Feel the Heat: Song Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elvis Presley

'Burning Love' was written in 1972 by Dennis Linde, and was originally sung and performed by the late, great Elvis Presley. This song was in fact, Elvis' last major hit in the United States. Elvis died in 1977 after recording over 700 songs and to this day, he remains one of the best-selling music artists of all time. 'Burning Love' just missed out on making it to number one in the US, instead making it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the charts for nearly four months. In other countries it also did well, charting in the top ten in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK.

The song was written by Linde in just 20 minutes and was inspired by Linde's love life, since Linde was a newly-wed when he wrote it.

And now for some lyrics:

'Lord Almighty/
Feel my temperature rising/
Higher, higher/
It's burning through to my soul/
Girl, girl, girl, girl/
You gonna set me on fire/
My brain is flaming/
I don't know which way to go.'

Answer: Adele

'Set Fire to the Rain' is a song written by Adele and Fraser T. Smith, and performed by Adele. The song was released in November, 2011 and featured on the album, "21". In terms of success, it was very popular all over the world, but particularly in Europe, where it featured in the top ten in 13 countries. In the US, between 2011 and 2020 it was downloaded over five million times. Adele sang the song live at the Royal Albert Hall and for this she won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance in 2013. She also won Winning Song for 'Set Fire to the Rain' at the BMI London Awards.

And the inspiration for the song? Well according to an article in The Guardian newspaper, Adele got inspiration (quote) "when mah lightah stopped workin' [sic]" in the wet. (Honestly, how can you not love Adele?)

Right, we need some lyrics I think:

'But there's a side to you/
That I never knew, never knew/
All the things you'd say/
They were never true, never true/
And the games you play/
You would always win, always win/
But I set fire to the rain/
Watched it pour as I touched your face/
Well, it burned while I cried/
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name/
Your name.'

Answer: Deep Purple

'Smoke on the Water' is a song by the British band, Deep Purple, which was released in 1972. The song is known for its four-note riff, which is reportedly one of the most iconic riffs in the music arena.

I think most people are aware of the inspiration for the song, but for those who aren't, the song actually chronicles a fire that broke out in Switzerland. In 1971, Deep Purple were staying in Montreux, Switzerland in an hotel and were looking out over Lake Geneva. As they watched, smoke began to drift over the water. It turned out that a fire had broken out at a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention concert which was taking place at the Montreux casino. The fire was started by a spectator who took it into his head to fire a flare gun while he was at the concert. The flare from the gun, which was aimed at the rattan ceiling of the casino, ignited the entire complex. The man thought to have fired the flare was identified as Zdenek Spicka, a Czechoslovakian man who had been living in Switzerland. He immediately disappeared (his friends confessed he was both scared of being lynched by any of the 2000 attendees, and going to prison) and has never been apprehended. Although, by some miracle, there were no injuries, the huge complex was so badly damaged that it took four years for it to reopen.

In terms of acclaim, in 2004 the song 'Smoke on the Water' came in at when number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1973 it reached number four in the US Billboard Hot 100.

Some lyrics anyone?

'Frank Zappa and the Mothers/
Were at the best place around/
But some stupid with a flare gun/
Burned the place to the ground/
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky'

Answer: Billy Joel

'We Didn't Start the Fire' is a very catchy song by American musician, Billy Joel. Written in 1989 by Billy, the song essentially lists 118 historical events that happened between when Billy was born in 1949, and when he wrote the song in 1989. For die-hard trivia buffs, Billy manages to list 59 people's names in the four and a half minute single.

In terms of the inspiration for the song, this apparently came about after Billy had a conversation with a friend of Sean Lennon's at a recording studio in the late '80s. Sean's friend said it was a terrible time to be 21 with everything happening in the world. He then added that Billy was lucky, nothing happened in the 1950s. Billy's retort (essentially, 'What? You mean other than the Korean War and the Suez Canal Crisis') gave Billy the basic idea/framework for his song. Many believe the lyrics convey that even though the youth of a certain era didn't create a problem, they tried to fight/solve the problem. While this is true, Billy Joel also put it a bit more bluntly, saying of the song: 'the world's a mess and it's always going to be a mess'. Incidentally, Billy Joel does not like the melody of the song one bit. In fact, on several occasions, he said it was terrible and 'like a dentist drill.'

Billy might not have liked it, but the rest of the world clearly did. It went to number one in the US on the Billboard Hot 100, and went Platinum in the US, Australia and the UK, and Gold in Canada.

Here are a few of the lyrics:

'Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray/
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio/
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television/
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe/
Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom/
Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"/
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen/
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye/
We didn't start the fire/
It was always burning, since the world's been turning/
We didn't start the fire/
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it.'

Answer: Talking Heads

'Burning Down the House' was written and performed in 1983 by Talking Heads and features on their album, 'Speaking in Tongues'. While the Talking Heads version of the song didn't make the charts at all in the UK, it did do well in America, where it reached number nine on the US Billboard 100 Charts.

The inspiration for the song title came about when one of the band members, Chris Frantz, saw a show by the band Parliament-Funkadelic, at which the crowd repeatedly chanted 'Burn down the house.' Talking Heads morphed this into 'Burning Down the House.' You might have noticed the lyrics of this song definitely don't seem to tell a story, and, in fact, don't even seem to make sense. This is apparently because the band first worked out the rhythms and then, once they'd done that, David Byrne, the lead vocalist and guitarist, started singing nonsense words/syllables over the music, until he finally came up with phrasing that worked best with the rhythms.

In 1999, Tom Jones released a version of the song, and this did make the UK charts. In fact, it became a hit in several countries. It reached the top ten in the UK, Denmark, Australia, Finland, Norway and Hungry and reached number one in Iceland and number two in Sweden.

And now for some of the lyrics:

'You might get what you're after/
Cool babies/
Strange but not a stranger/
I'm an ordinary guy/
Burning down the house/
Hold tight/
Wait 'til the party's over/
Hold tight/
We're in for nasty weather/
There has got to be a way/
Burning down the house'

Answer: The Bangles

Even though there have been several covers of 'Eternal Flame,' the original was by the American all-girl group, the Bangles. The power ballad was written in 1988 by Susanna Hoffs, a group member, as well as the songwriting duo of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. (This pair incidentally also wrote 'Like a Virgin,' 'True Colours' and 'I Touch Myself.') 'Eternal Flame' became a instant hit, reaching number one in nine countries, including the UK, the USA, Australia and Sweden.

The inspiration for the song title apparently came from Elvis Presley's grave. While they were discussing writing a song, Susanna told Billy of day the Bangles had a private tour of Graceland, and of how they had been taken to the Garden of Memories where a small box sat that contained an eternal flame.
Billy jumped in, saying 'Eternal Flame' would make a good song title, and they started to then make a demo.

As an addendum, Human Nature covered the song in 1999, doing well in Australia with their version: it reached the top ten. Atomic Kitten, a British all-girl group also did a cover version in 2001 and this managed to make number one in four countries, including the UK.

Here are some of the lyrics:

'Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling/
Do you feel my heart beating?/
Do you understand? Do you feel the same?/
Am I only dreaming?/
Is this burning an eternal flame?'

Answer: Vangelis

'Chariots of Fire,' also known as 'Titles,' was written and recorded by Greek musician, Vangelis. The instrumental piece was written as the soundtrack for the film 'Chariots of Fire,' which is why most people refer to the song as 'Chariots of Fire' rather than 'Titles.' (It was initially called 'Titles' because it was played during the opening sequence of the film.)

The piece made it onto the US Billboard Hot 100, however, it didn't exactly shoot up the charts, in fact it took 22 weeks to gradually climb to the number one spot, where it stayed for a week. Interestingly, this was the first piece of music by a Greek musician to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100. In terms of other successes, the piece spent a full 64 weeks on the Australian charts and was the best selling single in Japan in 1981.

Vangelis, who also created the soundtrack for the movie 'Blade Runner', died in 2022 age 79.

Answer: Katy Perry

'Firework' was by sung by Katy Perry and written by Katy, Stargate (a Norwegian production team), Sandy Wilhelm, and Ester Dean. It was released in 2010 and features on the album 'Teenage Dream'.

The song was influenced by a book by Jack Kerouac, called 'On the Road'. In the book, which is about the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, people are, according to Katy, 'buzzing and fizzing and full of life and never say a commonplace thing'. From this, Katy got the idea that she wants to be a firework both in life... and death. She has said that when she dies, she wants her remains to be put into a firework and shot across the sky: specifically across the Pacific Ocean at Santa Barbara.

Katy has also said that the inspirational song 'Firework' is her favourite song on the 'Teenage Dream' album, and she calls the song her epitaph. In terms of success, it not only reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, but it was also in the top five in the charts of 20 nations. It sold over one million copies in the UK, and over 12 million copies in the US.

I don't know about anyone else, but I find it almost impossible not to sing along to the lyrics, some of which are:

'Do you ever feel like a plastic bag/
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?/
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin/
Like a house of cards, one blow from cavin' in?/
Do you ever feel already buried deep?/
Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing/
Do you know that there's still a chance for you?/
'Cause there's a spark in you/
You just gotta ignite the light/
And let it shine/
Just own the night/
Like the Fourth of July/
'Cause baby, you're a firework'

Answer: The Doors

'Light My Fire' is a song sung by The Doors, and primarily written by The Door's guitarist, Robby Krieger. It was released in 1967.

In terms of inspiration, Robby said that he knew he wanted to write about one of the elements: earth, air, wind or fire. He spoke to Jim Morrison about what to write and Jim responded 'Something universal, which won't disappear two years from now. Something that people can interpret themselves.' Robby settled on 'fire' explaining that the lyrics are about 'leaving inhibitions behind in flames of passion'.

Jim was certainly right, the song didn't disappear in two years, in fact the song is still popular more than 50 years later.

'Light My Fire' was on the album 'The Doors' and was 6.50 minutes long. This was felt too long for radio stations, and so when the single was released, it was whittled down to 2.52 minutes. Fans, it turned out, weren't happy about this, and once the song became popular, DJs took to playing the full 6.50 minute album version.

Unfortunately Jim Morrison wrote in his his notebooks that he didn't like the song at all, and hated performing it. Fans thought differently though. 'Light My Fire' reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in July, 1967 and stayed there for three weeks. Their first number one hit, this song managed to transform The Doors from a cult favorite into international stars. In 2018 the song went Platinum for reaching one million digital units. Also, in both 2004 and 2010, the song 'Light My Fire' ranked at number 35 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Some of the lyrics are as follows:

'You know that it would be untrue/
You know that I would be a liar/
If I was to say to you/
Girl, we couldn't get much higher/
Come on, baby, light my fire/
Come on, baby, light my fire/
Try to set the night on fire'

Answer: Midnight Oil

'Beds Are Burning' is by Australian rock band, Midnight Oil, which is headed by vocalist, Peter Garrett. The song was released in 1988, and featured on the album 'Diesel and Dust'.

Midnight Oil's music often broaches political issues and social justice. 'Beds Are Burning,' which is about land-rights, came about when Midnight Oil were touring outback Australia in 1985. While they were in the desert, they were approached by a group of First Nations people who wanted to commemorate Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) being given back to the Anangu people. They believed that since Midnight Oil had had some international success, a song by them could deliver a strong message to a wide audience. Midnight Oil certainly achieved this goal - it was seen by millions when they performed the song at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In terms of how successful the song was in the charts, it (rather strangely) only reached number six in Australia, but reached number one in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. It also did very well in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK, coming in in the top ten. In the US it came in at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2009, a reworked version of 'Beds Are Burning' was released by 60 musicians, including Bob Geldorf and Simon Le Bon. Described as 'an all-star, new-millennium anthem' it was used to rally support for the battle against global warming.

Peter Garrett, incidentally, was President of the Australian Conservation Foundation (1989 - 1996), a Board Member of Greenpeace International (1993 - 1995) and was Minister for Environment & Arts between 2007-2010.

Some of the lyrics are as follows:

'Out where the river broke/
The bloodwood and the desert oak/
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels/
Steam at forty-five degrees/
The time has come to say "Fair's fair"/
To pay the rent, to pay our share/
The time has come, a fact's a fact/
It belongs to them, let's give it back/
How can we dance when our earth is turning?/
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?/
How can we dance when our earth is turning?/
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?'