The Best of 1967-1972 Quiz | Music

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Dead released their first album, "The Grateful Dead", in 1967. Here are some lyrics from one of the songs. Which song is it? "Well everybody's dancing in a ring around the sun Nobody's finished, we ain't even begun So take off your shoes, child, and take off your hat Try on your wings and find out where it's at Hey hey, hey, come right away Come and join the party every day"

Answer: The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)

"The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)" was the Dead's second single, and first off their eponymous debut album. The original album was recorded in four days in Los Angeles, because they could not find a good recording studio in San Francisco. The song, with writing credits to all five members of the Dead at the time, also appeared on "Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of the Grateful Dead", which reached triple platinum. That remains their best-selling album of all time.

2. The Grateful Dead's second album, "Anthem of the Sun" was a mixture of studio and overdubbed live material. Can you name the song with the following lyrics? "Seems like I have been here before Fuzzy then and still so obscure Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye And I don't want to see anybody cry Meet me some morning in the sweet by and by, by and by, by and by"

Answer: Born Cross-Eyed

"Born Cross-Eyed" was the only song from "Anthem of the Son" to appear on a single, featured on the B-side of "Dark Star", the studio version of which did not appear on an album until the compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been".

3. A long time staple of the band, what song from the Dead's third album, "Aoxomoxoa", contains the following lyrics? (Hint: It was often paired with "I Know You Rider" in concert.) "Krazy Kat peeking through a lace bandana Like a one-eyed Cheshire Like a diamond-eye Jack A leaf of all colors plays A golden string fiddle To a double-e waterfall over my back"

Answer: China Cat Sunflower

"China Cat Sunflower" was the Dead's sixth single and the second from the album "Aoxomoxoa", after "Dupree's Diamond Blues". The album itself was the first Grateful Dead album to reach gold in the US.

4. Another classic from "Aoxomoxoa" is named after a Christian martyr. Can you name the song from the lyrics given? "Lady finger dipped in moonlight Writing 'what for?' across the morning sky Sunlight splatters dawn with answers Darkness shrugs and bids the day goodbye"

Answer: St. Stephen

"St. Stephen" appeared on two albums in 1969: "Aoxomoxoa" and "Live/Dead". The live version is probably more well known, having appeared on the multi-platinum compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been". It was written by Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Robert Hunter.

5. The Grateful Dead's fourth album, "Live/Dead", was their first completely live album. What cover song first appearing on this album contains the following lyrics? "Without a warning you broke my heart Taken it baby, tore it apart And you left me standin' in the dark crying Said your love for me was dying"

Answer: Turn On Your Love Light

There were no singles released from the "Live/Dead" album, most likely because most of the songs ran together or were too long. "Turn On Your Love Light", sung by "Pigpen" McKernan, was originally recorded by Bobby Bland in 1961.

6. 1970's "Workingman's Dead", the Grateful Dead's fifth album, ended with this catchy tune. Can you name it from the lyrics provided? "Trouble ahead, Lady in red, Take my advice you'd be better off dead Switchman's sleeping, train hundred and two is On the wrong track and headed for you"

Answer: Casey Jones

"Casey Jones" was a radio hit written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia. Casey Jones was a real person, who died in 1900 when his passenger train collided with stalled freight train in Vaughan, Mississippi.

7. Another classic from "Workingman's Dead" is the first track. Which Grateful Dead song contains the following lyrics? "It's a buck dancer's choice my friend; better take my advice You know all the rules by now and the fire from the ice Will you come with me? Won't you come with me? Wo-oh, what I want to know, will you come with me?"

Answer: Uncle John's Band

The Dead started performing this Hunter/Garcia song live in 1969, and it became another radio hit. The harmonies were based largely on those performed by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The song is listed among the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

8. This song first appears on the studio album "Workingman's Dead" and later as a live version on "Bear's Choice" and the compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been." Can you name it from the lyrics given? "Fever roll up to a hundred and five Roll on up, gonna roll back down One more day I find myself alive Tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground"

Answer: Black Peter

This song was written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia and appeared on "Workingman's Dead" and later as a live version on "Bear's Choice" and the compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been". The narrator is diseased and dying, and the lyrics are largely comprised of his musings about how such a monumental thing for him is just another day for everyone else.

9. Which song from "Workingman's Dead" and later on the compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been" contains the following lyrics? "Now I don't know but I been told It's hard to run with the weight of gold Other hand, I heard it said It's just as hard with the weight of lead"

Answer: New Speedway Boogie

This is another composition by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. It was performed from 1969 through 1970 and then dropped until the 1990s. The "speedway" was the Altamont Speedway and according to Robert Hunter, the lyrics were "written as a reply to an indictment of the Altamont affair by pioneer rock critic Ralph J. Gleason."

10. The Grateful Dead's sixth album, "American Beauty", contains a song that would become one of their most enduring. Given the lyrics below, can you name the song? "Sometimes the light's all shining on me Other times I can barely see Lately it occurs to me What a long, strange trip it's been"

Answer: Truckin'

Written by Garcia, Weir, Lesh, and Hunter, "Truckin'" is one of the most recognizable songs by the Dead. In a 1997 VH-1 documentary, Bob Weir said this about the song:

"There was a romance about being a young man on the road in America, and you had to do it! It was a rite of passage. And at the same time, it was the material that you drew from to write about. We were starting to become real guys, and really enjoying the hell out of it. We toured more or less four to six months out of the year. It was our bread and butter-we weren't selling that many records. And we had a lot of fun out on the road, got into a lot of trouble... We left some smoking craters of some Holiday Inns, I'll say that, and there were a lot of places that wouldn't have us back. All of this is absolutely autobiographical, all the stuff in 'Truckin'."

11. The studio album "American Beauty" also contains this classic sung by Phil Lesh. Can you name it based on the lyrics below? "Walk into splintered sunlight Inch your way through dead dreams To another land Maybe you're tired and broken Your tongue is twisted with words half spoken And thoughts unclear What do you want me to do To do for you to see you through?"

Answer: Box of Rain

This opening song from "American Beauty" was written by Phil Lesh and Robert Hunter, and sung by the former. It was the first Grateful Dead album to feature a song with Lesh on vocals.

Robert Hunter, who wrote the lyrics, said of the song that Lesh "wanted a song to sing to his dying father and had composed a piece complete with every vocal nuance but the words. If ever a lyric 'wrote itself,' this did-as fast as the pen would pull."

12. Another from 1970's "American Beauty". What song contains the following lyrics? "If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung Would you hear my voice come through the music? Would you hold it near as it were your own?"

Answer: Ripple

"Ripple" was composed by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter and first performed in August of 1970. According to an interview with Hunter in a documentary film by Jeremy Marre, "Ripple," "Brokedown Palace" and "To Lay Me Down" were all composed in one afternoon, over half a bottle of retsina.

13. One more from "American Beauty", which Weir/Hunter song with the following lyrics became a major staple of the band? "She comes skimmin' through rays of violet She can wade in a drop of dew She don't come and I don't follow Waits backstage while I sing to you Well, she can dance a Cajun rhythm Jump like a Willys in four wheel drive She's a summer love for spring, fall and winter She can make happy any man alive"

Answer: Sugar Magnolia

"Sugar Magnolia", a mainstay of Grateful Dead live performances, was written by Bob Weir and Robert Hunter and first performed in June of 1970. In the list of songs that the Dead played live the most, this song is second only to "Me and My Uncle".

14. The Grateful Dead's second eponymous album, often referred to as "Skull and Roses", contains the song the band played live more than any other. Can you name it based on the lyrics below? "I took the horses up to the stall Went to the barroom, ordered drinks for all Three days in the saddle, you know my body hurt It bein' summer, I took off my shirt And I tried to wash off some of that dusty dirt"

Answer: Me and My Uncle

This song was written by John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. The Dead would play this song live more than any other in their long career.

It was also covered by Judy Collins. According to the account at the Grateful Dead Lyric and Song Finder:

"John often used to tell the story behind "Me and My Uncle." Years ago he began receiving publishing royalties from a song on a Judy Collins record with which he was unfamiliar. It was titled "Me and My Uncle". He called Judy to let her know of the mistake because he hadn't written any such song. She laughed and told him that about a year before, in Arizona after one of her concerts, they had a 'Tequila Night' back at the hotel with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and a few others. They were running a blank cassette and John proceeded to write "Me and My Uncle" on the spot. The next day, John woke up to the tequila sunrise with no recollection of the songwriting incident. Judy kept the cassette from that evening and then, without informing John, recorded the song for her own record. Over the years the song was recorded by several people, and eventually became a standard of the Grateful Dead. John used to joke that, little by little, with each royalty check, the memory of writing the song would come back to him."

15. This Grateful Dead song appears on Bob Weir's solo album "Ace" and the "Skull and Roses" album. Can you name it given the following lyrics? "Some folks trust to reason Others trust to might I don't trust to nothing But I know it come out right Say it once again now Oh I hope you understand When it's done and over Lord, a man is just a man"

Answer: Playing in the Band

"Playing in the Band" was a composition by Bob Weir and Robert Hunter that first appeared on Weir's solo album "Ace". "Ace" was a Grateful Dead album in all but name, as all members except Pigpen McKernan were present on the recording, and Hunter himself wrote many of the lyrics.

The song was a staple of their live repertoire, coming in fourth on the list of the songs most played live, behind "Me and My Uncle", "Sugar Magnolia", and "The Other One".

16. The song appears on Bob Weir's studio album "Ace" and on the Grateful Dead's eighth album "Europe '72". What song contains the following lyrics? "I went down to the mountain, I was drinking some wine I looked up into heaven, lord I saw a mighty sign Writ in fire across the heaven, plain as black and white Get prepared, there's gonna be a party tonight"

Answer: One More Saturday Night

"One More Saturday Night" is a song credited to Bob Weir only, although there is some evidence that a version with different lyrics was written by Weir and Robert Hunter. According to the story, Weir proposed some lyrical changes, which led Hunter to disavow himself of a writing credit. Hunter and Weir were often at loggerheads about such lyrical changes, and as time progressed, Weir found other lyricists to work with.

17. What song from the "Europe '72" album contains the following lyrics? "We can share the women, we can share the wine We can share what we got of yours 'cause we done shared all of mine Keep on rollin', just a mile to go Keep on rollin' my old buddy, you're movin' much too slow"

Answer: Jack Straw

"Jack Straw" was written by Bob Weir and Robert Hunter and was first played in concert in 1971. Early on, Bob Weir sang all the lyrics, while later, Weir sang Jack Straw's part and Jerry Garcia sang the part of Shannon.

The Grateful Dead tribute album "Deadicated" contains a cover of "Jack Straw" played by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

18. What song from "Europe '72" contains the following lyrics? "Daddy made whiskey and he made it well Cost two dollars and it burned like hell I cut hickory just to fire the still Drink down a bottle and be ready to kill"

Answer: Brown-Eyed Women

"Brown-Eyed Women" is a song by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter that tells the story of a bootlegger in the 1930s. Its first live performance was on August 23, 1971 at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago.

19. What song from the album "Europe '72" contains the following lyrics? "Just like Crazy Otto, just like Wolfman Jack Sittin plush with a royal flush, aces back to back Just like Mary Shelly, just like Frankenstein Clank your chains and count your change and try to walk the line"

Answer: Ramble On Rose

The meaning of this song, a Gracia/Hunter collaboration, is still debated, but it was a favorite of mine from the first time I heard it on the compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been". Robert Hunter also lists it among his favorites. The song was first performed live on October 19, 1971 at the Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

20. This song originally appeared on "Workingman's Dead", but the same live version appeared on "Europe '72" and on the compilation "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been". Can you name the song based on the lyrics provided? "A lot of poor man make a five dollar bill Keep him happy all the time Some other fellow's making nothing at all And you can hear him cryin 'Can I go buddy Can I go down Take your shift at the mine?'"

Answer: Cumberland Blues

"Cumberland Blues" first appears on the studio album "Workingman's Dead", but the version on "Europe '72" is simply brilliant. The song was composed by Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia with Robert Hunter writing the lyrics. It was played often live between 1969 and 1974, before reappearing in the Dead's repertoire in 1981.

Source: Author OofahLandian

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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The Best of 1967-1972 Trivia Quiz

I shall give you a sampling from the lyrics of a song and the name of the album on which it appeared. You will tell me the name of the song. No obscure songs here. Only the best from the era (1967-1972)!

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