Cities and Songs: Part I Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tucson, Arizona

The single also reached number one in Australia, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, West Germany and France. The first verse of the lyrics are:
"Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it wouldn't last
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass"

Answer: Neil Young

Neil Young was born in Toronto, Canada in 1945 and moved to California in 1966. His music is characterized by his distinctive guitar work, but he is also an accomplished piano and harmonica player. He was part of Cosby, Stills, Nash and Young from 1968-1970. Gene Pitney released "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa (1963), Kenny Rogers, "Tulsa Turnaround" (1969) and The Byrds, "Tulsa County" (1969).

Answer: Montserrat Cabellé

Montserrat Cabellé is a Spanish operatic soprano and is best known as an exponent of the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. She became known
to a much wider audience with this song with Freddie Mercury who had a passion for opera. It later became a theme song for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Individually well known, Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) was an Italian operatic tenor and Carreras and Domingo were Spanish operatic tenors. They came together for a period and were famously known as "The Three Tenors".

Answer: Dionne Warwick

The music was by Burt Bacharach and the lyrics by Hal David. Dionne Warwick won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for this song in 1969. Dionne was a seven time nominee and a three time winner of the Grammy Award. Bobbie Gentry won the same award in 1968 and Roberta Flack also in 1974.

Answer: Chicago

Mac Davis wrote the song and in the first and last verses the reference is made to Chicago. The first verse is as follows:
"As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto"

Answer: Leningrad

While touring the Soviet Union in 1987 Joel met a Russian clown named Viktor. Viktor had lost his father during the siege of Leningrad in 1944; he enlisted in the Red Army and after the war became a circus clown to try to bring joy to Russian children. Billy Joel mentioned many cities in his songs with "Vienna" (1977) on the album "The Stranger", "Goodnight Saigon" (1982) on the album "The Nylon Curtain" and "When in Rome" (1989) on the album "The Storm Front". "Leningrad" was also on the album "Storm Front".

Answer: Johnny Rivers

Jimmy Webb is an American composer, songwriter and singer. He has written many platinum award winning songs. Johnny Rivers first recorded the song in 1965 but Glen Campbell made it a hit in 1967. Sinatra, Miller and Dean Martin are some of the artists who have also recorded the song. Frank Sinatra considered this song to be one of the best "torch songs" (sentimental love songs) ever written.

Answer: Amarillo

The original version was "Is This The Way To Pensacola" in Florida but Sedaka wanted a town that rhymed with "willow" and "pillow", so he settled for Amarillo in Texas. Tony Christie first released the song in 1971 in Europe. Although he wrote the song with Howard Greenfield, Sedaka did not release the song until 1977. "Abilene" was released by George Hamilton IV in 1963 and who performed the song in the 1963 movie "Hootenanny Hoot". "Galveston" was written by Jimmy Webb and released by Glen Campbell in 1969.

Answer: Bangkok

"One Night in Bangkok" was first sung by the British singer and actor Murray Head for the album "Chess" in 1984. In the lyrics there is mention of Yul Brynner who played the King of Siam in the musical "The King and I". Shanghai, Chiang Mai and Manila are also in the titles of songs that have been written.

Answer: Philadelphia

"The Streets of Philadelphia" was written for the 1993 movie "Philadelphia" starring Tom Hanks who also won an Academy Award for Best Actor in the movie.
"Atlantic City" was also written and released by Bruce in 1982. Bruce did perform "London Calling", which was originally by the British punk rock group The Clash, at the Grammy Awards of 2003. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is best known as the signature song of Tony Bennett.