Anatomy of a Song: "Bummer" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Drums

"His mama was a midnight woman
His daddy was a drifter drummer
One night they put it together
Nine months later came the little black bummer"
Ironically, Harry Chapin's father was a professional jazz drummer.

Answer: He was punched

"He was a laid back lump in the cradle
Chewing the paint chips that fell from the ceiling
Whenever he cried he got a fist in his face
So he learned not to show his feelings"
It is estimated that in the USA alone, more than three million children are victims of violence. Source: www.loveourchildrenusa.org

Answer: Twice

According to US National Assessment of Adult Literacy, tests 14% of US residents "have extreme difficulty with reading and written comprehension".
"These people can legally be defined as illiterate." [Source: caliteracy.org]

Answer: Mainlining skag

"He was a weed-speed pusher at fifteen
He was mainlining skag a year later"
Skag is a street name for heroin.
In the 1960s, an Irish band called 'Big Tom & The Mainliners' were invited to play on a US tour. They got a lot of interest from people who thought their mainlining was about drugs rather than the reality, railway lines.

Answer: He was drafted

"They threw him back on the street, he robbed an A & P
He didn't blink at the buddy that he shafted
And just about the time they would have caught him too
He had the damn good fortune to get drafted"
The A&P, proper name The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, had almost 500 supermarkets in the North East of the USA.
Around 2.25 million men were drafted into the US military during the Vietnam War years alone. About 9 million served voluntarily. In the US, compulsory military service was ended in 1973.

Answer: He was in a tank

"They put him in a tank near the D M Z
To catch the gooks slipping over the border
They said his mission was to Search and Destroy
And for once he followed and order"
The M48 Patton was the primary tank used by the US Army and Marine Cops in Vietnam. More than 600 were deployed.

Answer: Six purple hearts and the Medal of Honor

"They picked up the pieces and they stitched him back together
He pulled through though they thought he was a goner
And it forced them to give him what they said they would
Six purple hearts and the Medal of Honor"
The Medal of Honor is the highest personal decoration the US Military can bestow. Purple Hearts are awarded to those injured in battle.

Answer: A grocery store

"It ended up one night in a grocery store
Gun in hand and nine cops at the door
And when his last battle was over
He lay crumpled and broken on the floor"
In the USA, from 2003 to 2005 at least 2,002 people died during their arrests by state and local law enforcement officers. [Source: 2007 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.]
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page Inc, more than 19,000 American law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty since the 1790s. [sic]

Answer: Arlington

"There was a stew about burying him in Arlington
So they shipped him in box to Fayette
And they kind of stashed him in a grave in the county plot
The kind we remember to forget"
Arlington National Cemetery in the State of Virginia contains the remains of 290,000 service men and women from every conflict in which America has fought from the War of Independence onwards. Had Harry Chapin's bummer been a real person, hero or not, he probably would not have been eligible since anyone convicted of a crime that carries a life jail sentence is excluded from burial at Arlington by order of Congress.

Answer: A policeman

"And just like the man from the precinct said:
"Put him away, you better kill him instead.
A bummer like that is better off dead
Someday they're gonna have to put a bullet in his head."
Harry Chapin was the unsurpassed master of the 'story song'. During 10 years of touring and recording, audiences hung on his words and the magic of his melodies. Singer, songwriter, humanitarian, his life was cut short by a fatal traffic collision in 1981.
I hope you enjoyed my first "Anatomy" quiz. If you are interested in Harry Chapin, see my three-part 'Harry Chapin Story' quizzes