Memories of Childhood Trivia Quiz

Answer: Johnny Horton

The trip, down the "mighty Mississip' " with Colonel Jackson, culminated in "The Battle of New Orleans" which was a huge favourite of mine when I was eight years old. In fact, I amazed fellow party goers last Christmas by leading them in the singing of this ditty, only stumbling over the final verse. Before you ask, I was sober!

Johnny Horton (1925-1960) featured heavily in my record collection, with "Sink the Bismarck!" and "North to Alaska" arriving in 1960, as well as the LP "The Spectacular Johnny Horton" (1959). I was devastated when I heard he had died in an automobile accident.

Answer: The Playmates

"... A little Nash Rambler was following me, about one third my size."

That little car was tenacious, and kept on saying "Beep Beep" in an effort to get past the guy in the Caddy. The novelty and humour of the song appealed to seven year olds everywhere (including me), especially the repetitious "beep beeping" of the chorus and the way the song speeded up as it progressed.

"Beep Beep" was the best known song of The Playmates, who came from Waterbury, Connecticut and managed four other top 40 hits in the Billboard Hot 100 during their career. They were Donny Conn on drums, vocalist Morey Carr and Chic Hetti on piano.

Answer: Perry Como

The beginning of that line is also the title of this 1958 song, which entreats the listener not to let the star fade away, but to keep it to use on a rainy day, when having a "pocketful of starlight" might come in handy for doing a bit of romancing. This was one of the many Perry Como songs that my mother had on both 78s and LP albums. She played them often and I grew to love them nearly as much as she did.

Perry Como (1912-2001) was born in Pennsylvania, and was known for his relaxed style both on his popular television variety show (and specials) and in his recording career. Other songs associated with "Mr C." were "Dream Along With Me", "Mi Casa Su Casa", "Round and Round" and "Delaware", amongst many others.

Answer: The Coasters

The "Charlie Brown" of the song was unrelated to the "Peanuts" character of the same name. The Charlie in the song was a high school kid who was always getting into trouble and creating some sort of chaos, and did the kind of things that good kids only dreamed of doing - like calling the English teacher "Daddy-O" and "throwin' spit balls". Though the lyrics claimed he'd get caught, his refrain about people picking on him led us to believe he'd talk his way out of it!

Although many singers have been members of the quartet known as The Coasters over the years, at the time "Charlie Brown" was recorded in 1959 the group consisted of Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, Will "Dub" Jones and Cornell Gunter. The same four had also featured on the previous year's recording of "Yakety Yak".

Answer: Marty Robbins

"...I fell in love with a Mexican girl." Of course the love story came to a sad and bloody end, of the sort that appealed to a kid like I was, who thought that "Blood on the Saddle" was a classic! Marty Robbins is said to have written "El Paso" whilst travelling through Texas with his family.

Marty Robbins (1925-1982) also recorded such songs as "A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation" and "The Hanging Tree". When he wasn't pursuing his musical career he was indulging his love of NASCAR, participating in a number of races between 1966 and 1982.

Answer: Buddy Holly

"...Maybe baby, you'll be true..." The protagonist of the song "Maybe Baby" doesn't seem at all sure about whether or not "baby" loves him, but he's hopeful. Holly wrote the song (using the name Charles Hardin) along with Norman Petty, and when it was released credit was given to The Crickets (his backing group).

Charles Hardin Holley (1936-1959), better known as Buddy Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas and died in the airplane accident in Iowa that became known as "the day the music died". It was a few years after that sad event that I realised just how much I liked his music, which included other such songs as "That'll Be the Day", "Peggy Sue", "Oh Boy!" and "Not Fade Away".

Answer: Johnny Preston

It must be said that some of the lyrics and the tom tom beat of the verses of "Running Bear" might not pass muster these days, but the essence of the song is a "Romeo and Juliet" story of star crossed lovers, transposed to North America. The song was written by J.P. Richardson, aka The Big Bopper, who died along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in February 1959. Preston recorded it and it was released later that year, charting early in 1960.

This was the biggest hit that Texas-born Johnny Preston (1939-2011) had, though "Cradle of Love" made it to number two in the UK in 1960.

Answer: The Browns

"The Three Bells" was guaranteed to make me blubber whenever I played it on my old record player. (It still does, in fact.) Each verse (and bell) marked a milestone in the life of little Jimmy Brown: birth, marriage and death.

The Browns were a trio made up of Jim Ed Brown (1934-2015) and his sisters Maxine (1931-2019) and Bonnie (1938-2016), all from Arkansas. Though "The Three Bells" was their biggest hit, they continued to record until disbanding the group in the late sixties.

Answer: The Kingston Trio

"...Hang down your head and cry..."

For someone who has always blubbered about little Jimmy Brown, I've always been quite happy to tell poor Tom Dooley that he's bound to die. Might have had something to do with his having stabbed his girlfriend to death eh? The song "Tom Dooley" was based on a real person (Tom Dula) and real events in North Carolina not long after the American Civil War.

Like many groups, the members of The Kingston Trio have changed over the years. Its original members were Dave Guard (1934-1991), Bob Shane (born 1934) and Nick Reynolds (1933-2008). Other songs that were successful for them in the late fifties and early sixties were "Sloop John B", "Greenback Dollar" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (some with John Stewart instead of Guard).

Answer: David Seville

The "Witch Doctor" then told the young man how to win the love of the young lady he loved. How the lyrics "Ooo eee ooo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang" were meant to do that was not explained, but the silly words and silly high pitched voices in which they were sung were enough to please a seven year old fan. Those high-pitched voices soon came to be known as those of Alvin and the Chipmunks, who brought even more delight to that youngster.

Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (1919-1972) used the stage name David Seville for "Witch Doctor", and after he created the Chipmunks, Seville became a character in their world. This went on to include songs like "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", television shows and movies. Perhaps the witch doctor's silly words worked after all!