Songs About Natural Disasters & Accidents (Pt 5) Quiz

Answer: "Krakatoa", by Saxon

Styx also has a song called "Krakatoa", but it is the British heavy metal band that wrote and recorded the song "Krakatoa" that takes a more historic examination of the Krakatoa eruption that famously occurred in 1883. The other volcanoes listed did not have 1883 eruptions, nor are they songs recorded by Seether, Starship or Shakira. The Saxon lyrics include descriptions of the eruption instead:

"Blasting chunks of magma into the stratosphere
A thousand scarlet sunsets the land, a sea of fear"

And they also cite the geographical location:

"The earth... was. Sunda with a deadly roar"

and they mention the science of seismic measurement:

"The biggest known explosion the world had ever seen
The shockwaves traveled 'round the earth to smash the Richter scale
The tidal wave that followed left death and desolation in its trail."

Answer: A ship that sunk

British singer-songwriter Richard Hawley's album "False Lights From The Land" had four songs on it, all of them with an ocean theme. The album's concept was inspired by Richard Hawley's BBC Radio 2 series "The Ocean", examining the ocean and issues relating it to the United Kingdom, i.e. sea-faring, art, history, music, industry, culture and literature of The British Isles.

"The Ellan Vannin Tragedy" was actually written by Hughie Jones and recorded by Hughie Jones and The Spinners (not the American soul group Spinners, but the English folk group Spinners). It tells the tale of a ship called the SS Ellan Vannin, that ran into stormy weather on its way to Liverpool from the port of Ramsey on the Isle of Man on December 3, 1909. There were 15 passengers and 21 crew aboard, when winds rose to hurricane levels, and it is believed that a large wave took the ship down killing all 36 aboard.

Answer: The Irish Rovers, and The Carter Family

The Irish Rovers' song, written by leader George Millar, appeared on their 2012 album "Drunken Sailor", and it paid some attention to Belfast and the shipyard that had built the Titanic. The video for the song made the news in Belfast, and became the subject of a Canadian documentary about the building the ship Northern Ireland.

The Carter Family did write and record their song "The Titanic" in 1952 but it wasn't released until 1956. Other groups recorded their versions of the song, including The New Lost City Ramblers in 1967, Lesley Riddle in 1993, and the Rhythm Rats in 1997.

Answer: Horse and wagon

Christopher Columbus Lively and his wife Mary Elizabeth Fisher Lively were in their horse and wagon at a railway crossing near Pax, West Virginia, when a train collided with them on September 2, 1927, killing the couple. Blind Alfred Reed wrote the song about the accident and recorded it on December 19, 1927, in Camden, New Jersey, with Mr. Reed singing baritone and playing violin with Orville Reed (no relation) accompanying on guitar.

"Listen friends, I will tell you a story,
It's one that is sad to relate.
At a crossing not far from Park's Junction
There Chris Lively and wife met their fate."

Answer: Ohio River flood of 1937

Johnny Cash was born on February 26, 1932, and in March 1935, his parents settled in Dyess, Arkansas, a settlement formed when President Roosevelt established the New Deal so that poor families could work land that they could later own.

"I remember hearing:
How high's the water, mama?
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa?
Two feet high and risin'"

Johnny Cash worked in cotton fields alongside his family, learning to sing while he toiled.

"How high's the water, mama?
Three feet high and risin'"

In January of 1937 however, the Dyess community and the Cash family farm was overcome when the Ohio River overflowed due to heavy rains...

"How high's the water, papa?
Four feet high and risin'"

Johnny Cash would later write the song "Five Feet High and Rising" and record it March 12, 1959 for his third album. "Hymns By Johnny Cash"; he released the song as a single on July 6, 1959.

"Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can't come back till the water comes down,
Five feet high and risin'"

Answer: The New Lost City Ramblers

The New Lost City Ramblers folk band was founded in 1958 by Mike Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley, in New York City. Their 1964 song, "The Cyclone Of Rye Cove" was originally written by the Carter Family back in 1928, and told the tale of the deadliest tornado in Virginia history. A rare tornado outbreak whipped across the eastern United States on May 2, 1929, and struck the Rye Cove School in the Appalachian highlands of Virginia, killing twelve students and one teacher while injuring 54 others.

"When the cyclone appeared it darkened the air
Yet the lightning flashed over the sky
And the children all cried "Don't take us away
And spare us to go back home."

Answer: Cuyahoga

Tickenham Yeo is a river in Clevedon, England, Dry Fork Creek is next to Cleves in Hamilton County, Ohio, and Wyre Estuary is near Cleveleys, in Lancashire, England.

The Cuyahoga River has been one of the most polluted rivers in the 19th and 20th centuries, with at least 13 fires igniting, the largest one being in 1952, causing over $1 million in damage to boats, a bridge, and an office building. Many others have been reported on the Cuyahoga River, the first occurring in 1868. The stretch of the Cuyahoga from Akron to Cleveland has often been completely lacking in fish.

On June 22, 1969 a passing train car's spark ignited a fire on an oil slick in the Cuyahoga, which finally led to media attention calling for an end of the problem. $50,000 in damage was inflicted on a railroad bridge, and politicians finally put in place amendments to the Clean Water Act, and contributing to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

These events were catalogued by Randy Newman in his 1972 song "Burn On" :

"Burn on, big river, burn on
Now the Lord can sure pick 'em"

as well as R.E.M.'s song "Cuyahoga":

"Let's put our heads together
And start a new country up
Up underneath the river bed
We'll burn the river down"

Answer: Three Mile Island accident

The Chernobyl nuclear explosion and meltdown in Russia occurred on April 26, 1986. The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan March 11, 2011 was triggered by a tsunami. And the Santa Barbara southern California wildfires that endangered homes and lives, were in 2008.

All of those well after Dan Fogelberg's 1979 song "Face the Fire" from his album "Phoenix" was an indictment of politicians regarding the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant crisis.

"Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun

The people came to the capitol town
One hundred thousand of them laid their hearts down
They screamed in anger and broadcast their fears
Just to have them fall on deaf ears"

Answer: John Denver

Mr. Smith, Mr. Yorke, and Mr. Cash, have each spoken about their own fear of flying. John Denver however, was the son of a successful Air Force pilot, and qualified as a pilot himself; he even aspired to become the first civilian in space.

He underwent a NASA training program and passed all the tests, but despite being on the shortlist of applicants, it was Christa McAuliffe who was chosen. On January 28, 1986, 73 seconds into the flight of Space Shuttle Challenger's STS-51L mission, the craft exploded killing all aboard. The instrumental section at the end of the song is the exact same length of time as the total flight time of the Challenger mission-73 seconds.

"She was flying for me
She was flying for everyone
She was trying to see a brighter day for each and everyone."

Answer: "1931 China Floods" by Ashley Wilkinson

"1931 China Floods" is the only actual song title of those listed, and it is actually an electronic music composition without any lyrics, by recording artist Ashley Wilkinson. The recording lasts 4 minutes and 1 second, and also plays with sound effects, featuring a crowd of people's voices played very very low underneath the somber instrumentals. At the end it has sound effects of a fireworks display and the crowd's reaction. The song is from the 2010 album titled "Laika the Russian Dog."

The 1931 China floods, aka 1931 Yangtze-Huai River floods, devastated major cities like Nanking and Wuhan in the summer of 1931. While estimates of the death vary, some estimates reach upward of 4 million dead according to CBS News, which does include disease and starvation directly caused by the flood.