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Quiz about A Tom Paxton Gallimaufry Vol 1

A Tom Paxton Gallimaufry Vol. 1 Quiz

To call Tom Paxton a 'folksinger' seems barely adequate in view of his widely varied back catalogue. His most famous song was 'The Last Thing On My Mind', but over the past 40 years his songs have been loved by many.

A multiple-choice quiz by darksplash. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
darksplash

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
282,988

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
9 / 15

Plays
251

Awards
Top 10% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. Which word is missing from these lines from Tom Paxton's 'The Last Thing On My Mind'?:
"It's a lesson too late for the learning,
Made of _____, made of _____"
Hint

Sand

Steel

Glass

Rice

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. Singer/songwriter Tom Paxton, who wrote 'The Last Thing On My Mind', lived a substantial part of his life in Oklahoma, but was not a native of the State. Where was he born? Hint

Chicago

New York

Boston

Philadelphia

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. The American singer/songwriter Tom Paxton composed a song for each of his two daughters. What were their names? Hint

Janet and Karen

Mary and Mandy

Midge and Mandy

Jennifer and Katy

4. Which word is missing from these lines from Tom Paxton's 'The Last Thing On My Mind'?
" Are you going away with no word of ______
Will there be not a trace left behind
I could have loved you better, did not mean to be unkind
You not that was the last thing on my mind."
Hint

Goodbye

Farewell

Regret

Adieu

NEXT>

Question 5 of 15

5. The American singer/songwriter Tom Paxton wrote many songs about Vietnam. Which one of them was also the title of a movie? Hint

Born On The Fourth Of July

Good Morning Vietnam

Full Metal Jacket

Apocalypse Now

NEXT>

Question 6 of 15

6. The American folksinger Tom Paxton once wrote a song with just 11 words in it. That, however, was not his shortest. How many words were there in 'Lament For A Lost Election'? Hint

NEXT>

Question 7 of 15

7. Which word is missing from these lines from Tom Paxton's 'The Last Thing On My Mind'?
"You've got reasons aplenty for going
This I know, this I know
For the ______ have been steadily growing
Please don't go, please don't go" Hint

Fears

Tears

Weeds

Regrets

NEXT>

Question 8 of 15

8. Which band had a hit with a a Tom Paxton song entitled 'Wasn't that A Party'? Hint

The Irish Rovers

The Scottish Rovers

The Wild Rovers

The Mild Rovers

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. Which song did Tom Paxton sing on 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone?', the album of Pete Seeger songs covered by a variety of artistes? Hint

Quiet Early Morning

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

Get Up And Go

One Grain Of Sand

NEXT>

Question 10 of 15

10. 'The Last Thing On My Mind', Tom Paxton's most famous song, has been recorded numerous times. Which country music greats recorded a duo of it? Hint

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner

Merle Haggard and Patsy Cline

Shania Twain and Billy Bob Thornton

Johnny Cash and Ruby Murray

NEXT>

Question 11 of 15

11. Which Nobel peace prize winner was the subject of a scathing musical attack by the singer/songwriter Tom Paxton? Hint

Mother Theresa

Mikhail Gorbachev

Al Gore

Henry Kissinger

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. Which line from a 1990s song by the singer/songwriter Tom Paxton predicted that America faced a future disaster of previously unimagined magnitude? Hint

"In 10 years we're gonna have a woman in the White House"

"In 10 years we're gonna have Dubya for president"

"In 10 years we're gonna have one million lawyers"

"In 10 years we're gonna have Hillary for president"

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. For several years, Tom Paxton toured as part of a trio and released an album entitled 'Best Of Friends'. Who were the other members of the trio? Hint

Phil Ochs and Carolyn Hester

stuthehistoryguy and quizbeagle

David Blue and Judy Collins

Bob Gibson and Anne Hills

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. Who was Tom Paxton singing about in these lines?:
"We live on the water
My family and I
We go where the current takes us
And one by one we die" Hint

Chinese boat people fleeing the Communist regime in their country

African refugees trying to sail to a better future in Europe

Vietnamese boat people fleeing the communist takeover of their country

Cuban refugees trying to sail to a better future in Florida

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. About whom did the folksinger Tom Paxton write a song called 'The Bravest'? Hint

Firefighters at the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre.

Soldiers who came under enemy fire in Afghanistan

Soldiers who came under enemy fire in Iraq

Rescue workers who battled to save lives when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which word is missing from these lines from Tom Paxton's 'The Last Thing On My Mind'?: "It's a lesson too late for the learning, Made of _____, made of _____"

Answer: Sand

'The Last Thing On My Mind' was probably Paxton's most widely-known song. He described it as his "comfort zone". In his songbook 'The Honor Of Your Company' he wrote that the melody came about as he tried to learn new ways to play the G chord.

2. Singer/songwriter Tom Paxton, who wrote 'The Last Thing On My Mind', lived a substantial part of his life in Oklahoma, but was not a native of the State. Where was he born?

Answer: Chicago

The Paxton family moved to Oklahoma when he was about 10. Paxton, an avowed baseball fan, once described his native city as "a place where no baseball is played". He probably had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he said it.

3. The American singer/songwriter Tom Paxton composed a song for each of his two daughters. What were their names?

Answer: Jennifer and Katy

Paxton wrote 'Jennifer's Rabbit' for his elder daughter and 'Katy' for the younger.

4. Which word is missing from these lines from Tom Paxton's 'The Last Thing On My Mind'? " Are you going away with no word of ______ Will there be not a trace left behind I could have loved you better, did not mean to be unkind You not that was the last thing on my mind."

Answer: Farewell

In the liner notes for his album 'Outward Bound', Paxton wrote that after he wrote 'Last Thing', friends would ask if everything was OK between him and his wife. His reply was '"they were, and are".

5. The American singer/songwriter Tom Paxton wrote many songs about Vietnam. Which one of them was also the title of a movie?

Answer: Born On The Fourth Of July

Paxton wrote the song after reading the biography of Ron Kovic, a US Marine who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and, as Paxton put it, "ran flat lot of luck" on the second.
The chorus of the song goes:
"I was born on the Fourth of July
No one more loyal than I
And when my country said so, I was ready to go
And I wish I'd been left there to die"

6. The American folksinger Tom Paxton once wrote a song with just 11 words in it. That, however, was not his shortest. How many words were there in 'Lament For A Lost Election'?

Answer: 1

Paxton was an avowed Democrat. After George W. Bush's first victory he wrote - if that isn't too loose a word for the act - 'LFALE'. That one word was @$*!

7. Which word is missing from these lines from Tom Paxton's 'The Last Thing On My Mind'? "You've got reasons aplenty for going This I know, this I know For the ______ have been steadily growing Please don't go, please don't go"

Answer: Weeds

The song is, inevitably, one of Paxton's encores at concerts. It has been recorded about 200 times (Source: All Music Guide).

8. Which band had a hit with a a Tom Paxton song entitled 'Wasn't that A Party'?

Answer: The Irish Rovers

"Could have been the whiskey, might have been the gin
Could have been the three four six packs, I don't know
But won't you look at the mess I'm in
A head like a football, I think I'm gonna die
But tell me oh, me oh me, oh my
Wasn't that a party?"
Despite their name, the band was, in fact, Canadian.

9. Which song did Tom Paxton sing on 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone?', the album of Pete Seeger songs covered by a variety of artistes?

Answer: Get Up And Go

"How do I know my youth is all spent
My get up and go has got up and went
But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
"When I think of the places my get up has been"
'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' was sung by Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt; 'One Grain Of Sand' was sung by Odetta and 'Quiet Early Morning' was sung by Holly Near. Billy Bragg, Donovan, Bruce Springsteen, Tim Robbins, Nanci Griffith and Judy Collins were among others who sang on the album.

10. 'The Last Thing On My Mind', Tom Paxton's most famous song, has been recorded numerous times. Which country music greats recorded a duo of it?

Answer: Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner

Like so many artistes, they sang the song at a much faster tempo than the Paxton original - many who cover the song do, much to the distress of Paxton purists.

11. Which Nobel peace prize winner was the subject of a scathing musical attack by the singer/songwriter Tom Paxton?

Answer: Henry Kissinger

The chorus says it all...
"But the white bones of Allende and the scattered bones of Chile
Are the screams that break the silence of the thousands blown away
Yes, the white bones of Allende and the scattered bones of Chile
Are not silent, they are screaming
They're your peace prize, Dr K"

12. Which line from a 1990s song by the singer/songwriter Tom Paxton predicted that America faced a future disaster of previously unimagined magnitude?

Answer: "In 10 years we're gonna have one million lawyers"

"Humankind has survived some disasters for sure
Like locusts and flash floods and flu
There's never a moment when we've been secure
From the ills that the flesh is heir to
If it isn't a war it's some gruesome disease
If it isn't disease then it's war
But there's worse still to come, and I'm asking you, please
How the world's gonna take any more

In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers
One million lawyers, one million lawyers
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers
How much can a poor nation stand"

In fact his prediction was a little bit out, it took more than 10 years from the time the song was written, but the number of lawyers in America did climb past the one million-mark.

13. For several years, Tom Paxton toured as part of a trio and released an album entitled 'Best Of Friends'. Who were the other members of the trio?

Answer: Bob Gibson and Anne Hills

The late Bob Gibson was a long-time friend, co-writer and producer of Paxton's. Anne Hills and Paxton also recorded a joint album of songs 'Under American Skies'.

14. Who was Tom Paxton singing about in these lines?: "We live on the water My family and I We go where the current takes us And one by one we die"

Answer: Vietnamese boat people fleeing the communist takeover of their country

The world watched aghast in the early 1980s as thousands of South Vietnamese people fled their country. The lucky ones found sanctuary, though families were often split up. Many, particularly the old and the very young, died in boats and makeshift rafts.

15. About whom did the folksinger Tom Paxton write a song called 'The Bravest'?

Answer: Firefighters at the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre.

"The first plane hit the other tower, right after I came in.
It left a fiery, gaping hole where offices had been.
We stood and watched in horror, as we saw the first ones fall,
Then someone yelled 'Get out, get out! They're trying to kill us all!'

I grabbed the pictures from my desk and joined the flight for life.
With every step I called the names of my children and my wife,
And then we heard them coming up, from several floors below,
A crowd of firefighters with their heavy gear in tow

Now every time I try to sleep, I'm haunted by the sound
Of firemen pounding up the stairs, while we were running down."

Search 'Tom Paxton The Bravest' on YouTube for more.

Source: Author darksplash

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