MMMore Songs on my iPod Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mack the Knife

"Mack the Knife" is from "Die Dreigroschenoper", ("The Threepenny Opera") by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. The character is based ultimately on the notorious Jack Sheppard, a sort of 18th century celebrity-outlaw. The English lyrics that we know are from the 1954 translation.

Answer: Randy Newman

Personally, I liked the smart and savage music Newman made in albums such as "Sail Away" (1972) and "Good Old Boys" better than his movie work, but he probably prefers being a rich and respected composer to a starving cult figure - people are funny that way. You've heard his work on such films as the "Toy Story" trilogy, "Monsters Inc", "Bean", "Maverick" and many others.

His biggest non-movie hit was "Short People" which all too many people took seriously.

Answer: Townes Van Zandt

Townes Van Zandt was born into a prominent and wealthy Texas family, highly intelligent and talented, and seemed poised for a life of mainstream success. Mental health and substance abuse problems derailed that, though. He never made much money, and never got anywhere near the fame he deserved - I'm not unusual in thinking him one of the finest folk/country songwriters who ever lived. Anyone interested in Townes' life might want to watch the documentary "Be Here to Love Me" from 2004.

"Marie" is the story of a homeless couple:

"I used to play the mouth harp pretty good
Hustled up a little dough
But I got drunk and I woke up rolled
A couple of months ago
They got my harp and they got my dollar
Them low life so and so's
Harps cost money and I ain't got it
It's my own fault I suppose"

Answer: Me and Bobby McGee

Kris Kristofferson and Fred Miller wrote the song, and Roger Miller was the first to record it - he had a medium sized country hit with it. Gordon Lightfoot did reasonably well with the song in the summer of 1970, especially in Canada. It's the Janis Joplin version, though, recorded a few days before she died in October 1970, that most of us have playing on our mental soundtrack.

She changed Bobby from a woman to a man, played around a little with the lyrics, and made the song her own.

Answer: Fairport Convention

"Matty Groves" is a Child ballad, dating from the seventeenth century. There are several versions out there, as is usual for traditional music, but I doubt if many of the versions sung in pubs and around campfires over the centuries cooked the way Fairport's did. "Liege & Lief" was a groundbreaking album - this sort of thing hadn't really been done before, not quite like this. If you are at all interested in folk music, I strongly urge you to spend a little time on youtube checking some of the songs out - Matty's story would be a good place to start.

All of the incorrect answer options also had a part to play, one way or another, in the modernization of traditional music, but they were all Americans.

Answer: Mr Bojangles

"Met him in a cell in New Orleans I was
Down and out"

I first learned of this song from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band version, on their album "Uncle Charlie and his Dog Teddy", in 1970 - great album by the way, you should hear Teddy howl along to "The Old Rugged Cross". It was written a couple years earlier by Jerry Jeff Walker, who apparently did indeed meet an itinerant tap dancer in jail one night in New Orleans. It's been covered by dozens of artists, including Sammy Davis Jr and Robbie Williams.

Answer: The Roches

Unlike most songs about carrying on with married men, this one isn't particularly heart-broken - they sound quite cheerful as they warble "All of that time in hell to spend, for kissing the married men".

Maggie and Terre and Suzzy Roche have made some good music in their various duo, trio, and solo outings over the years, but they never really made a lot of money or fame - their music tends to be quirky, fun, and interesting, rather than aimed at filling stadiums. Suzzy's daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roche, is another of Loudon Wainwright III's talented kids, and sometimes tours with her half brother Rufus.

Answer: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

We never have found out what the mama saw that was against the law...

"Me and Julio..." is from Paul Simon's first solo album after his split with Art Garfunkel. The biggest hit from that album was "Mother and Child Reunion" (Number four on the Billboard Hot 110) which could also have been on this quiz, now I think of it.

The incorrect song choices were all also from famous artists who had just recently gone solo - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

Answer: My Girl

This song was the Temptations' first number one single, and David Ruffin's first time at lead vocal. Smokey Robinson, who wrote the song, was looking for something to exploit Ruffin's voice, and eventually "My Girl", originally intended to be a Miracles song, was it. In my opinion, this is close to the perfect song - everything about it is just right.

Answer: Fred Eaglesmith

"28 feet from bumper to bumper
The last of the sweet old time gas guzzlers
Hard to drive harder to park
But when you do somebody remarks
That's a mighty big car"

This was my theme song in the years (early 2000s) when I drove a '78 Lincoln Continental, and, yes, people did stop me to talk about it.

Fred Eaglesmith could probably be best described as alt-country, though he is a bit beyond description. He's on tour practically all the time - it's not unusual for him to tour more than 300 dates in a year - and he'll play surprisingly small venues for someone who's actually a fairly big name in his genre. I've seen him play the only bar in a town of under 1000 people. If you ever get a chance, see him live - he's a great songwriter, but almost as much a comedian. The shows are an enormous amount of fun.

Answer: Miss the Mississippi and You

Researching this quiz told me something I had not known - "Miss the Mississippi" was not written by the Singing Brakeman, but by a Tin Pan Alley writer named Bill Halley. Anyway, it was Rodgers (1897 - 1933) who brought it to us first. He brought us a lot of things first; he was one of the artists to shape what ended up becoming Country music, also the Blues and ultimately Rock & Roll.

The version of this song on my iPod is from Roseanne Cash's 2009 "The List". The idea for this album came from a list her father, Johnny Cash, gave her when she was a young girl - one hundred essential Country songs. The album contains a dozen of them, and I'd be interested to hear a "The List II" anytime she'd be interested in putting one out.

Answer: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

From "Honky Chateau", the album where Elton John really committed to his transformation from sensitive singer/songwriter to rock idol in astonishing glasses - though you'd never know it from this song, it's a lovely introspective piece. It was never released as a single, though in my opinion it's a better song than the big hit from this album, "Rocket Man".

Answer: morning dew

"Morning Dew" was written by folksinger Bonnie Dobson, and inspired by the 1959 movie "On the Beach", set in post-nuclear-holocaust Australia. It references a dead world, where it's not safe to walk out in that morning dew, where you hear no babies cry.

The version on my iPod is from the 1968 Jeff Beck album, "Truth" featuring the sensational vocals of a young Rod Stewart - he really was a wonderful blues singer, back then.

Answer: Bob Dylan

I'll admit I'd more or less stopped listening to Bob Dylan around the time of "Desire" in 1976, so I came to this song in a roundabout way, from the soundtrack of the 2000 movie "High Fidelity". Most of the music in that film is good, but this song just blew me away, and I tracked it down. Dylan worked with producer Daniel Lanois for this album, and while it apparently was a difficult process, they did some great work. "Rolling Stone" has it at number 44 on the best albums of the eighties.

Answer: The Electric Horseman

Willie took the single to the top of the US Country charts the next year - it was written by Sharon Vaughn.
The version on my iPod is from the "Wanted: The Outlaws" album, from 1976, when Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser got together for the first million selling Country album. Waylon sings the song on this album.