Inspiration in Song Trivia Quiz

Answer: Caroline Kennedy

It has been said that this song was written for Caroline when she was around eleven years old. He performed it for her via satellite on her 50th birthday.

Answer: Neil Young

According to the Neil Young biography "Shakey", by Jimmy McDonough, Neil Young was inspired by the photos of the massacre in Life Magazine to write "Ohio" when he saw pictures of wounded students being tended to. It was sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The song was initially banned on AM radio due to its anti-war theme but readily played on FM radio.

Answer: Gordon Lightfoot

This disaster which occurred in November of 1975 made headlines in Newsweek magazine and inspired Lightfoot to write this song. It reached number one in his and my native land of Canada. To this day when Gordon Lightfoot performs live, this is one of the most requested songs in his repertoire. I have been fortunate to have seen him perform this phenomenal song live.

Answer: These Eyes

This was a breakthrough song for this legendary Canadian Band led by Burton Cummings and was one of my favourites during my high school years. It broke into the U.S. charts on the top Billboard Pop Singles peaking at number six.

Answer: Joni Mitchell

In various interviews with Graham Nash, he talks about his brief affair with Joni during the Woodstock era. This song was on their "Déjà Vu" album about his relationship with this Canadian singer. The song apparently was about the struggle between free love versus being in a committed relationship during the hippie era. Joni Mitchell wrote the song "Woodstock" which also was on the album.

Answer: The Boomtown Rats

Bob Geldof lead singer of The Boomtown Rats apparently was inspired to write this song when he was doing an interview for a radio station and a telex came into the station with the facts about this shooting. When the shooter, Brenda Ann Spencer, was asked why she did this she said "I don't like Mondays".

Answer: Prairie Wind

According to a live interview with NPR radio in September of 2005, this song
came to Neil when his father had become stricken with Alzheimer's. There were many life altering moments for Neil when he wrote this album. He wrote most of the songs before he went in to have brain surgery for an aneurysm. His daughter was in her final year at college and he celebrated his 60th birthday within this time frame which made this a very reflective album for Young.

Answer: Smoke On The Water

Deep Purple went to Switzerland to record an album at a studio apparently owned by the Rollings Stones. At the same time Frank Zappa was performing live in concert at a casino in Montreux. The casino burnt down due to a fan throwing the flare gun. As the story goes, this song was inspired by that incident.

Answer: Paul McCartney

Apparently there was increasing animosity among Paul and John leading to the break up of the Beatles. This animosity reportedly was due to the death of their long time manager, Brian Epstein. Some thought it had to do with the heavy influence Yoko Ono had on John. Paul had written a song which John had felt was an attack on him and he counterattacked with his own song.

Answer: Elle Macpherson

According to the authors of the book "The Girl in the Song", Joel was staying at a hotel where three models were also staying. They were Elle Macpherson, Christie Brinkley and an unknown Whitney Houston. He had dated Elle for a while and after their parting he turned his affections towards Christie Brinkley and made her the focus of the song.