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Steve Knightley Trivia Quizzes

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2 Steve Knightley quizzes and 20 Steve Knightley trivia questions.
1.
  The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In 2008 Steve Knightley of the folk-rock duo 'Show of Hands' released a solo album, 'Cruel River'. Following the maxim about being cruel to be kind, here is a cruel quiz about it.
Average, 10 Qns, paper_aero, Mar 10 16
Average
paper_aero gold member
144 plays
2.
  Too Cruel River    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In 2008 Steve Knightley of the folk-rock duo 'Show of Hands' released an album entitled 'Cruel River'. I've already written one quiz on the album, so this is a quiz on it 'too'. (Hopefully that explains the attempted pun in the quiz title.)
Average, 10 Qns, paper_aero, Mar 10 16
Average
paper_aero gold member
126 plays
trivia question Quick Question
The opening track, "Lowlands" is a traditional song. Where is the singer when he realises his love has died?

From Quiz "Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed"




Related Topics
  Show of Hands [Music] (8 quizzes)


Steve Knightley Trivia Questions
1. In the "Caragana Wind" what never let the farmer down, as opposed to "some damn machine."?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Pair of Clydes

Shires, Clydesdales and Cleveland Bays are all breeds of heavy horse which were used by farmers before the unromantic tractor became the norm. But for this song it is "those matching Clydes were quite a team." One of the two songs on the album written by other people, in this case by Canadian singer-songwriter Gary Fjellgaar.

2. 'Poppy Day', despite its implied subject is not about Remembrance Sunday and the British Legion. It is about drug dealing being a problem in country towns not just inner cities. With which military force is the singer's 'best mate' fighting?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Paratroops

The relevant lyric here is "So there's my best mate in Afghanistan. Fighting with the Paras taking on the Taliban". A little later the lyrics continue, "He says it's just like walking through Flanders fields. Now the opium farmers have doubled their yields." The song is best summed up in Steve's notes with the CD, "Such bitter irony that the flower that brings such comfort and relief is also a source of so much misery."

3. "Transported" is a song about a couple of scoundrels from the south-west of England. Which is the best description of the illicit contents of the trailer when the 'Landy' has a flat and the police turn up to offer a hand?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Ovine

"Stolen sheep in our trailer and rain in the air". Ovine means sheep-like and I cannot think of anything more sheep-like than a sheep. By the way a 'Landy' is a Land-Rover, bovine is cow-like, cervine is deer-like and porcine is pig-like.

4. Steve Knightley's sleeve notes read in part, "Take a Show of Hands standard, record it in waltz time and sing it in French." The song is "Tout Va Bien"; what is the Show of Hands song behind it?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Are We All Right

The sleeve notes also say that "Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time." and "If this turns out to be the song that buys the yacht then the ironies of the music business will finally defeat me." Personally I think it is quite good and the originally readily discernible when listening to it. I can't comment on how true the lyrics are to the English version though. The three wrong options are all real songs by Show of Hands.

5. "The whole world knows there's no-one in. But a hollow man and a crooked grin." What is the name of this character, who is also the title of the song from which the lyric is taken?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Crooked Man

The song is entitled "Crooked Man '07" to distinguish it from an earlier version. The opening "There was a crooked man with a crooked smile" and other lines, strongly suggests this is a political song from someone not very impressed with Tony Blair. But this is only supposition as nowhere in the song are any names mentioned.

6. There are many attractive aspects to living in the countryside, and a few drawbacks. What feature of the weather is the problem with living 800 feet up on the north side of a hill in the west of England?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Rain

The song is titled "Raining Again" and is about living in Dorset. It does look at other aspects of living in rural England apart from the weather, e.g. "The church or the pub oh you're forced to choose. So what you gain in one life oh in the next you lose." Further on the lyrics go "And I've heard enough of some folk rock band. Banging on and on about country life." This to me is a clear reference to Show of Hands and their album "Country Life", the title track of which was written by Steve Knightley, (as are most of the duo's songs).

7. One of the songs on this album makes three separate references to the 'Lord of the Rings'. Which of Steve's songs is this?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Raining Again

The first reference is "It's just like living in the Shire round here. A ring on your finger, disappear", which is a clear reference to the ring possessed by Bilbo and then Frodo. The second reference is "Out to the East turns the London eye. It seeks me out and I can't hide" which is comparable to the eye of Sauron. The third reference is at the end of the song, "It's a middle earth trap but we won't complain." (Capitalisation as per the booklet accompanying the CD.) Of the wrong options, all of them are written by Steve Knightley but none of them appear on 'Cruel River'.

8. Not all of the songs on the CD are written by Steve Knightley, which song by Mark Knopfler is included?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

This is listed as a bonus track, a live performance instead of being part of the studio recording. I have never heard the original but this version sits well with the rest of the album. "Sailing to Philadelphia" is also a Mark Knopfler song but as far as I know Steve Knightley has never recorded it, and certainly not on this album. "She's Gone" is written by Steve Knightley and is included on "Cruel River" while the song "Come By" which is also written by Steve Knightley is to be found on the Show of Hands' album "Cold Frontier".

9. In "The Rocks" what is the singer telling his 'honey' that she hears roaring?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: The Sea

"It's the sea you hear roaring not the haven or the docks." A love giving advice to someone who appears to desperately need it. "If you're not running from your devils you're taking them to bed" is another line which describes the singers 'honey' succinctly.

10. The "Tall Ship Story" concerns a typical sailor's tall story. The sailor swears that in this case it actually happened. In which port is it claimed this took place?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Shanghai

Are these tall stories ever true? Or based in reality back in the mists of time? In this tale the sailor gets to spend the night with a beautiful young woman. But "On every ship some loud mouthed sailor. Says it happened to him what happened to you. But for one young man in all these oceans. Well I will have made this fiction true. Forever known as a liar by all of your crew."

11. "She's Gone", but in what season did the singer think he saw her face "Caught in the lights at the edge of some stage"?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Summer

The preceding line to the one quoted in the question is; "One warm summer's night I thought I saw her face". Another song about lost love. "Into my life a bright light shone. But it's dark again Now she's gone." This song was written by Steve Knightley in collaboration with Matt Clifford.

12. What is the worst case scenario for our two rustlers in "Transported"?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Bail

Well this is a song of modern day villainy, a few hints as to the era are the mobile phone, the land rover and the police radio, all of which would be anachronisms in the days when sheep stealing was a capital offence and Australia served as Britain's off shore jail. "There's no transportation down under. No gallows in the old County Jail. At best in the morning a fine and a warning, at worst in the evening we're let out on bail." Which is why at the end of the song the pair of rogues are glad "they weren't born in 1803"?

13. In the song "Poppy Day" what is the profession of the song's narrator?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Drug Dealer

"Poppy Day" is about how inadequate our attempts to control the drugs trade are. "You're trying to kill bugs with a gun or a rapier", the drug dealer simply moves on looking for new victims. "And in the tree lined suburbs out in the sticks. I open up my bag of tricks. There's a million more young lives to fix.". Although poppies give comfort to many, they are also the source of much misery to many more.

14. In the title song, "Cruel River", where are the singer and his sweetheart when her brothers catch them together?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Beneath the bridge

"Below the tor, beneath the bridge. In her arms they caught me." A story of a girl falling in love with someone her family didn't approve of and ending with her death in the river. A cruel fate in a cruel river.

15. From the song "All Quiet on the Western Front", the front in which of the four cardinal directions states that "Sold our souls in the wasted dome. For a maximum wage million pound home."?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: South

In this verse it is "all quiet on the southern front". The dome plainly refers to the millennium dome whilst the million pound home comments may be coming home to roost with the 2008 global credit crunch. The overall theme of the song is how things have changed (for the worse) in the north, south, east and west of England.

16. What are the 'Crooked Man' and his friend drinking a toast to?

From Quiz Too Cruel River

Answer: Last crusade

The song, "Crooked Man '07" is ever so slightly a comment on Tony Blair's foreign policy in the Middle East. The songwriter can't be described as being in favour of it. The relevant section of the lyrics to this question is "They preach and they pray. Watch the clock count down their days. Raise a glass to the last crusade. They pack their bags plan their escape."

17. The song "Caragana Wind" was written by which Canadian singer-songwriter?

From Quiz The Cruel 'Cruel River' Quiz

Answer: Gary Fjellgaard

The song itself is about a couple having to leave the farm they've worked on for fifty years. This fits well with the themes of songs Steve has written about English farming. As part of Show of Hands, Steve has recorded songs written by all of the other listed songwriters.

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