Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs (326-350) Quiz

Answer: Little Eva was a baby sitter for Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

The true statement is that Little Eva was a babysitter for the songwriting team of King/Goffin. King was inspired to write the song after watching Little Eva dance around the house.
Little Eva was born in Bellhaven, North Caroline, not Chicago.
Little Eva never performed with The Supremes.
Little Eva's name was Narcissus, not Athena.

Answer: The song was written by the musical power team of Phil Spector and Jerry Leiber.

Phil Spector was a young songwriter who actually worked for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, sleeping on their couch when he first arrived in New York from California. Spector was one of the most prolific song writers and producers ever, making his first million before he turned 21 years old.

Answer: The group was formed in New York in 1954.

The original line-up of the band was formed in 1954 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the years the group consisted of all the Isley siblings (Ernie, Marvin, O'Kelly, Rudolph, Ronald and Vernon) and keyboardist Chris Jasper.

Answer: The song won the 1973 Grammy award for Best Male Pop Performance.

The song did not win the Grammy in 1973, but it did win the award in 1997 when it was re-released. The song was scheduled to be released as a single in the US, based on its success in the UK, but radio disc jockeys began playing "Bennie and the Jets" instead. MCA records decided that the likelihood of "Candle in the Wind" duplicating that success would be slim, so they nixed the release of the tune.

The proof of the strength of the tune came in 1997 when the song was re-released as a tribute to Princess Diana.

The song became an international number one single and sold over 11 million copies. The proceeds of the sale of the song were used to fund the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund.

Answer: Joe Cocker received a song writing credit on this song.

The song was built around a sample of a Joe Cocker song, so he received the primary writing credit for the song. While it's true that Roger Troutman was a guest vocalist on the song, he was not a member of The Gap Band, he was in Zapp.

Answer: The song was released as the B-side to the hit single "Donna".

The song was released as the B-side to the number two hit "Donna". "La Bamba" did not have the chart success that "Donna" did ("La Bamba" only reached number 22) but the longevity of the song ensures Valens' legacy.
The song did not contain any English lyrics, it was performed entirely in Spanish by the non-Spanish speaking Valens.
The song was not performed by the Latin Playboys, but by Los Lobos in the "La Bamba" movie.
Ritchie Valens died at the age of 17 in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 3, 1959 in the tragic plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.

Answer: The song was originally performed by Aretha Franklin.

The song was not originally sung by Aretha Franklin, but it was performed by her older sister, Erma Franklin.
The song originally appeared on the Big Brother album "Cheap Thrills". The song appeared on Faith Hill's album "Take Me As I Am" in 1994.

Answer: The song was made popular by singer Lavern Baker.

Lavern Baker was a singer who had hits with the songs "Tra La La", "Tweedle Dee" and the very unique "Jim Dandy". Baker was born as Delores Williams in 1929.
The song was featured on the soundtrack to the movie "Dazed and Confused" as performed by the band Black Oak Arkansas.

Answer: Dion was born Dion DiMucci in The Bronx.

Dion DiMucci was born in New York on July 18, 1937. Dion began his career as a member of The Timberlanes, but he really came into his own style as lead songer of Dion and The Belmonts. The original inspiration of the song "Runaround Sue" may be Dion's longtime wife of over 40 years, Susan.

Answer: This was the first reggae song to ever reach number one on the US Billboard charts.

The song "The Harder They Come" never charted on any of the US Billboard singles charts, although the album (of the same same) did reach number 140 on the album chart.
The movie "The Harder They Come" starred Jimmy Cliff as a Jamaican singer trying to make it in a very tough reggae music market.

Answer: The song's title was inspired by two people close to Pete Townshend.

The song's title was inspired by Pete Townshend's spiritualist, Meher Baba, and minimalist composer Terry Riley. Minimalist music often uses short, repetitive pulses, or bursts, of sound to create a rhythm that fragments of melody are imposed over. Terry Riley was a true pioneer of the form, but Phillip Glass made the style popular in the 1970s.

Answer: The psychedelic band Vanilla Fudge had a radio hit with a cover of the song.

The songwriting trio of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland wrote this song for The Supremes, which they took to number one on the US Billboard Pop Singles chart in 1966. Vanilla Fudge slowed down the beat a little and rode the song to top ten success in 1968.

Answer: In an attempt to make a clean split from The Beatles, McCartney switched record labels and released this album on Warner Bros.

Although it's true that McCartney recorded most of this song in his home studio, recording almost all the music himself, he did not release it on Warner Bros. He stayed with the Apple family for this release. The song was written as an answer to the inevitable question as to how he felt about The Beatles breaking up. "Maybe I'm amazed, maybe I'm not" was the stance McCartney took on this matter.

Answer: Eddie Van Halen makes a guest appearance on this song providing the guitar solo.

This track enlisted some heavy-weight studio artists such as Greg Phillinganes and Steve Porcaro on keyboards, Steve Lukather on guitar and Jeff Porcaro on percussion. The fight scene in this song's video was inspired by the play "West Side Story".

Answer: The song was inspired by the Mel Brooks classic "Blazing Saddles".

The song was actually inspired by the line in the Mel Brooks film "Young Frankenstein" where Igor asks a guest to "walk this way", and then the guest mimics the hunched over walking style of Igor. For an added bit of trivia, Mel Brooks used the same castle and props that were used in the original "Frankenstein" movie released in 1931.

Answer: The song appeared on the band's album titled "Loaded".

The song "Sweet Jane" appeared on "Loaded", the album that was released as Lou Reed was splitting from the band. The studio release of the song has a portion of the song missing, a part that was later captured in live albums and on the "Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition)" release.

Answer: The song was recorded in the same studio that Led Zepellin recorded their debut album in.

Led Zeppelin recorded their debut album at Olympic Studios in London, while The Rolling Stones reocrded this song at the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio. The album was released in 1971 on the album "Sticky Fingers", but not before longtime friend Gram Parsons had a chance to record it for his own project.

Answer: Norman Greenbaum turned his back entirely on music in 1977 and became one of the most successful stock brokers of all time.

Instead of Greenbaum turning his back on the music scene, he eventually became a small-time music promoter for local California theaters. In the meantime, he tended to his dairy farm and raised many breeds of farm animals. The song "Spirit in the Sky" has been featured in commercials by H.B.O., Enron, American Express, Infiniti and SBC Yahoo.

The song has also appeared in movies such as "Remember the Titans", "Contact", "Apollo 13" and "Ocean's Eleven".

Answer: The girl with the large hair, on a dare, rides a wheel, a big ordeal.

My absolute favorite Dylan song of all time. John Lennon once said that he could never compete with lyrics so captivating. The song was released in 1965 on the "Bringing It All Back Home" album on the Columbia record label. A true genius at his finest.

Answer: Mike Reid was once a football player with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Mike Reid was a defensive tackle with the Bengals in the 1970s. Since his departure from US professional football, he has written songs for Willie Nelson ("There You Are"), Ronnie Milsap ("Stranger in My House"), Conway Twitty ("A Tree in the Meadow") and Lorrie Morgan ("He Talks to Me"). Reid won the Outland Trophy in 1969 as the best defensive lineman in NCAA college football.

Answer: When Queen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the remaining members of the band palyed this song at their induction ceremony.

When Queen performed this song in their induction ceremony, Brian May and Roger Taylor traded off vocal duties. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 by Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters fame.

Answer: The band was formed in Chicago in 1969.

Group members included Philip Bailey on vocals, Maurice White on drums, Leslie Drayton on trumpet, Wade Flemons on vocals and Larry Dunn on keyboards, amongst many others throughout the band's illustrious career. The band was formed by Maurice White in 1969 in Chicago, IL after a stint as a session drummer at Chess Records. Maurice White once played with the Ramsey Lewis Trio from 1967 to 1969.

Answer: Francis Ford Coppola used the song in his Vietnam epic "Apocalypse Now".

"Apocalypse Now", released in 1979, featured an all-star cast including Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburn, Dennis Hopper and Harrison Ford. The full band received song writing credits for this song, but it was Jim Morrison who attempted the exploration into the mother/son versus father relationship that spawned the lyrics that threatened a full generation of parents through the late 1960s.

A very good cover of this song was provided by Nico on the "June 1, 1974" album.

Answer: The song was released by Jerry Butler and the Impressions in June of 1958.

The Impressions featured Jerry Butler in their earlier days, but it was the development of Curtis Mayfield that may have really put the group on the map of musical influence. This song has been a US chart hit over six times by artists as varied as Garnett Mims and the Enchanters, Oscar Toney Jr. and even Jackie Wilson backed by the Count Basie Orchestra. Jerry Butler re-recorded the song in 1966 as a solo artist and even that hit the top 40.

This song is simply a beautiful arrangement, regardless of whose interpretation you listen to.

Answer: William and Phelps Collins (aka Bootsy and Catfish Collins) provided bass and guitar duties on this song.

Siblings Bootsy and Catfish Collins laid out some funk foundation for this classic James Brown tune. The siblings had been the basis for the teenage group, The Pacemakers, when they entered the studio to bail Brown out of a bad situation. His previous backing band had walked out on him, leaving him high and dry with no supporting group. Also featured on this single was Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker on horns, Clyde Stubblefield on drums and Bobby Byrd on keyboards.