A Short History of the World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oliver's Army

The "Oliver" in the title is Oliver Cromwell who led his New Model (Parliamentary) Army against Charles I's Royalists during the English Civil War that was fought out between 1642 and 1651. However, the name in the title and the use of it to build a chorus, are the only links in this song to that war. If one looks deeper into the song you see that Costello takes aim at the mercenary qualities of war. Whilst he rattles off a number of conflicts across the globe toward the end of the track, which gives the impression that he is detailing the acts of soldiers of fortune, he had, earlier, twisted this observation to show us soldiers of misfortune. He takes no prisoners as he takes a swipe at governments using those in the lower socio-economic belts to shore up their numbers within their armed forces.

Costello was moved to write this after a visit to Northern Ireland where he witnessed the Troubles first hand, and got the see the tender ages of the soldiers about to lay their lives on the line. These were British soldiers that he was looking at and, bearing in mind that this number was written in 1978/9 when unemployment was high in England, Costello is really clever at pointing out three of the hardest hit areas in the country with unemployment issues; Liverpool, London and Newcastle. His caustic vision is delivered with the line "with the boys from the Mersey, the Thames and the Tyne". He then takes this deeper by singling out the school drop-outs, those with low grades and little future with "call career's information/ have you got yourself an occupation".

The song can be found on Elvis Costello's 1979 album "Armed Forces". Released as the lead single from that disc it became one of Elvis' best selling songs.

Answer: Bob Marley and the Wailers

With this number Bob Marley uses a broad brush to paint a multi-layered history of the Afro-American experience through slavery. From being kidnapped and packed away in the "bottomless pit" of the slave ship to the fear of being judged by the mighty, when the only fear one need have is being judged by the Almighty. He then, gently, admonishes us to not believe that we're free, just because someone lets us loose and tells us that we are free. To be truly free you need to also rid yourself of the mental anguish of the distressing time that held us chains... "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/ none but ourselves can free our minds".

Marley would write a number of songs with links to "black man's" history, such "Buffalo Soldier" and "Get Up, Stand Up" but none would have the impact of "Redemption Song". Fittingly, the song appears as the final track on the last album he would record with the Wailers, "Uprising" (1979). He recorded as many as fifteen different versions of the song, the majority with the full support of his band but most of those pale against the poignancy of the acoustic version that Marley included on this album.

As a counterpoint to the "Redemption Song", it is worth the while to listen to "Amazing Grace", a folk hymn that was written by John Newton, a slave trader, caught in a wild storm off the coast of Ireland. He appealed to God for mercy and then converted to Christianity... "that saved a wretch like me".

Answer: Victoria

By 1969 the Kinks were in a little bit of turmoil. Their previous album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" (1968) was both a critical and commercial disaster and echoed a declining trend in the band's fortunes. Then came the concept album "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)" and a change of fortune. "Arthur" was to have been part of a soundtrack for a television play, but the project failed to eventuate. The Kinks put that behind them to produce this masterpiece that has been hailed by critics as one of the best concept albums in the history of rock and roll.

"Victoria", the third single to be released from the album, is written in Ray Davies' own satirical style, full of irony and double meanings. In single lines he reveals the quest for Empire during Queen Victoria's reign "from the west, to the east/ from the rich to the poor/ Victoria loved them all" (though live versions altered the word "loved" to one that would not have amused Victoria) and how this empire was built upon the backs of the down trodden, who had little to enthuse about, yet had an enduring love for their Queen "though I am poor, I am free/When I grow I shall fight/For this land I shall die".

The album produced a number of tracks with a historical bent such as "Mr. Churchill Says" and "Australia". "Some Mother's Sons" is as uncompromising an anti-war song as you're likely to find.

Answer: Miriam Makeba

Sophiatown was one of those rare beasts in South Africa; it was a freehold town. This meant that it was one of the few areas in the country where blacks could own property. Despite being a cultural hub and producing some of South Africa's most famous musicians, politicians and writers, it was also a poor district and an area subject to frequent violence. As the neighbouring townships of Newlands and Westdene expanded so did the consensus that Sophiatown was too close for comfort. In 1955, using the Immorality Amendment Act, No 21 of 1950 as their justification, 2,000 police converged on the suburb and forcibly removed the residents. The area was then flattened and redeveloped. As a final insult, it was re-named "Triomf" - Afrikaans for Triumph - by the government.

Makeba, who had moved to New York in 1959 after the success of her songs "Pata Pata" and "The Click Song", soon found that her South African passport had been cancelled and she was effectively exiled from her own country. She was not even allowed entry to attend her mother's funeral in 1960. "Sophiatown is Gone" is a jazzy lament that lends a wistful note to the cry of "sweet Sophia is gone forever" as Makeba sings of a vibrant community with its residents shuffled off to a soulless suburb that became known as Meadowlands. Makeba would also record one of the most popular versions of the song "Meadowlands", a famous anti-Apartheid number that had been written by Strike Vilakezi in 1956. It was a song that cleverly twisted irony around an uptempo jive beat. It would become one of the anthems of the anti-Apartheid movement.

Answer: Rasputin

Rasputin is certainly one of those people you could describe as a "different cat". He was a religious man who was firm in the belief that to get close to God, one had to sin and then ask for forgiveness. He also had some healing abilities and when he was able to assist the royal family with their son's hemophilia, he was able adhere himself to them. Nicholas II was a weak leader and, as such, Rasputin was able to bring his own influence to play in the Tsar's policy making. The Tsar's poor leadership was not the sole reason behind the revolution but it certainly didn't help. Rasputin, for his troubles, was assassinated by a group of nobles who'd seen their own powers diminished as a result of Rasputin's influence.

The Boney M song is semi-autobiographical in nature. It certainly portrays Rasputin as a manipulator, a mystic healer and a playboy ("Russia's greatest love machine"), though, some of the lyrics should be taken with a grain of salt. For example, it claims an affair with Queen Alexandra, however, there is no documented evidence of this.

(Spooky fact) Boney M's lead singer died December 30 (2010) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rasputin died December 30 (1916) in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Answer: Revolution

I debated for days as to whether or not this question should be included in this quiz. The key argument against was that, despite the mention of Chairman Mao, the song is political and the lyrics do not read as "history". What swung me in the end was that the song "breathes" history.

If you were to look back on 20th century history, the Beatles would be a strong part of it, in short, they were the revolution. From their musical innovations and the way people listened to music to their socio-cultural impacts on fashion, hairstyles, and the way people approached their lives. The 1960s had become the centre of the counter-revolution and the Beatles were the embodiment of it. Robert Greenfield, a former editor of Rolling Stone magazine, in his 2009 article "Still Relevant After Decades" compared them to another revolutionary, Cubist artist Pablo Picasso, when he wrote; "they were artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original".

After John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comment in 1966, the Beatles put a gag on his politicizing and became more conscious of what they were saying. They had come to realize that the audience they were preaching to were not just listening to them, they were being influenced by them. By the time they'd travelled to India Lennon had had enough and needed to find a way to express his sympathy for the wave of protests in the world and the real need for a social change. "Revolution" was his response. Whilst it joined in with the chorus of protest its main ingredient in this process was pacificism... "But when you talk about destruction/ Don't you know that you can count me out". More importantly, Lennon dictated, that it is fine to change the system, but, before you can count me in you need to show me your plan.

(Note) "Revolution" was written by John Lennon but it has been credited to Lennon & McCartney. All of the other songs listed above were also written by Lennon; however, none were released by the Beatles.

Answer: I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag

Whilst I could have any number of songs here, the Country Joe number took precedence because of its use of dark humour, making it a perfect example of a wry student's response to conscription. Add to this the jaunty tune that it rollicks along to and, unless you're listening carefully, it almost escapes you that the singer is singing about a serious situation. It is easy to get lost as Joe yells out...
"1, 2, 3, 4 what are we fighting for
Don't ask me I don't give a damn
The next stop is Vietnam".
And then he completes the chorus with an exultant "Whoopie, we're all gonna die".

Originally written in 1965 as a folk tune it became a different beast when it was released two years later, after the band went electric. The song was accompanied by the "Fish Cheer", which took a leaf out of the cheerleader's handbook, with Joe inciting the audience "Gimme an F..." until it worked out the word FISH. In 1968, at the Shaefer Summer Music Festival in New York City, the band randomly changed the cheer to spell out a "curse" word. The new version was picked up by underground radio, who soon began to play both versions of the cheer to accompany the song, and suddenly, the band had a hit on their hands.

The song that I missed out here that should be mentioned is Randy Newman's "Political Science". Released in 1972, when Americans were trying to come to grips with the rest of the world's angst against them for their participation in the Vietnam War, Newman uses his trademark irony to point out that the US could get rid of all this (their enemies) by bombing everyone else out of existence... "No-one likes us" so "let's drop the big one and see what happens".

Answer: Sunday Bloody Sunday

This is the opening track and third single to be released from the band's 1983 album "War". Whilst the song was impacted upon by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and it brings attention to two moments in Irish history where civilians were gunned down by British troops - in Dublin, 1920 and in Derry, 1972, U2's front-man, Bono, was staunch in his assertion that this was not a song of hate, rather that it was a song aimed at stopping all killing. Larry Mullins, the band's drummer, strengthened this view when he revealed in an interview with Lucy White in 1983 "We're into the politics of people, we're not into politics". He would further stress that most people would look upon the song and they would see an incident, an incident where people were killed, but that was not the point of the song... "You know people are dying every single day through bitterness and hate, and we're saying why? What's the point? And you can move that into places like El Salvador and other similar situations - people dying. Let's forget the politics, let's stop shooting each other and sit around the table and talk about it..."

"The Unforgettable Fire" (1985) focusses on the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, "New Year's Day" (1983) on Polish solidarity and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (1984) looks at civil rights movements.

Answer: Elvis Presley

The three songs that make up "An American Trilogy" are "Dixie", a Confederacy anthem, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", a Union Army marching hymn and "All My Trials", a Bahamian lullaby. The first time Elvis sang the number was in concert in 1972. RCA, his record label, immediately recorded a live version and issued it as a single. It became Elvis' closing number at shows from that point forward.

On the 9th of April, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The Civil War was over but the scars, apparently, still remain.

In 2016 the University of Mississippi banned the use of "Dixie". It had been looking to remove all songs with links to Dixie since 2009 and, previously, it had banned flagpoles and sticks at football games to ensure there was no Confederate flag waving.
This frenzy over certain elements of Southern culture was not limited to the university and there were some echoes across the country that the film, "Gone With the Wind" (1939) could be banned along with repeats of the television programme "The Dukes of Hazzard".

A similar climate had existed in the 1960s and it was against this backdrop that a young Mickey Newbury was invited to perform at the opening week of Paul Colby's new Los Angeles club, the Bitter End Club. When Mickey announced to Paul that he was planning to open with "Dixie", the stricken owner responded with "You can't do that, they'll tear this club apart". When Newbury stood on the stage, before a crowd that included luminaries such as Barbra Streisand, Mama Cass and Odetta, his initial interactions included some statements about free speech and then... "Just this last week there was a song banned. I just cannot understand why people think a song can be damaging". It was at this point that the genius of Mickey Newbury emerged. He began to sing and, rather than employing the song's regular "march time", he delivered a slowed down and weighted ballad, imbuing the song with a pathos that only served to highlight its lyrics. After delivering his ode to the South, he did likewise to the North with the "Battle Hymn..." and then rounded it off with "All My Trials". At the conclusion of the song, you could have heard a pin drop, before the house was torn down by thunderous applause.

The day after General Lee's surrender President Abraham Lincoln stepped onto the streets of Washington D.C, where thousands of people were celebrating the news that the war was over. Lincoln then requested the band play "Dixie" before breaking into "Yankee Doodle". Whilst he always believed that "Dixie" was one of the best tunes he'd ever heard, this could be seen as Lincoln's way of saying "we are what we are but, most importantly, we are one nation".

Answer: Falklands War

Prior to the Falklands War in 1982, Great Britain's economy was crumbling. The call to war saw economic activity increase and politicians grabbed this this as a means to highlight the country's changing fortunes and to help build nationalistic fervor. Costello, on the other hand, seized upon that and laced his song with irony, highlighting that the economy was only improving because the country had to build ships to replace the ones that were being sunk in the war. He then takes this a step further, portraying fathers who are hard at work building the beasts that will transport their own sons into danger or death. He also examines their guilt, being able to now afford that winter coat while their neighbour's son heads off to die on the ship that he'd built.

Costello would write a sequel to the song in 2013 called "Cinco Minutos con Vos" ("Five Minutes with You"), which examined the conflict from an Argentine sailor's perspective.

Robert Wyatt was a founding member and drummer of the English band Soft Machine until a fall from a window left him a paraplegic and he embarked on a solo career as a singer. Whilst Costello did record a version of this song, and it can be found on his 1983 album "Punch the Clock", Wyatt recorded and released his single prior to that. Wyatt imparts a tone of aching delicacy to the number which infuses it sadness rather than bitterness and, in the process, elevates the lyric that Costello described as "the best I've ever written" to a whole new level.