Del Shannon's debut single was the massive 1961 hit "Runaway". "Hats Off to Larry" was the immediate follow up that brought more of the same formula that caught everyone's attention with the first hit. Whilst this didn't hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 it still sold brilliantly for Shannon and climbed to number five. Del has his heart broken when his lady (her name doesn't matter, according to Del) runs off with another guy (Larry).
When Larry breaks his old flame's heart Del applauds him but get this... Del still wants her back.
This is while he's still applauding Larry and saying that her name doesn't matter. That is definitely the definition of optimism.
2. "Stagger ____"
Answer: Lee
This was a number one hit for Lloyd Price back in 1959 but it is based on a traditional blues track called "The Ballad of Stack-o-Lee". When Price first released it there was a massive outcry from listeners who disapproved of the lyrics that had Stagger Lee shooting his mate Billie over an argument while gambling.
A new version was hurriedly recorded that had the two men fighting over a girl with no one getting shot and the girl making her way back to Stagger in the end. There have been numerous versions of this track recorded over the years however, if you wish to hear an alternate take (not a cover) on the story of Stagger and Billie listen to "Wrong 'Em Boyo" by The Clash on their 1979 album "London Calling".
3. "Dig, ____, Dig!!!"
Answer: Lazarus
This is the title track and lead single from the fourteenth studio album (2008) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!" was inspired by Jesus' greatest miracle, the raising of a man from the dead. Cave recounts that while the Bible tells the story from the viewpoint of Jesus it fails to take into account how Lazarus felt about it all. To this end he transports Lazarus (now called Larry) to modern day New York, where he stumbles about totally disorientated and wondering why the heck he was woken from a beautiful dream. No longer aware of whom he is he bounces from one vice to the next before winding up in jail, homeless and, eventually, back where he came from, the grave.
4. "____ and Lucy"
Answer: Linus
This song was not released as a single by its composer but it receives regular airplay every year at Christmas time. Written by Vince Guaraldi and performed by his band, the Vince Guaraldi Trio, this was originally put together for a documentary to be made in 1964 on Charles M. Schulz and his "Peanuts" comic strip.
The documentary was shelved. The following year the first "Peanuts" TV special, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965), appeared and "Linus and Lucy" formed the basis for the score and the song was used in an important scene in the show.
The special would become a huge hit and one of its consequences is that "Linus and Lucy" often gets, mistakenly, called "The Charlie Brown" song. Vince Guaraldi is a jazz musician who won a Grammy in 1962 for Best Original Jazz Composition with his song "Cast Your Fate to the Wind".
5. "The Gospel According to ____"
Answer: Luke
Sometimes it is the smallest of things that can trigger a great piece of creative writing or, in this case, a song. Skip Ewing, a US country music singer, and his writing partner Don Sampson were sitting at a café enjoying a cup of coffee when they spied a man crossing the street. They didn't know him or recognise him. They never felt like they'd seen him before and there was nothing out of the ordinary about him except something in the way he walked. This left an impression on Skip and Don. Immediately they knew there was a song here and that they had to make this man the hero. This was difficult without an identity. Later, at their publishing house, they were surrounded by the catalogue of Hank Williams and they realised that all of the tracks Hank had written that were classified as gospel songs were written as "Luke the Drifter". Suddenly they had an identity.
In the song a young man meets a homeless man who introduces himself as Luke. He buys him a meal and Luke is grateful to the young man. In what turns out to be a modern re-telling of the "Lesson of the Widow's Mite" (Luke 21: 1-4) the young man enters a mission the next day to see Luke distributing his small collection of change that he'd gathered during the week to the less fortunate at the shelter. "The Gospel According to Luke" was released in 1989 by Ewing and it appears on his album "The Coast of Colorado".
6. "____ Arden Stole the Highlights"
Answer: Linden
I never quite managed to get a grip on the lyrics of this track by Van Morrison. There are some remarkable images planted within its framework, ("Linden Arden stole the highlights with one arm tied behind his back" for example), but their meanings have always eluded me.
It troubled me for a time until I discovered that Van Morrison had no idea what they meant either. In an interview with Mojo magazine in 2012 he stated "I was picking those songs out of the air, psychic air. Whatever you want to call it".
This track is one of the highlights from his largely underrated 1974 album "Veedon Fleece". This album was put together on the heels of Morrison's sudden divorce from his wife, Janet Planet, and its starkness and Spartan nature is probably a true reflection of his mood at the time.
7. "My Boy ____"
Answer: Lollipop
This track was written by Robert Spencer of The Cadillacs in 1955 and was first recorded by Barbie Gaye in 1956. It became a minor hit in the New York scene. Eight years later Millie Small recorded her version with reggae undertones and it became a huge hit. Oh, it made Millie's heart go "giddyup". Unfortunately for Millie it would be her only major success.
She did manage to chart with a song called "Sweet William", also in 1964, but it barely reached the Top Forty of Billboard's Hot 100.
8. "Louie ____"
Answer: Louie
What a difference an interpretation and a bit of notoriety makes. This song was written by Richard Berry and recorded by his band The Pharaohs in 1955. However, it is the 1964 versions by both The Kingsmen and Paul Revere and the Raiders that make an interesting read.
The Kingsmen recorded their version first. They sounded like a bunch of drunks having a great time and their lyrics were virtually indecipherable. Then someone leaked the rumour that the words were obscene - they were not, but it was enough to spark an FBI investigation and send sales rocketing. Exactly 24 hours after the Kingsmen had recorded the track, in the very same studio, Paul Revere and the Raiders laid down their, musically superior, version of the song and released it to the waiting world.
They could only drive enough to be a regional hit.
9. "Hey ____ (She Likes Me For Me)"
Answer: Leonardo
This was a hit in 1999 for US alternative band Blessid Union of Souls, taken from their third studio album "Walking Off the Buzz". Stalling at number 33 on Billboard's Hot 100 and not as successful as their debut single "I Believe", which broke into the Top Ten of the same charts, "Hey Leonardo" sees the singer over the moon that his girl wants him for who he is and doesn't fall for the trappings that may be on offer from other men. Those other men included a range of well known stars who get freely mentioned in the song. For example;
"The charm of Robert Redford"
"Or that guy who played in "Fargo", I think his name was Steve" (Buscemi).
10. "____ Shuffle"
Answer: Lido
In 1976 Boz Scaggs released a monster of an album called "Silk Degrees". It started as a slow burn for the singer with the release of its first single "It's Over" and powered its way to over five million sales. The momentum was picked up by the beautifully crafted single "Lowdown" and it then exploded with "Lido Shuffle. One of the most remarkable features of this album's success is that "Lido Shuffle", a song about a drifter looking to make a big score, peaked in the charts in May of 1977, exactly a year after the initial single, "It's Over" had peaked.
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