Sing Me a River Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Mersey

Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers wrote "Ferry Cross the Mersey", which the group, an exponent of the Merseybeat sound, recorded in May of 1964, though the single was not released until December. It was a Top Ten Hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1965, placing higher (number six) in the U.S. than in Britain (number eight). In 1989 a supergroup, including Gerry Marsden and Paul McCartney, made a special recording of the song for the Hillsborough Disaster Fund. That record zoomed to number one on the British charts, staying there for three weeks.

The River Mersey flows for sixty-nine miles (one hundred eleven km) from the confluence of the River Tame and River Goyt in Stockport through the area of northwestern England that was historically the County of Lancashire, and is now Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside. Starting out westward, it turns north as it exits the Mersey Estuary and eventually empties into Liverpool Bay on the Irish Sea. The major cities on its banks are Liverpool and Manchester.

The river's name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) words maeres, 'of a boundary' and ēa, 'a river'. This derivation is attributed to the supposition that the Mersey formed the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. The river's Welsh name is Afon Merswy. The Benedictine Monks of Birkenhead Priory established the first ferry service across the Mersey from Birkenhead to Liverpool in 1150 AD. It only ran on market days.

Answer: Too Many Rivers

"Too Many Rivers" was written by Harlan Howard. In 1965, it was the title track of an album released by Brenda Lee, as well as a moderately successful single for her both in the U.S. and in the UK. Marie Osmond included the song on her debut album, "Paper Roses", issued in 1973. Her recording was not released as a single.

"Banks of the Ohio" is from Olivia Newton-John's 1971 debut album, released in the U.S. as "If Not for You" and as "Olivia Newton-John" in the UK. The song is a traditional ballad, popular with Folk and Country singers. Olivia's rendition went to number one in her adopted home, Australia, and to number six in her native Britain, but did not make the Top 40 in Canada or the U.S.

Bob Morrison wrote "The River's Too Wide", which can be found on Olivia's fourth studio album, "Long Live Love", released in 1974.

The Jazz standard "Cry Me a River", written by Arthur Hamilton in 1953, was popularized by the sultry Julie London. Olivia included it on her nineteenth studio album, "Indigo Women of Song", first released in Australia in October of 2004. Her rendition demonstrates that Olivia could be pretty sultry herself.

Answer: River Jordan

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was composed by Wallace Willis, a Choctaw freedman at the Old Spencer Academy, a Native American boarding school in what is now Choctaw County, Oklahoma composed words and music sometime after 1865. It is conjectured that he may have been inspired by the sight of the Red River, near which he was working, which reminded him of the Jordan River and of the Prophet Elijah being taken to heaven by a chariot (2 Kings 2:11).

Alexander Reid, a minister at the Old Spencer Academy, heard Willis singing this and another song, "Steal Away", and transcribed the words and melodies. He sent the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. They, in turn, popularized the songs during a tour of the United States and Europe.

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was recorded as early as 1894, and since has been a favorite, being especially popular in the 1960s both in the Civil Rights movement and in the Folk revival. A short list of recordings includes: Paul Robeson (recorded January 7, 1926), Bing Crosby 1938, Peggy Lee 1946, Louis Armstrong (for his album "Louis and the Good Book", 1958), Sam Cooke (for his album "Swing Low", 1961). Bobby Darin swung it on his live recording, "Darin at the Copa", released in 1960, and Joan Baez performed it at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.

The spiritual had the dubious distinction of being banned by the Third Reich in 1939 as an undesirable and harmful musical work.

The River Jordan, also known as Nahr Al-Sharieat, is one of the most famous and revered rivers in the world, owing to its prominence in the Bible. For the same reason, it has come to have great mystic significance as the threshold of Heaven, referenced as such in numerous hymns, spirituals and popular songs.

In mundane geographical terms, the River Jordan flows south in a winding course some one hundred thirty-five miles (two hundred fifty-one km) from its sources (at an elevation of one thousand, eight hundred ft. (five hundred fifty m) above sea level) at the foot of Mt. Hermon in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains (the inland of Lebanon's two mountain ranges), to the Dead Sea, one thousand, sixty-six feet (four hundred twenty-two m) below sea level. The kingdom of Jordan and the Golan Heights border the Jordan to the east, while the West Bank and Israel lie to its west.

Answer: Unchained Melody

In January of 1955, Warner Bros. released a prison drama called "Unchained", starring Elroy Hirsch, Barbara Hale, Chester Morris, Todd Duncan and Johnny Johnston, with an uncredited appearance by Jazz musician Dexter Gordon as a saxophone player in the prison jazz band. The film, which was based on "Prisoners Are People", a 1952 memoir by Kenyon J. Scudder, former supervisor at Chino prison in California, was filmed at Chino where, coincidentally, Gordon was serving a sentence for heroin possession.

By all accounts, "Unchained" is a fine film. Yet it is remembered today, if it is remembered at all, for its Academy Award-nominated theme, imaginatively titled "Unchained Melody". Sung in the film by actor and opera singer Todd Dunkin, who originated the role of Porgy on Broadway, "Unchained Melody", composed by Alex North with lyrics by Hy Zaret, made history in 1955 when three versions of the song (by Les Baxter and His Orchestra, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton) charted in the Billboard Top Ten in the United States, and four versions (by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace) appeared in the top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously. Meanwhile, in the U.S., music industry polls named "Unchained Melody" as 1955's Song of the Year.

"Unchained Melody" is one of the most frequently recorded songs of the Twentieth Century. In 2023, Wikipedia reported: "Over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages." After Al Hibbler's, probably the most familiar recording is that of The Righteous Brothers, released in 1965. This version was featured in the 1990 Paramount film "Ghost", starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.

"Broken Hearted Melody" was written by composer Sherman Edwards and lyricist Hal David, who is better known for his long-time collaboration with composer Burt Bacharach. The best-known recording is that by Sarah Vaughan, which she took to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958. "Broken Hearted Melody" does not mention any rivers.

Answer: Like a river that can't find the sea

The beautiful bossa nova "Dindi", pronounced 'Jin-jee', was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Aloysio DeOliveira, with English lyrics by Ray Gilbert. It has been recorded by such greats as Frank Sinatra (on his 1967 album "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim"), Sarah Vaughn, Blossom Dearie and Johnny Mathis.

Neither in its Portuguese nor in its English form does the song "Dindi" have anything whatsoever to do with the River Dindi, a tributary of the River Krishna in the southern Indian state of Telangana. It is purely coincidental, and came as a surprise to me, that a river of this name exists.

Answer: Moon River

Composer Henry Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer wrote "Moon River" for the 1961 Paramount Pictures film "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Not only is it the film's Academy Award-winning theme, during the course of the movie Audrey Hepburn sings it, accompanying herself on a guitar, while sitting on a fire escape. Andy Williams loved the song (Though I can't find a film clip to back up my memory, I recall seeing Andy say on national television that he would sing "Moon River" standing naked on the moon!).

It became his signature tune, despite not being released as a single. He first recorded it on "Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes".

Answer: The Seine

"Paris Summer" appears on the 1972 album, "Nancy & Lee Again", by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. Lee wrote the song.

At four hundred eighty-three miles (seven hundred seventy-seven km), the Seine is France's second-longest river after the Loire. Flowing through the northern part of the country, it rises at the aptly named Source-Seine (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, Côte-d'Or department), nineteen miles (thirty km) northwest of Dijon, at an elevation of one thousand,five hundred forty-two ft. (four hundred seventy m) above sea level. The area containing the headwaters has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864.

Besides Paris with its thirty-seven bridges across the river, other notable locales along the banks of the Seine include the village of Giverny, located on the right bank, at its confluence with one of the two branches of the River Epte. Giverny is renowned as the home of the Impressionist painter Claude Monet. The Normandy river port city of Rouen, whose Notre-Dame Cathedral Monet frequently painted, stands further along the course of the Seine, which empties into the English Channel between Le Havre and Honfleur.

The etymology of the name 'Seine' is uncertain. It may derive from Gaullish Sēquana, from the Celtic goddess of the river. Alternatively, the name may come from Proto-Indo-European *seikw-, signifying 'to flow' or 'to pour forth'. The two derivations are not, after all, mutually exclusive.

Answer: Both

The Motown classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. It was first recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967. The Supremes and The Temptations released a memorable recording of the song in 1968 on their joint album "Diana Ross & The Supremes Meet The Temptations". The refrain runs:

"Ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you, Babe"

In 1970, Neil Sedaka included "One More Mountain to Climb", which he wrote with Howard Greenfield, on his "Emergence" album. The next year two cover versions made the Top 20 internationally. In Canada, Dr. Music included the song on their eponymous album, and in New Zealand, the song was recorded by Craig Scott. The refrain runs:

"One more mountain to climb, one more river to cross
I've come such a long, long way and still, I've got a long way to go
Weary all of the time, I've been tumbled and tossed
There's always one more mountain to climb and one more river to cross."

Answer: The Ganges

"Moonlight on the Ganges", written by Henry Tilsley and Montague Ewing, was first recorded by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra with vocal by Austin Young, in New York City on August 13, 1926 and released on September 24 that year. The song became an instant Jazz and Pop standard, frequently recorded both by vocalists and by instrumentalists into the Twenty-first Century. Sinatra included it on his 1961 album with Billy May's orchestra, "Swing Along with Me".

The Ganges flows one thousand, five hundred sixty-nine miles (two thousand, five hundred twenty-five km) through both India and Bangladesh. In India it is known as Ganga, while in Bangladesh, its name is Padma.

Rising in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, the main stem of the Ganges begins at the town of Devprayag, at the confluence of the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi. The Alaknanda is considered the source stream from the hydrological standpoint, owing to its greater length. However, the Bhagirathiis considered the source stream in Hindu tradition. The Ganges flows south and east through North India and into Bangladesh, its name changing to the Padma. It is then joined by the Jamuna, the lower stream of the Brahmaputra, and eventually the Meghna, forming the major estuary of the Ganges Delta, and emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna system is the second largest river on earth by discharge after the Nile.

Delhi and Kolkata (Calcutta) are just two of the many important cities that have been located on the banks of the Ganges or the banks of tributaries and connected waterways in the Ganges system throughout history. But the river's greatest significance is religious. The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus, who worship it as the goddess Ganga.

Answer: The Isle of Innisfree

Written by Richard Farrelly, "The Isle of Innisfree" is the lament of an Irish expat (We don't know if he left Ireland voluntarily or otherwise) yearning for home. Though at number 78 Bing Crosby's 1952 recording of the song made barely a ripple on the Billboard charts, it entered Britain's first-ever singles chart, in November of that year, at number four. Twenty years later, Val Doonican included "The Isle of Innisfree" on his 1972 album "The Many Moods of Val Doonican".

Written in 1979 by Pete St. John, "The Fields of Athenry" tells the tragic story of a young couple from near Athenry in County Galway, Michael and Mary, during the Great Famine of the 1840s. They are separated when Michael, who stole food for his starving family, is sentenced to transportation to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay.

The song has been widely recorded, not only by Irish artists such as The Dubliners, Frank Patterson and Mairéad Carlin, but also throughout the Irish Diaspora and beyond.