Freedom and Rain Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aeroplane

The words here are "I thought I heard the Angel of Death overhead. But it was only the crop-dusters plane". This song is about the hard work of the poor in the Mississippi cotton fields.

The song was written by American Si Kahn, in the early 1980s. The chorus describes the setting of the Mississippi delta.

"You know hot it gets in Mississippi,
You know how dry it gets in the summer sun,
The dust clouds swirl all down the Delta,
I just hope that I don't die before the harvest comes"

Answer: A stone

Although all of the options appear in this song, only the stone dances on the tide. The start of the second verse:
"As I walked on with a heavy heart
Then a stone danced on the tide"

The theme here is of the loss of the natural noises of nature, as they are overwhelmed by those of human activity.

Of the former; "From days gone by, blown in on the great North wind. Though there is no lonesome corncrake's cry." While the latter is represented by "You can hear the cars and the shouts from bars and the laughter and the fights".
The song was written by Shane MacGowan of The Pogues (and other bands)

Answer: Pour down like silver

Two of the options are albums by Richard and Linda Thompson, "Pour Down Like Silver" and "Shoot Out the Lights". Linda Thompson's discography includes "Fashionably Late" and "One Clear Moment", from whence I took the other two options.

The relevant lyric is: "Oh, the songs pour down like silver. They can only, only break my heart."

The song, by Richard Thompson, is about losing oneself in a night of dancing with a loved one. "Dancing till my feet don't touch the ground. I lose my mind in dance forever."

This makes a change from the usual subject matter of a Richard Thompson song.

Answer: Threats

A song about domestic violence, as perceived by the victim, not the most cheerful of subjects.

Lines such as "God didn't make you an angel. The devil made you a man." and "Thank you for the things you taught me when you hit me hard" bleakly describe the situation.
The line that generates the question is; "Poetry and flowers, pretty words and threats"

The rest of the verse runs,
"You've gone to the dogs again and I'm not placing bets on you
Coming home tonight
Anything but blind"
The unspoken word completing that sentence being "drunk".

Answer: Lou Reed

A song originally performed by The Velvet Underground & Nico is not necessarily what you would expect a band in the folk world to play. But the world is full of surprises.

The Oysterband, who have also performed as Oyster Ceilidh Band, the Oyster Band and The Oyster Band over the years were formed in the mid 1970s in Kent. The choice of oysters as part of their name came from their association with Whitstable on the Kent coast, Whitstable being famous for its oysters.
Wikipedia describes the band as folk-rock and folk-punk. Having seen them perform several tines, I would use the former term. However I did once have the experience at a folk festival of seeing a band who could best be described as Punk-Morris.

Answer: Mice

The story in this song is taken from the Bible. Specifically, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the Bible the rich man is not named; Dives, as used in the title (both here and in other versions) is from the Latin word for rich. The character himself is named in the song as Diversus. The recording of this song by Steeleye Span, on the album "They Called her Babylon", uses the title "Diversus and Lazarus".

The verse describing hell is towards the end of this version,
"Hell is dark, Hell is deep
Hell is full of mice
It's a pity that any poor sinful soul
Should be barred from our saviour Christ"

This particular verse doesn't appear in either of the versions written down in the "Child Ballads".

Answer: By yonder lea

Broken token songs typically follow the same pattern. The man has gone off to the wars, or to sea or somewhere and returns after umpteen years. He isn't recognised by his lover, and tests her to see if she has stayed true to her beloved. If she passes, he suddenly produces his half of the broken token. I am not aware of any song where the roles are reversed.

I can understand why songs such as this where popular with sailors, they could at least pretend to themselves that their sweethearts back on shore would be true to them, whilst they were whoring their way around the world.

In this particular version I am surprised the woman passes the tests of loyalty, since she says early on in the song that the other half of the love token, and by implication her love, is at the bottom of the sea.

"One half the ring is still here with me" then "but the other's rolling at the bottom of the sea"

Still, they get back together and the last verse of the song provides the answer:
"There is a cottage by yonder lea
This couple's married and does agree
So it's maids be loyal while your love's at sea"

Answer: Englishman

The answer here is to be found at the end of the first verse.
"There lived a lady in Scotland
She's fallen in love with an Englishman,
Bonnie Susie Cleland, to be married in Dundee."

Which when combined with the end of the penultimate verse summarises the sorry tale.
"The father dragged her to the stake,
The mother then the fire did make,
Bonnie Susie Cleland, to be buried in Dundee."

A song of a particularly extreme form of bigotry, this appears to be related to songs going by the names of "Lady Maisry" and "The Burning".

It is claimed that after the Siege of Dundee in the mid-seventeenth century, women who had dallied with English soldiers were burned. This does not seem to be supported in historical documents. But there are historical records that witches were burnt at the stake in Dundee, although the last one in 1691 was strangled first.

Answer: Green

The chorus of this song starts, "Santander, the sky is falling." For a set of lyrics that mention gold and treasure, the use of Santander, 20 years before it became the name of a UK bank seems prophetic, but is probably just coincidental.

"We look and look for gold, treasure buried in the sand
We hid it long ago, before our wars began
When the world was green and early and time was on our side
Before the storm got up to blow us far and wide"

A song of restless travel, from Santander on the northern Spanish coast via Cape Finisterre (which translates to Land's End) all the way to Port of Spain.

Answer: Happiness or misery

The lyrics of the chorus run:
"Fortune teller, do you see
What the future holds for me?
Happiness or misery,
Pain or paradise?"

The song was written by John Tams, sometime member of both the Albion Band and the Home Service. Apparently developed from the sea shanty "Riding on a Donkey".

I am reminded of the Show of Hands song "Be Lucky", which contains the lyrics:
"I was 17 in a painted caravan
Where I went to get my fortune told.
There on Haven Banks, I held out my hand asking
Can you see what the future holds? And she said"

"Be smart or lucky
If you can't break the mould, break the rules
Make friends or money
But if you would be King be cruel"