We're Number Two! Vol. VIII Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dedicated To The One I Love

Over the years, "Dedicated To The One I Love" has made six Hot 100 charting appearances and this version by The Mamas and The Papas topped them all with its Number Two placement. A couple of things make it stand out. The musical arrangement is much glossier and refined than the others and it really displays the harmonic talents of the group. They probably never sounded better. The song was written in the late 1950s by Ralph Bass and Lowman Pauling, members of The 5 Royales. Their original recording failed to chart but another version by The Shirelles squeezed into the Hot 100 at Number 83. Two years later, in 1961, both groups re-released their original disks and on that occasion, The 5 Royales reached Number 81 but the Shirelles soared all the way to Number Three. Following The Mamas and The Papas, covers by The Temprees in 1972 and Bernadette Peters in 1981 also made Hot 100 appearances although much further down the chart. Finally, in 1994, a British reggae styled singer named Bitty McLean guided his rendition to Number Six on the U.K. chart.

In 1967, "Happy Together" by The Turtles thwarted The Mamas and The Papas in their quest for Number One. "Whispering" was an old 1920s standard revived by April Stevens and Nino Tempo in 1961. It peaked at Number 11. "Sealed With A Kiss" was a Number Three hit in 1962 for Brian Hyland. "Send Me The Pillow You Dream On" was another song with several charting appearances, first as a country hit by Hank Locklin in 1958. The highest charting pop version was recorded by Johnny Tillotson in 1962 when it clocked in at Number 17.

Answer: My Boy Lollipop

In the late 1950s, Chris Blackwell formed Island Records with the intent of marketing Jamaican music, and the musicians that played it, to the world stage. At the time, "Ska" music was at the forefront of the Jamaican musical scene and it would later evolve into "Reggae" music. Among his early discoveries were Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley and Desmond Dekker. In 1964, he signed an 18 year old Jamaican to the label, Millie Small, and was looking for material that she could record. Sometime in the mid 1950s, Bobby Spencer, a member of a NYC doo-wop group The Cadillacs, wrote "My Boy Lollipop" and it became a regional hit for 15 year old Bobbie Gaye in 1956. Although not a Ska song per se, it was sung in a similar style and Blackwell saw the potential of adapting it to the Ska format. Small's recording of the song essentially became Island Records' first major international smash hit and for many of us in North America, it was our first introduction to this infectious "new" music. Sadly for Millie Small, it was the acme of her career. Her follow up recording, "Sweet William", peaked at Number 40 on Billboard and Number 30 in Great Britain and that would be the extent of her charting career. By 1973, she had left the industry entirely and now resides in England.

Of your other options, "Georgy Girl" reached Number Two in 1967 for The Seekers, "Ruby Baby" also peaked at the same number for Dion in 1963 while "Johnny Angel" was Shelley Fabares' only Number One hit in 1962. During the one week that "My Boy Lollipop" sat at Number Two, The Dixie Cups held forth at the top with their "Chapel Of Love".

Answer: Yellow Submarine

One evening, Paul McCartney was laying in bed when he got the sudden notion to compose a child's song... and this was it. He used simple language with an easily memorized chorus line conducive for children to sing along with. McCartney visualized it as a perfect song for Ringo to do the vocal on and it was common for The Beatles to steer their more whimsical songs like this one or "Octopus's Garden" in his direction. It appeared on the "Revolver" album and "Eleanor Rigby" was on the flip side.

It's hard to say why this song did not top the Billboard Hot 100 when it did in virtually every other market. The Supremes were holding down Number One with "You Can't Hurry Love" at the time and while it's a nice song, it certainly wasn't a monster hit to overcome. Speculation suggests that Lennon's comment earlier in 1966 that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus might have had something to do with it, especially in the more "religious right" areas of the U.S. He made those observations offhandedly in an interview in England in March and they had been more or less forgotten until they were reprinted, out of context, in an American periodical in July, right about when this song was breaking in the States. Whatever, the group went back to the studio to record new material and their next release, "Penny Lane" in early 1967, went right to the top, as per usual. All was forgiven!

Answer: Can't Help Falling In Love

"Can't Help Falling In Love" was based on an old French love song, "Plaisir D'Amour", written in 1780 by Jean Paul Egide Martini. It was adapted by American songwriters George Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore for its inclusion in the Presley movie "Blue Hawaii". Originally, the creative forces behind the movie weren't that keen on the song but Presley insisted on it. Clearly, it must have been a favorite of his since in later years, it was the song with which he traditionally closed his live performances. It has been covered countless times but most notably by the group that made it the Number One worldwide hit in 1993, UB40. What song prevented its rise to Number One on the Hot 100 in 1962? The answer is "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and The Starlighters.

"That's The Way Love Goes" and "The Power Of Love" were Number One hits for Janet Jackson in 1993 and Celine Dion in 1994, respectively, but of course they were not covers of a song released in 1963. There were three charting versions of "Fools Rush In" during the early 1960s the biggest of which was a Number 12 recording by Ricky Nelson in 1963.

Answer: Bad Moon Rising

For me, there was a sense of incongruity with this song. How could such a lively, spirited piece of music be laden with such foreboding, apocalyptic lyrics? John Fogerty indicated that he was stimulated to write it after viewing an old movie classic, "The Devil And Daniel Webster", that featured a New England town getting wiped off the map by natural disaster. Although most of the popular songs were generally uplifting in this era, a couple weren't; this was one and the other was a huge Number One hit by Zager and Evans, "In The Year 2525". Talk about depressing! In any event, this Creedence Clearwater Revival swamp rock classic was denied the top of the Hot 100 by Henry Mancini and his decidedly MOR recording of "Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet".

"Ball Of Confusion" was another song that focused on a sense of doom and gloom and it peaked at Number Three in 1970 for The Temptations. "Too Late To Turn Back Now" was a Number Two hit in 1972 for Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose while "Time Of The Season", The Zombies' last charting single, reached Number Three in 1969.

Answer: Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel)

Up to the time that this song was released, Roy Orbison only had one mediocre charting hit, the Number 59 rock-a-billy tinged "Ooby Dooby" recorded on the Sun label in 1956. While with Sun, he continued to record similar songs but got lost in the shuffle of artists like Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins who, very simply, were better at it than he was. By the end of the 1950s, he was seriously considering giving up singing and concentrating on writing songs for others. With collaborator Joe Melson, he wrote this song in 1960 intended for the Everly Brothers but they declined the offer and strongly urged him to record it himself. It would be the start of a wonderful six year run on the charts for Orbison until the British invasion and changing musical tastes signaled his decline as a top tier charting influence. To think how close we were to missing out on that near operatic voice and the heart wrenching delivery on his many hits makes me, for one, shudder.

There were plenty of "lonely" songs to use as baiting alternatives. "Lonely Teardrops" stalled at Number Seven for Jackie Wilson in 1959 and "Lonely Teenager" was one of the few tear jerking ballads Dion ever recorded in the 1960s. Perhaps its Number 12 chart placement induced him to get rocking with stuff like "The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue". "I've Been Lonely Too Long" was a Number 16 hit for The Young Rascals in 1967. It wasn't another "lonely" song that stymied Orbison from going Number One with this hit but rather a sorrowful ballad aptly entitled "I'm Sorry" sung by Brenda Lee.

Answer: Young Girl

1968 and 1969 were very big years for Gary Puckett and The Union Gap. In that span they had six hits chart in the top 15 on the Hot 100 including two Number Twos, this hit and "Lady Willpower". Unfortunately, all their hits seemed remarkably like the other and when they separated from their producer and mentor Jerry Fuller, the well of hits went completely dry. This led to contractual difficulties with their record label and by the end of 1970, various members of the group departed for greener pastures leaving Puckett to fend for himself as a solo act. That didn't work out well so he dabbled in acting for a few years. When the "oldies" circuit became the rage in the mid 1980s, Puckett hitched his wagon to that and has remained active on tour well into the new millennium.

Two of the biggest hits of 1968 blocked "Young Girl" from the top during its three week stint as a runner up. "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding took care of the first week then "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro vaulted to Number One and remained there for five weeks. Your other choices were songs of similar lyrical content. "Come Back When You Grow Up" was a Number Three hit in 1967 for Bobby Vee and "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" by Mac Davis topped the Hot 100 in 1972. "Younger Girl" in 1966 was quite a nice song in my opinion but suffered chart-wise when two competing versions were released at the same time. The Critters took theirs to Number 42 while The Hondells version stalled at Number 52. Perhaps the best rendition was recorded by The Lovin' Spoonful for the "Do You Believe In Magic" album in 1965 but, to my knowledge, it was never released as a single.

Answer: Apache

Ah yes, the long forgotten instrumental and the bane of internet music quizzes. How can a quizzee be expected to get the right answer when there are no lyrical clues and you can't hear even a snippet of the song for help? Generally, I avoid instrumentals in my quizzes for that very reason but this was the only way I could reach my stated goal of using Number Two songs on Billboard that were as big or bigger in the U.K. The true music buff, especially those old enough to remember Ingmann, will get it and all the more credit to them!

An American named Jerry Lordan composed the piece inspired by a 1954 movie western of the same name. In the course of playing it, the guitarist would mimic the sound of an arrow flying through the air. Very catchy and an enormous hit, especially in Britain where The Shadows' version topped the local chart for five weeks. Ingmann's recording stayed on the Hot 100 for 17 weeks, two of them at Number Two behind The Marcels' Number One hit "Blue Moon", a song which coincidently was Number One in the U.K. around the same time.

The success of The Shadows in Britain was particularly noteworthy. Indeed, they had five Number One hits in Britain and that was unheard of for an instrumental group. No other band came close. None of their recordings ever charted on Billboard but the Americans had their own artists such as Duane Eddy and The Ventures to provide the public with solid instrumental recordings. One big difference - they had zero Number Ones. "Telstar" was a 1962 smash hit for the British group "The Tornadoes". It was a five week chart topper in their homeland and Number One on Billboard for three weeks. "Washington Square" was a Number Two hit in 1964 for The Village Stompers, a Dixieland styled outfit based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. It was not a charting hit abroad. Meanwhile, "Wipe Out" might very well be the most recognizable instrumental guitar recording to ever hit the airwaves. It was performed by The Surfaris in 1963 and peaked at Number Two on the Hot 100, Number Five in the U.K.

Answer: Fire

British born Arthur Brown recorded "Fire" and his antics on stage were quite something. I recall seeing one of his performances on TV and was genuinely gob-smacked. Normally, he'd be dropped by crane to the stage wearing a long flowing robe and helmet that shot out flames much like a blow torch. He was a whirling dervish on stage and the only person that I could possibly compare him to in the threatening way he performed would be the great blues singer, Howling Wolf. On more than one occasion, his props malfunctioned and either himself or other performers onstage were accidentally ignited although no one was ever seriously injured. He truly was one of a kind, at least for that era! Most resources show the song being credited to "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown" but that was the title of his album. Whether that was his recording name is open to conjecture. Brown continued to do his thing for a couple of years but the threat of inferno due to his props made booking venues a serious hurdle. Eventually, by the early 1970s, he was a member of a group named Kingdom Come and although they never recorded anything notable, their stage activities with Brown the focus were quite memorable from many accounts. Frequently, he simulated a crucifixion on stage (that would be fun... not) and judging from what I've read, he may well have been the model for Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne and their stage personas. Eventually, Brown moved to Texas and earned a Masters degree in personal counseling. Apparently, he remains active in that capacity in England and still makes the occasional special appearance on stage.

The other hits I gave you as choices may have made your selection a little easier. All were Number One hits in 1966; "96 Tears" by ? and The Mysterians, "Lightnin' Strikes" by Lou Christie and "Wild Thing" for The Troggs. "Fire" had no chance of ever reaching Number One. It was peaking at Number Two when the The Beatles' "Hey Jude" was in the midst of its nine week run at the top.

Answer: Poetry In Motion

"Poetry In Motion" was Johnny Tillotson's first big hit and it would remain his biggest hit for the duration of his career. "A Hundred Pounds Of Clay" was a Number Three hit for Gene McDaniels in 1961, Jack Scott took "My True Love" to Number Three in 1958 and Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover" made it to Number Two in 1959 just before his career defining release of "Mack The Knife".

Tillotson was born in Florida in 1939, the son of a country music DJ and that connection influenced his career from the start. He started performing country music casually in his mid-teens but the success of Elvis had an immediate impact on him and he started to drift more toward the pop side of the ledger as he matured. Nevertheless, his music always seemed to straddle both genres although it's not apparent in "Poetry In Motion" which is decidedly pop in nature. The country influences are more perceptible with some of his later hits such as the Number Three "It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'" in 1962 and the Number Seven "Talk Back Trembling Lips" a year later. Those lyrics had a country bias to them as did the musicianship in their production but Tillotson never sang them with a pronounced country twang. As such, all his hits found their way onto the pop charts but only a few crossed over to the country charts. Regardless, he persisted as a charting influence until 1965 when he, like so many other of his pop colleagues of the era, was buried in the British invasion avalanche. From the very start of his career, he laid down vocal tracks for his hits in foreign languages and he was also among the first pop singers of his generation to embrace the performing opportunities that casinos provided. Consequently, when the hits stopped, he just kept right on performing, as many as 230 nights per year, in Nevada and abroad where he had nurtured substantial fan bases. He continues to do so into the new century