Colour My Songs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yellow

"Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree
It's been three long years
Do you still want me?"

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" was a worldwide hit in 1973. It spent weeks on the UK, US and Australian charts and was the top selling single of the year in both the UK and US. It is number 7 on the US Billboard's 'Greatest Songs Of All Time' list. It was performed by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando.

Yellow was the official colour of the US cavalry in the 19th century and women used to wear a yellow ribbon in their hair if they had a fiancé or husband serving away from home. It was worn as a token of their love for the person and a promise that they would be waiting for them when they came back.

This symbol entered into civilian life in the 1970's where it was extended to include any absent loved one although the military and the prison system were it's two main examples of use.

Answer: Red

"The lady in red is dancing with me cheek to cheek
There's nobody here, it's just you and me, It's where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I'll never forget, the way you look tonight"

"The Lady in Red" is Chris De Burgh's most famous song. It was originally released on his 1986 album "Into The Light" and went to number 1 in 25 countries.

The song was written for his wife Diane in memory of their first meeting. The inspiration came from the fact that most men can't remember what their wives were wearing when they first met.

Answer: Blue

"Don't you step on my blue suede shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes"

"Blue Suede Shoes" was first written and recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. It was released on the 1st of January 1956 and by March it was number one on most country, pop and rhythm and blues regional charts. Nationally it made it to number 2 on the country charts and the Billboard Hot 100 - Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" surpassing it at number 1.

Presley recorded a cover version of "Blue Suede Shoes" in September of the same year - it was common practice in the 1950's to release cover versions of top singles - but his version only made it to number 20. The song was covered by at least 10 other artists in 1956 and has been covered multiple times since by a wide variety of musicians.

Although Presley's version is probably the widest known it only reached number 423 in the 2004 Rolling Stone Magazines list of the '500 Greatest Songs Of All Time' - Perkin's version was ranked at number 95. Perkin's version was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1986

Answer: Green

"Because these green hills are not highland hills
Or the island hills
They're not my land's hills
And fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home"

"A Scottish soldier" is a well known Scottish folk song. It tells the story of a Scottish soldier fighting and dying on the hills of Tyrol and wishing he was in the hills of his homeland. He asks his piper to play for him on a Scottish hillside and play him home.

The lyrics were written by Andy Stewart, and the song spent 36 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1961 and was a big international hit.

The tune is that of "The Green Hills Of Tyrol", a pipe tune written by John Macleod during the Crimean War (1853 - 1856). MacLeod was a Pipe Major in the 93rd Highlanders and based the music on a Sardinian continental tune which, in turn, was based on an Alpine folk melody.

Answer: Yellow

"It was an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini.
That she wore for the first time today.
An itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini.
So in the blanket she wanted to stay."

"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a 1960 song of the novelty or bubblegum genre. It was written by songwriters Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss for Brian Hyland.

Hyland began his career by singing in his church choir. He formed a band at the age of 14 and recorded a demo but ended up being signed as a solo artist to Kapp records at 15. He was only 16 when he released "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". This was his first and biggest ever hit single reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 8 on the UK Singles Chart and hitting the top 10 in 9 other countries.

Multiple cover versions were made in multiple languages, UK group Bombalurina with Timmy Mallett made it to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart with their version in 1990.

Co-writer Paul Vance has referred to the song as "a money machine" saying it has earned him several million dollars over the years.

Answer: Blue

"As long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans"

"Forever in Blue Jeans" was written by Neil Diamond and his guitarist Richard Bennet. It was released on the 1978 album "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and then re-released as a single the following year. While it didn't reach number 1 it did make it in the top 20 in the US, UK and Canada.

Jeans are trousers made from denim. Originally designed as work clothes they became popular as casual wear in the 1950's and remain popular 60 years later.

Denim originated in two separate places. The first being Nimes in France - 'de Nimes' is where the name denim comes from. The other was Dhunga in India - these trousers came to be called dungarees.

Italians popularised these denim trousers, dying them blue for their navy and selling them through the Genoa Harbour which was a major naval power in the 16th century. The French then referred to them as the 'blue of Genoa' or 'bleu de Genes' which is where the word jeans originated.

Jeans are dyed blue using indigo dye. As only a few grams are needed for each pair the number produced per year must be phenomenal as the annual production of indigo for jean dye is approximately 20 million tons.

Answer: Green

"And if that's not lovin' me then all I've got to say
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime"

"Little Green Apples" was written and performed by Bobby Russell in 1968. It was covered by many singers, the highest charting version being from O.C Smith, also in 1968, who took it to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Smith also received a gold record for selling one million copies of the song.

Russell is perhaps better known for his song writing abilities than his singing. Other big hits include "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" which he wrote for his then wife Vicki Lawrence, "Used To Be" - from the movie "The Grasshopper" and Bobby Goldsboro's 1968 hit "Honey".

He won the Grammy Award for 'Song Of The Year' and 'Best Country Song' for "Little Green Apples".

Answer: Red

"Red, red wine
Go to my head
Make me forget that I
Still need her so
Red, red wine
It's up to you
All I can do, I've done
But mem`ries won't go
No, mem`ries won't go"

"Red Red Wine" was written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1968 and reached number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Jimmy James and The Vagabonds released a cover in the UK in the same year which charted at number 36 on the UK Singles Chart.

This is another song with multiple cover versions over the years. One worth mentioning is by Jamaican singer Tony Tribe who released a reggae version in 1969 which reached number 46 in the UK. The reason I consider this as an important version is that it is the only one that British band UB40 had heard.

UB40's 1983 version is also a light reggae style and reached number 1 in the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands and number 34 in the US. It was re-released in the US in 1988 and went all the way to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Neil Diamond later sang the song reggae style while on tour paying a tribute to UB40 for taking it to number one even though their interpretation is different from his original intent. UB40 have an upbeat happy tone as if praising the wine while Diamond's is a more melancholy version - he has lost his love and the only way to forget is to drink.

Answer: Yellow

"Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till its gone"

"Big Yellow Taxi" was written and first performed by Joni Mitchell in 1970, reaching number 67 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The Canadian singer wrote the song on a holiday in Hawaii after looking out of her hotel window and seeing the beautiful green mountains in the distance and then looking down and seeing a massive concrete parking lot.

The last verse (quoted above) moves from the more political message of the rest of the song to the more personal when she mentions her 'old man' being taken away in the 'big yellow taxi'. This is a reference to the yellow police cars in Toronto at the time.

This is another much covered song - the most successful being the Counting Crows 2003 version which reached number 3 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, 13 on the UK Singles chart and number 5 on the US Billboard Adult Top 40.

Answer: Blue

"Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own"

"Blue Moon" was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, and has been recorded by countless artists. The most successful recording was in 1961 by the Marcels who took it to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, US Billboard Hot 100 and US Billboard Hot R & B Singles. It also sold a million records and earned them a place in the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's '500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll'.

The song is a play on words using the term blue as both a colour and a feeling. The singer is feeling very 'blue' or melancholy all on their own but then a rare stroke of luck has him finding his true love - something that could only happen "once in a blue moon".

A blue moon is rare - occurring only once every 2.7 years. Most years have 12 full moons, one every month, but the calendar year has an extra 11 days on top of the 12 lunar cycles so these accumulate until there is enough for another full cycle and that year has 13 moons instead of 12. This extra moon is called a blue moon.

There are 4 different ways this has been worked out :
1)The Religious Calendar : Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs after March 21. Lent begins 6 weeks earlier. If the year was going to have the 13 moons then this would bring Easter too early in the year. The clergy identified this earlier moon as a 'betrayer moon'. The word betrayer in Old English was 'belewe' so it would have been called the 'belewe moon'.
2) The Farmers Almanac : Farmers identify seasons by the moons. Traditionally there are three full moons every season. On a season with four full moons they identify the 3rd full moon as a blue moon.
3) Folklore : Each full moon in folklore has it's own name depending on it's time of the year (harvest moon, egg moon etc). If a moon came too early for the season - a harvest moon coming before the crop was ready - then they named this moon the blue moon. There are many different folk tales as to where the name came from.
4) Popular Usage : Due to a mistake being made in 1946 people understood the second full moon in any month to be a blue moon. This mistake was discovered in 1999 but after being in use for over 50 years it is still a popular misconception.