Singing By Numbers: Coda, 11-20 Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Leaning in your corner like a candidate for wax Sidewalk social scientist don't get no satisfaction from your cigarette It's ten to ten and time is running out Lock up all your memories, get outta here, you know that we can run Today can last another million years Today could be the end of me It's 11:59, and I want to stay alive..." These were the lyrics of a hit by the New York-based pop band Blondie. Which blonde was the lead singer?

Answer: Debbie Harry

"11:59" was the B-side of Blondie's 1979 US Number One single "Heart of Glass" (seven-inch version). In the UK "Heart of Glass" was also a number one, but with "Rifle Range" on the B-side.
The song "11:59" also appeared on the UK chart-topping album "Parallel Lines" in 1978.

2. "Now I know this Joe down in Mexico He went there to work on his tan For years he's been plugged into blenders and songs They call him the Twelve Volt Man..." Which singer, actor, writer and restaurant owner told this strange tale?

Answer: Jimmy Buffet

"Twelve-Volt Man" was supposedly based on a story told by Mike Nesmith (of The Monkees) to Buffet of meeting an expatriate American Buffet fan in Mexico. The ex-pat would fish all week then on Fridays hook up a generator to mix margaritas and sing along to Buffet albums with his friends. As well as writing songs and recording, Buffett was a best-selling writer,and had business interests in the restaurant chains "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Margaritaville" (which just happened to be named after two of his best-known songs) .
The song was on the LP "One Particular Harbour" 1983.

3. "Bad luck wind been blowing at my back I was born to bring trouble to wherever I'm at Got the number thirteen tattooed on my neck When the ink starts to itch, then the black will turn to red..." Which man in black "Never had me a name/They just gave me the number when I was young"?

Answer: Johnny Cash

"Thirteen" was hardly the most cheerful of songs from one of country music's finest. Written for Cash by Glenn Danzig, it appeared on Cash's 1994 Grammy-winning album "American Recordings".

4. Which rockers originally from Hollywood complained of a true love: "But it's been 14 years of silence It's been 14 years of pain It's been 14 years that are gone forever And I'll never have again..."?

Answer: Guns N' Roses

"I try and feel the sunshine
You bring the rain
You try and hold me down
With your complaints..."
For a band that commanded such widespread respect among their peers, critics and concert-goers, GNR has only one number one hit between 1987 and 2009, "Sweet Child o' Mine" in 1988. "14 Years" was a track on the album "Use Your Illusion II" in 1991.

5. "'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you You're gonna believe them When you're fifteen and your first kiss Makes your head spin 'round But in your life you'll do things greater than Dating the boy on the football team But I didn't know it at fifteen..." Which fearless songstress cum actress had an US Number three country hit with this tale, "Fifteen", of teenage love angst?

Answer: Taylor Swift

After her 2006 debut single "Tim McGraw" charted at Number six in the Country charts, Taylor Swift continued a career that earned her a lot of plaudits, including four Grammys for her second album "Fearless" (2008). The following year Swift was Billboard Magazine's Artist of the Year.

As an actress, she appeared in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in 2009 and in Hannah Montana: The Movie the following year.

6. "Oh, what a girl! Eyes that twinkle and shine You're sixteen. You're beautiful and you are mine..." Which member of the The Beatles had a solo hit with a song called "You're Sixteen"?

Answer: Ringo Starr

Originally a Number eight US hit for Johnny Burnette in 1960, the Fab Four's drummer made it a Number One in 1974. His old bass-playing friend Paul McCartney played kazoo, while Harry Nilsson sang backing vocals.

7. "I learned the truth at seventeen That love was meant for beauty queens And high school girls with clear skinned smiles Who married young and then retired..." sang a talented American chanteuse who also dabbed in writing newspaper columns and science fiction stories. Who was she?

Answer: Janis Ian

"At 17" was nominated for five Grammy Awards and won for Best Female Pop Vocal. It reached Number Three in the US pop charts in 1975 and was a Billboard Adult Contemporary chart Number One. Janis Ian once said of the song: "I had to move back into my mom's house because I was broke and I couldn't make any money on the road. I was sitting at the kitchen table with a guitar one day, and I was reading a New York Times article about a debutante, and the opening line was 'I learned the truth at 18.' I was playing that little Samba figure, and that line struck me for some reason.

The whole article was about how she learned being a debutante didn't mean that much. I changed it to 17 because 18 didn't scan." [Quoted on www.songfacts.com]

8. Bobby Darin once sang of someone receiving a bouquet of 18 flowers. What kind of flowers were they?

Answer: Yellow roses

"Eighteen yellow roses came today
Eighteen yellow roses in a pretty bouquet
When the boy came to the door
I didn't know what to say
But, eighteen yellow roses came today..."
"18 Yellow Roses" was a 1963 US Number Ten for Bobby Darin.

9. "All those who remember the war They won't forget what they've seen Destruction of men in their prime Whose average was 19..." sang Paul Hardcastle in 1985. About which war was he singing?

Answer: Vietnam

"In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war
but it wasn't
It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26..."

"19" spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts.

10. "Well it's plain to see you were meant for me, yeah I'm your boy, your 20th century toy..." were lyrics from a 1973 UK hit by a band called T. Rex. Where did they get their name?

Answer: From a prehistoric dinosaur

The band was formed in the 1960s by Marc Bolan and was called Tyrannosaurus Rex after the dinosaur of the same name, but later shortened. Other T Rex hits included "Ride a White Swan" (1970 UK number two); "Get It On" (1971 UK number one); and "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru" both UK Number ones in 1972). Marc Bolan died in a car crash in 1977.

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

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