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Quiz about The Top Hits of 1971  Final Chapter
Quiz about The Top Hits of 1971  Final Chapter

The Top Hits of 1971 - Final Chapter Quiz


Round three of music from 1971. We still have a few Number One hits and some other memorable songs to recap! All chart information based on Billboard.

A multiple-choice quiz by maddogrick16. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
maddogrick16
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
284,604
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
4255
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 152 (8/10), Guest 98 (9/10), Guest 71 (6/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. The song ranked 12th for the year of 1971, a mere 9 points from cracking the top ten in that year's rankings, was a Number One song for three weeks. It was the third and final Number One hit for a group that within three years would vanish from the top 40 charts for good. Can you pin down the title of this moody hit with help from this lyrical clue?

"One child grows up to be somebody that just loves to learn
And another child grows up to be somebody you'd just love to burn
Mom loves the both of them, you see it's in the blood
Both kids are good to mom, blood's thicker than mud"
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Another Number One song, this time a two week chart-topper, finished 1971 ranked 13th. Here's a sample of the lyric, you name the song.

"Picked up a boy just south of Mobile
Gave him a ride, filled him with a hot meal
I was sixteen, he was twenty-one
Rode with us to Memphis
And papa woulda shot him if he knew what he'd done"
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This lyric sample constitutes the first stanza of the 14th ranked hit from 1971. It also spent a couple of weeks as a Number One song and of the 55 hits The Temptations placed in Billboard's Hot 100 over the years, it would rank as their second biggest hit ever.

"Each day through my window I watch her as she passes by
I say to myself, 'You're such a lucky guy'
To have a girl like her is truly a dream come true
Out of all the fellas in the world, she belongs to you"

What was the song's title?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Denied in its quest to achieve Number One status by Rod Stewart's lengthy five week run at the top with "Maggie May", the song which ended 1971 ranked 15th stalled at Number Two for a couple of weeks. What song was it? Here's a slice of the lyric.

"Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby
You said you'd be coming back this way again baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby, I love you, I really do"
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. At 17th, yet another Number One song forged its place in the year end rankings for 1971. On top for a couple weeks, I hope this one line clue is sufficient to dig this answer out.

"Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man?"

What was the song's title?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Ranked 21st for 1971 was a fine "message" song from the stable of writers at Tamla-Motown. Based on the following lyric segment, what song was it? It peaked at Number Two for three weeks.

"Father, father, we don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today"
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. "When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand
And nothing, oh nothing is going right
Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night"

This lyric, a familiar one I hope, comes from the song which was ranked 24th for 1971. This hit topped the charts for one week that year. Can you identify it?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. "Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he's doing alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight"

Despite the misogynistic tenor of this lyric, the song from which it came topped the charts for two weeks in 1971 and finished the year ranked 30th. What was its title?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Here's a piece of lyrical nonsense:

"Live a little, be a gypsy, get around
Get your feet up off the ground, live a little get around"

You can make a pretty good guess at who composed the lyric and if you're right, the rest of the answer comes pretty easily. The song charted in the top 40 for 13 weeks and topped the charts for one of them winding up ranked 37th for 1971. So, what song was it?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. We go all the way to the song ranked at 82nd for 1971. It peaked at Number Three on the charts but suffered in its rankings by only charting in the Hot 100 for a mere nine weeks. Let's see if you know it with this little slice of lyric.

"You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one"
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The song ranked 12th for the year of 1971, a mere 9 points from cracking the top ten in that year's rankings, was a Number One song for three weeks. It was the third and final Number One hit for a group that within three years would vanish from the top 40 charts for good. Can you pin down the title of this moody hit with help from this lyrical clue? "One child grows up to be somebody that just loves to learn And another child grows up to be somebody you'd just love to burn Mom loves the both of them, you see it's in the blood Both kids are good to mom, blood's thicker than mud"

Answer: Family Affair

Sly and The Family Stone were becoming something of a conundrum in the early 1970s. Consisting of members that were both black and white, male and female, their earlier works in the late 1960s dwelt on themes of racial harmony such as "Everyday People" and "Stand" or just plain old, feel good, toe-tapping fun harmonies like "Dance To The Music" and "Hot Fun In The Summertime".

But this song and others which were included on the Number One album "There's A Riot Goin' On" were considerably darker in mood and content.

As Stone became increasingly disenchanted with the direction the civil rights movement was headed among militant blacks and the pace of equal rights toward blacks by the whites, he seemed to lose his way musically. That he was increasingly dependent on narcotics certainly didn't help the cause either. Eventually, core members of the group left and the public stopped buying the product. By 1979, the band ceased to be and Stone was frequently in trouble with the law over his drug addictions.

He has not been active in the music industry since the late 1980s.
2. Another Number One song, this time a two week chart-topper, finished 1971 ranked 13th. Here's a sample of the lyric, you name the song. "Picked up a boy just south of Mobile Gave him a ride, filled him with a hot meal I was sixteen, he was twenty-one Rode with us to Memphis And papa woulda shot him if he knew what he'd done"

Answer: Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves

Although Cher hit the top of the charts with Sonny Bono in 1965 with "I Got You Babe", this song marked her first Number One as a solo act. She would follow it up with a couple of others, "Half Breed" in 1973 and "Dark Lady" a year later but it would be 24 long years before she would achieve that lofty status again with the hit "Believe" in 1998.

It should be noted that from 1975 to 1988, she did much less recording as she chose to pursue an acting career culminating with an Oscar award winning performance in "Moonstruck" in 1987. Only one other person can lay claim to a Billboard Number One hit and an Oscar for acting during the "rock era". Think you know who it was? Sorry, no bonus marks! Answer at the end of the quiz.
3. This lyric sample constitutes the first stanza of the 14th ranked hit from 1971. It also spent a couple of weeks as a Number One song and of the 55 hits The Temptations placed in Billboard's Hot 100 over the years, it would rank as their second biggest hit ever. "Each day through my window I watch her as she passes by I say to myself, 'You're such a lucky guy' To have a girl like her is truly a dream come true Out of all the fellas in the world, she belongs to you" What was the song's title?

Answer: Just My Imagination (Running Away From Me)

Alas, the object of the singer's admiration doesn't even know he exists! That singer was Eddie Kendricks, one of the original members of The Tempations, and right after he recorded this hit he left the group in favor of a solo career. In 1973, he would have his own Number One with "Keep On Truckin'". Meanwhile, another original, Paul Williams, also left the group around the same time. Haunted by personal problems and alcoholism, he committed suicide in 1973.

Although The Temptations would have one more big hit in 1972 with the Number One "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", they never fully recovered from the loss of Kendricks and Williams and by the 1980s, they were essentially an "oldies" touring group.
4. Denied in its quest to achieve Number One status by Rod Stewart's lengthy five week run at the top with "Maggie May", the song which ended 1971 ranked 15th stalled at Number Two for a couple of weeks. What song was it? Here's a slice of the lyric. "Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby You said you'd be coming back this way again baby Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby, I love you, I really do"

Answer: Superstar

This song was The Carpenters' fifth consecutive top five hit. Ironically, an entirely different song with the same title by another recording artist also cracked the rankings that year at 63rd. That "Superstar" was performed by Murray Head and was taken from the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar".
5. At 17th, yet another Number One song forged its place in the year end rankings for 1971. On top for a couple weeks, I hope this one line clue is sufficient to dig this answer out. "Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man?" What was the song's title?

Answer: Theme From "Shaft"

This song earned Isaac Hayes an Oscar (the first black composer to earn the coveted award) and a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement. The song was unique in a couple of ways. It had an instrumental opening that lasted over two and a half minutes long and the lyrical presentation was a sort of funky monologue that surely was a precursor to modern rap music.

The background vocals were provided by Tony Orlando's back up singers, "Dawn". Although perhaps best known today as the roguish, but good natured "Chef" on "South Park" from 1997 to 2006, here are a few tidbits that you may not know about him.

He was a long time session musician for Stax records in the early 1960s and later co-wrote many of their biggest hits for such acts as Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and Johnnie Taylor.

Although he was frequently in financial difficulties for much of his career and lost virtually everything through bankruptcy in the mid-1970s, he's always been engaged in philanthropic activity. Because of his humanitarian efforts in Ghana, he was accorded royal status as King Nene Katey Ocansey I and sat in the royal court.

As of 2008, he remains active in charitable causes while continuing to work in the entertainment industry as a composer, arranger, musician and actor.
6. Ranked 21st for 1971 was a fine "message" song from the stable of writers at Tamla-Motown. Based on the following lyric segment, what song was it? It peaked at Number Two for three weeks. "Father, father, we don't need to escalate You see, war is not the answer For only love can conquer hate You know we've got to find a way To bring some lovin' here today"

Answer: What's Going On

The song was originally written by Motown staffer Al Cleveland and Four Tops member Renaldo Benson. It was intended for The Originals, another Motown group but Marvin Gaye showed interest in it and recommended some chages to the lyrics. Ultimately, Cleveland and Benson insisted that Gaye record the song himself. Gaye agreed only if he could produce the recording and the album for which it was intended. Motown executives were reticent but given Gaye's star power at the time, finally relented.

Gaye's career had several definitive stages. His early Motown works were typical for the label at the time - high energy R&B. However, he wasn't entirely happy doing that style of music instead seeing himself as the crooner of love ballads. He succeeded, cutting several romantic duets with Tammi Terrell in the late 1960s. Upon her untimely demise of a brain tumor in 1970, Gaye's life changed dramatically. In mourning, he became despondent and unproductive at first but a series of issues provoked him to shake out of those doldrums. The Vietnam War (his brother survived a tour of duty), ghetto poverty among blacks, ecological issues... all these inspired him to write and record protest songs like this one despite Motown's resistance. The suits at Motown weren't keen on their recording acts meddling in political issues and now Gaye AND The Temptations were getting involved in protest movements. On the other hand, so long as those songs charted and made money, the execs tolerated those efforts with a blind eye. By the mid-1970s, drug use, marital strife, financial difficulties and mental health issues all caught up to him at once. For the most part, studio work was put on the back-burner while he strived to get his life back in order. After a three year hiatus in the U.K., he returned home, left Motown for Columbia and recorded the top 10 hit "Sexual Healing" in 1983. Tragically, his comeback bid and his life ended on April 1, 1984 when his father fatally shot him during a domestic dispute.
7. "When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand And nothing, oh nothing is going right Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there To brighten up even your darkest night" This lyric, a familiar one I hope, comes from the song which was ranked 24th for 1971. This hit topped the charts for one week that year. Can you identify it?

Answer: You've Got A Friend

James Taylor copped the "Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male" Grammy award for his work on the song and Carole King also won the "Song of The Year" honor for composing it. It was enormously popular and I would have thought that it would have ranked much higher in the hierarchy of songs for that year. Carole King also released the song as a single and although it didn't even crack the Hot 100, perhaps it received just enough air play and sold sufficient copies to detract from Taylor's numbers.

Incidently, the other three songs listed were ranked in the top 10 for 1970.
8. "Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields Sold in a market down in New Orleans Scarred old slaver knows he's doing alright Hear him whip the women just around midnight" Despite the misogynistic tenor of this lyric, the song from which it came topped the charts for two weeks in 1971 and finished the year ranked 30th. What was its title?

Answer: Brown Sugar

This was recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1969 but stayed on the shelf prior to its release in 1971 and I don't know why... although I can guess. The Stones were playing this song when the outbreak took place at Altamont where a young fan was stabbed to death. Maybe they thought it best, under the circumstances, to let the incident die before bringing it forward to the public again. Jagger has stated that he originally named the song "Black Pussy". Now do you think that might have had censorship issues back in 1971?
9. Here's a piece of lyrical nonsense: "Live a little, be a gypsy, get around Get your feet up off the ground, live a little get around" You can make a pretty good guess at who composed the lyric and if you're right, the rest of the answer comes pretty easily. The song charted in the top 40 for 13 weeks and topped the charts for one of them winding up ranked 37th for 1971. So, what song was it?

Answer: Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey

This was Paul McCartney's debut Number One hit following his departure from The Beatles. It was actually labeled "Paul and Linda McCartney" but essentially, it was a solo project.

When the Beatles disbanded in 1970, music buffs lost the pleasure of anticipating their next release. But that was replaced with equal curiosity as to what the individual members would do for their solo projects. Harrison, the spiritual one, not surprisingly provided us with "My Sweet Lord". Lennon was the social activist and recorded "Power To The People". Starr, the entertainer, gave us "It Don't Come Easy". McCartney? Well he was the fun one... the romanticist. So following the love ballad "Another Day", he presented us with this, a song that you either loved or hated! Silliness, really, but you can't argue with success.
10. We go all the way to the song ranked at 82nd for 1971. It peaked at Number Three on the charts but suffered in its rankings by only charting in the Hot 100 for a mere nine weeks. Let's see if you know it with this little slice of lyric. "You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one"

Answer: Imagine

Much controversy surrounded this song by John Lennon when it was first released. Clearly, he was somewhat disenchanted with the state of world affairs at the time, not unlike Marvin Gaye and Sly Stone as alluded to in earlier questions. His message was basically this... if we removed religion, borders, personal possessions and war from the world, it would be a much nicer place. We could all live in harmony. He cleverly wrapped up the lyrics with a lovely piece of music that belied his discontent but eventually, when people really started to listen to the words and the sentiments Lennon expressed, there was fallout. No religion? No capitalism? He was even branded a Communist by his harshest critics and if it had have been the McCarthy era of the early 1950s, he surely would have been black listed. Perhaps that is why it had such a short shelf-life on the charts.

Perhaps time has softened public reaction to the song and its sentiments. When it was first released in the U.K. belatedly in 1975, it charted at Number Six but following Lennon's death in 1980, it was re-released and shot to Number One. It's been covered by numerous artists over the years and it seems that the focal point, as it should be, has been Lennon's vision of peace and human brotherhood, living harmoniously with each other.


I haven't forgotten... the other singer/performer to win an Oscar for acting and have a Number One Billboard single during the rock era was Barbra Streisand. Both Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra performed the feat before the rock era.
Source: Author maddogrick16

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series The Top Annual Hits 1970 to 1979:

Quizzes on the highest rated Billboard hits based on chart performance for each year of the 1970s decade.

  1. The Top Hits of 1970 - Volume I Average
  2. The Top Hits of 1970 - Volume II Average
  3. The Top Hits of 1971 - From 1 to 10! Average
  4. More Top Hits From 1971 Easier
  5. The Top Hits of 1971 - Final Chapter Average
  6. The Top Hits of 1972 Average
  7. The Top Hits of 1973 Average
  8. The Top Hits of 1974 - Volume I Average
  9. The Top Hits Of 1974 - Volume II Average
  10. The Top Hits of 1975 Average
  11. The Top Hits of 1976 (Sort Of) Average
  12. The Top Hits of 1977 Average

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