Instrumental Music- Who Needs Lyrics? Quiz

Answer: Fanfare for the Common Man

'Fanfare for the Common Man' is an inspirational work, written for drums and brass. Originally written for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Emerson, Lake and Palmer replaced the brass with a synthesiser, for a different, but still enjoyable, sound.

'Let There Be Drums' is a surfie song released in 1961 by Sandy Nelson and Richard Podolor. 'I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman' is a fun song from 1967, performed by Whistling Jack Smith, and 'Amazing Grace' is a hymn from the 1700s, which has been performed by many artists.

Answer: Mother, Father, Sister, Brother

Mother, Father, Sister, Brother was actually a large group of session musicians, none of them related! They produced a very smooth sound, that ushered in the disco era, and the tune went to the top of the charts. 'TSOP' had a few words of lyrics, supplied by The Three Degrees, but is essentially an instrumental.

Malcolm Fraser was a senior Australian politician, who became Prime Minister in 1975, and was not known for his ability to play R&B music. The other two wrong answers are equally silly.

Answer: Time is Tight

Herb Alpert fronted the Tijuana Brass during the 1960s, and had a string of hits. Besides the ones mentioned, he also did well with 'Whipped Cream', 'Tijuana Taxi', 'This Guy's in Love with You' and even covered the Beatles 'Ob La Di Ob La Da'. He did the theme song for the Bond movie 'Casino Royale' and garnered oodles of gold records, platinum records and Grammy Awards.

Booker T and the MGs had a big hit in 1968 with 'Time is Tight'.

Answer: Spain

Spain's anthem is the 'La Marcha Real' ('The Royal March'), and it is one of the oldest anthems in the world, dating from 1770. Only three other countries have lyric-less anthems- they are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and San Marino.

New Zealand uses both Maori and English in its anthem, while Switzerland uses all four of its official languages in its national song. South Africa has eleven official languages, and uses five of them in its anthem.

Answer: Clarinet

'Stranger on the Shore' was the biggest hit on the UK charts that year, and even had a big impact on the American Billboard listing- it hit the coveted Number One spot.

Answer: Benny Hill

Boots Randolph was involved in the southern US jazz scene for most of his 80 years, but will always be remembered for 'Yakety Sax'. The single only just made it onto the Top 40 at the time, but is a tune that is guaranteed to raise a smile. It was based on the song 'Yakety Yak', by The Coasters.

Answer: Modern Olympic Games

The movie is the story of two runners at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Because of his religious beliefs, Eric Liddell wouldn't run on a Sunday, so he had to run the 400 meters instead of the 100 and won the gold. Harold Abrahams ran to overcome anti-Semitism, and won the 100 metres gold.

The song, for which Vangelis won an Academy Award, features in several movies, usually depicting characters running in slow-motion parodies.

Answer: Funeral For a Friend

The second part was 'Love Lies Bleeding'. He had another instrumental released in 1978, 'Song For Guy', dedicated to Guy Burchett, a friend that died in a motorcycle accident.

The three wrong answers all have lyrics, some of which are a bit confusing, but that is Elton John!

Answer: The Sting

The song was written by Scott Joplin, known as the King of Ragtime Writers- he also wrote 'The Maple Leaf Rag'.

Hamlisch was very talented and is one of only a handful of people to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, a Grammy AND a Pulitzer Prize.

Newman and Redford also teamed up in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', for which the theme song was 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head'. Redford starred in 'The Great Waldo Pepper' and Newman was the lead role in 'The Color of Money'.

Answer: Eye Level

Barry Foster played the title role, as a Dutch detective. The tune was originally based on Beethoven's 'Marriage of Figaro'. Find it on YouTube, and I suspect that you will know it! It is probably my favourite instrumental piece.

'Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow' was the theme song for the excellent TV series of 'Baretta', and 'Bron-Yr-Aur' is the name of a small cottage in Wales where Led Zeppelin recorded their short instrumental song of the same name. 'Duelling Banjos' featured in the 1972 movie 'Deliverance'.