More Sentimental and Sad Songs Quiz

Answer: Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee began singing at five and by the time she was ten was the family's breadwinner. Red Foley, when he first heard her at ten, said "I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One foot started patting rhythm as though she was stomping out a prairie fire but not another muscle in that little body even as much as twitched. And when she did that trick of breaking her voice, it jarred me out of my trance enough to realize I'd forgotten to get off the stage".

One of her early hits was "Dynamite" that earned her the name of 'Little Miss Dynamite". She became an international star and in 1960 at a concert in the UK a little known band called The Beatles was the opening act. "So Sorry" was her greatest pop hit but "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" sold five million copies and became a holiday classic.

Answer: The Glory of Love

"The Glory of Love" was composed by Billy Hill in 1936, not to be confused with Peter Ceceta's 1986 song with the same title. ASCAP gave the song an award as the most performed song in films. The Five Keys had a number one hit on the R&B charts in 1951 and sold a million recordings.

"You've got to give a little, take a little,
and let your poor heart break a little.
That's the story of, that's the glory of love.

You've got to laugh a little, cry a little,
until the clouds roll by a little.
That's the story of, that's the glory of love."

Answer: Cry

Ray would not be classed as a 'one hit wonder' but his career severely declined after 1960 due in part to several problems including deafness, tuberculosis, and his sexual orientation. He was personal friends with the columnist Dorothy Kilgallen and Judy Garland. Because of his string of sad songs the media referred to him as "Mr. Emotion", "The Nabob of Sob", and "The Prince of Wails".
He was most popular overseas rather than the US. However, his only number one song was "Cry".

Critics cite him as a true forerunner of rock and roll as his jazz and blues-influenced music and stage personality had great influence. Tony Bennett credits Ray as father of rock and roll.

"If your sweetheart sends a letter of goodbye
It's no secret you'll feel better if you cry
When waking from a bad dream
Don't you sometimes think it's real
But it's only false emotions that you feel."

Answer: Natalie with Nat Cole

The song was "Unforgettable" that Nat 'King' Cole first recorded in 1951 and later in 1961. Actually, there were three Grammys--Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. Joe Guercio, former arranger for Elvis Presley, conceived the idea of remixing Nat Cole's recording with the voice of his daughter.

"That's why, darling, it's incredible
That someone so unforgettable
Thinks that I am
Unforgettable, too."

The original lyric was 'uncomparable', changed at the last minute.

Answer: Isabella Rossellini

It is 1932 and rumors of a new market for Canadian beer is in the offing as prohibition is pending cancellation in the United States. Baroness Helen Port-Huntley has inherited a beer company and sponsors the contest. The Baroness lost both legs in an automobile accident; she wears two prostheses made of glass that are filled with beer. A motley group of contenders vie for the 25,000 dollar prize. We find that the lives of these characters are complicatedly interrelated. There seems to be no winner to the contest but one song has nine different arrangements on the sound track.

Roger Ebert describes the contest as "Competitors are matched off two by two. "Red Maple Leaves" goes up against a pygmy funeral dirge. Bagpipers from Scotland compete, as does a hockey team that tries to lift the gloom by singing "I Hear Music." The winner of each round gets to slide down a chute into a vat filled with beer. As Lady Port-Huntly chooses the winners, an unruly audience cheers. Suspense is heightened with the arrival of a cellist whose identity is concealed by a long black veil." The final scene involves "The Song Is You" an old Frank Sinatra standard.

"I hear music when I look at you
A beautiful theme of every dream I ever knew
Down deep in my heart I hear it play
I can feel it start, then it melts away

I hear music when I touch your hand
A beautiful melody from some enchanted land
Down deep in my heart, I hear it say
'Is this the day?'"

Answer: Is That All There Is?

Peggy Lee had a special talent in selling a song. Some may remember her Academy Award nomination for her role in "Pete Kelly's Blues". "Is That All There Is?" is recited, and only sung at the chorus. Lee sings of disillusionment at witnessing a fire, attending a circus, and being in love with 'is that all there is'.

Recited:"I know what you must be saying to yourselves.
"If that's the way she feels about it why doesn't she just end it all?"
Oh, no, not me.
I'm in no hurry for that final disappointment.
'Cause I know just as well as I'm standing here talking to you,
That when that final moment comes and I'm breathing my last breath
I'll be saying to myself-"

Chorus:"Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends
Then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is"

Answer: Julie London

Julie London was married to Jack Webb of "Dragnet" fame from 1947 to 1956. Following her divorce she married musician Bobby Troup 1959. Webb, however, remained close to her and in 1972 as producer of the medical drama "Emergency" (1972-1979) hired her and Troup to star in it.

Her signature song was "Cry Me a River". The song, by Ella Fitzgerald, was cut from Webb's "Pete Kelly's Blues" and later rejected by Peggy King and Mitch Miller. Julie London sang it in the film "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956) and it became a musical standard. London admitted that she didn't have the strongest voice or range so she sang very close to the microphone to create her earthy intonations.

"Remember, I remember,
All that you said;
Told me love was too plebeian,
Told me you were through with me

And Now you say you love me,
Well, just to prove you do,
Come on and cry me a river,
Cry me a river,
I cried a river over you"

Answer: O Sole Mio

The legend is that while stationed in Germany, Elvis heard Martin's "There's No Tomorrow", liked it, and wanted to record it. He found out that the melody had been borrowed from Eduardo di Capua's "O Sole Mio"(1898). "O Sole Mio" is a joyful song about the sun.


Tony Martin: "There's no tomorrow when love is new
Now is forever when love is true
So kiss me and hold me tight
There's no tomorrow
There's just tonight."

Elvis Presley: "It's now or never,
come hold me tight
Kiss me my darling,
be mine tonight
Tomorrow will be too late."

Answer: The Green Green Grass of Home

The first verse is:

"The old home town looks the same as I step down from the train,
and there to meet me is my Mama and Papa.
Down the road I look and there runs Mary hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It's good to touch the green, green grass of home."

The last is:

"Then I awake and look around me, at the four grey walls that surround me
and I realize, yes, I was only dreaming.
For there's a guard and there's a sad old padre -
arm in arm we'll walk at daybreak.
Again I touch the green, green grass of home."

Answer: He died

George Jones for many years was an alcoholic and spoiled his marriages and became an unreliable performer. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" revived his career. A story told often about Jones is that his second wife, Shirley Corley, hid his car keys so he could not get into town to buy booze. George drove the riding lawnmower into town.

In the 1980s I attended a George Jones concert. He did show up and opened with a parody on himself called "No Show Jones".

The narrator tells of his friend's deep depression and finds pictures and objects that he has in his room in memory of her.

"You know, she came to see him one last time
Aww, and we all wondered if she would
And it kept runnin' through my mind
"This time he's over her for good

He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they'll carry him away
He stopped loving her today"