969, "The Boxer" has attracted several interpretations, including one from Bob Dylan scholars that holds the song is about Dylan, a competitor of Simon's, and is a criticism of him. By this reading, the "poor boy" who arrives in New York is Dylan, of course, and the famous "whores on Seventh Avenue" line - prostitution not actually being a noticeable feature of that generally upscale midtown-Manhattan business street - refers to the offices of Columbia Records, for which both Simon and Dylan recorded, located during the 1960s on Seventh Avenue. It is more likely, however, that, as Simon acknowledged in an interview, "The Boxer" is an extrapolation of himself, commenting on his own pugnacious persistence in the music business."
14. "Your name, it is heard in high places You know the Aga Khan He sent you a racehorse for Christmas And you keep it just for fun, for a laugh, a-ha-ha-ha They say that when you get married It'll be to a millionaire But they don't realize where you came from And I wonder if they really care or give a damn" This is a lyric from a song that did not make it within the top 100 ranked songs of 1969 based on Billboard performance. In fact, it might not have even made it into the top 500 as its peak position on the Hot 100 was a miserable Number 70! I include it here for what it did elsewhere - four weeks at Number One in the U.K., six weeks in Australia and I know it was an enormously popular song throughout Europe in 1969. Take your best guess!

Answer: Where Do You Go To My Lovely

Peter Sarstedt sings, in a bitter, sarcastic way, the story of a young lady, presumably a childhood sweetheart, who, without conscience, wheedled her way into the European jet set. It reminds one of Dylan's scathing attack on someone unknown in "Like A Rolling Stone" or the innuendo featured in Carly Simon's "You're So Vain".

I'm unsure as to why this song didn't reach the same levels of success in America that it did elsewhere. Perhaps it was because of distribution or promotion difficulties but I vividly remember it as being popular in Calgary, Canada at the time as well. There's an Australian website that lists the top hits each year based on a record's performance in three major markets - America, The U.K. and Australia. Even with its abysmal performance in America, this song achieved enough recognition in the other two markets for it to be ranked the NINTH biggest song of the year! Amazing stuff!

Sarstedt was born in India and moved to England with his family as a child in the 1950s. He had a few minor successes following this hit but not in America - this would be his only Billboard chart entry. After living in Denmark for several years, he returned home in the mid-1990s and has been a staple on the British oldies and cabaret circuit ever since.
15. "In a couple of years they have built a home sweet home With a couple of kids running in the yard of Desmond and Molly Jones" This is another song, by The Beatles, that topped the charts in Australia for five weeks while a cover by Marmalade hit Number One on the U.K. charts for three weeks in 1969. It eventually peaked at Number 49 on the Billboard charts - in 1976, long after the demise of The Beatles. Be careful with your answer!

Answer: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

I know why this song never charted in 1969 in America... it was never released as a single there until it popped onto the charts in 1976. It originally appeared on the "White Album" and it was a popular cut from that album right from the get-go in 1968. Marmalade, a pop group from Scotland, certainly saw its potential as witnessed by the fact that their cover single did so well on the British charts but it is curious indeed that The Beatles didn't release the song as a single elsewhere, other than Australia. I certainly remember this song from my university days. Despite its reggae/ska influences, everybody was doing the polka to it at campus parties. I laugh at the thought today!

So, once again I close the doors to the 1960s... my music. Hope you've enjoyed the journey and now the Maddog sets sail into uncharted waters - the 1970s... achhhh! Stay tuned!
Source: Author maddogrick16

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Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series The Top Annual Hits 1960 to 1969:

Quizzes on the highest rated Billboard hits based on chart performance for each year of the 1960s decade.

  1. The Top Hits of 1960 Average
  2. The Top Hits of 1961 Average
  3. The Top Hits of 1962 Average
  4. The Top Hits of 1963 Average
  5. The Top Hits of 1964 Average
  6. The Top Hits of 1965 Average
  7. The Top Hits of 1966 Average
  8. The Top Hits of 1967 Average
  9. The Top Hits of 1968 Average
  10. The Top Hits of 1969 - Part One Average
  11. The Top Hits of 1969 - Part Two Average

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