One of the Oldies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elvis Presley's "One Night"

Written by Dave Bartholomew and Earl King (who also wrote under the names "Pearl King" and "E.C. King"), and first recorded by Smiley Lewis, "One Night" was sung by Elvis Presley in two different versions, with the original lyrics in January 1957 and with a less explicit version, considered more appropriate for his teenage fans, in February 1957. "One night of sin / is what I'm now paying for. / The things that I did and saw / would make the earth stand still" became instead "One night with you / is what I'm now praying for. / The things that we two could plan / Would make my dreams come true." Instead of reflecting on the consequences of a forbidden one-night affair, Elvis seems to be looking forward to one, although his young fans (the future nannywoo included) may have been thinking ahead to a wedding night.

Answer: One Fine Day

"One Fine Day" was written by Carole King and Garry Goffin, inspired by the aria "Un Bel Di" from the opera "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini. In an achingly beautiful aria, Butterfly sings that "un bel di" (one beautiful day) her lover, American naval officer B. F. Pinkerton, will return to claim her and their child, but when he arrives he brings an American wife with him. "One fine day, you're gonna want me for your girl" expresses the same, probably equally misguided, belief.

Answer: One Less Bell to Answer

The first lines go: "One less bell to answer / One less egg to fry / One less man to pick up after / I should be happy / But all I do is cry." It is said that Hal David came up with the idea for the song at a party when one guest canceled at the last minute and the hostess rationalized that it was just "one less bell to answer". Bachrach's music would make any lyrics sound good, and the song has been recorded by many artists since 1970, including Barbra Streisand, Vanessa Williams, Cheryl Crow, and Kristin Chenoweth (with Matthew Morrison).

Answer: The Purple People Eater

Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater" elaborated on a joke told to him by a child, and the song still shows up on albums of children's music, but Sheb Wooley's recording made it to the top of the Billboard charts in 1958 as a song popular with adults, as well.

In a feature on songs about aliens, National Public Radio suggests, "During the Cold War, space aliens were really a symbol for communists, but people still didn't take it too seriously." Rock music was also a source of fear and fascination, and conflict over racial equality raged in the United States in the 1950s.

The question of whether the People Eater's skin was purple (different and thus scary) or he simply ate people whose skin was purple (harmless, since I'M not purple) was ambiguous, ironic, and not unrelated to communists, race, and rock bands.

Answer: One Tin Soldier

"One Tin Soldier" was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. The Original Caste group was from Alberta, Canada, and their record, although it was recorded in Los Angeles, was more popular in Canada than in a United States divided by the Vietnam War.

The grittier version of "One Tin Soldier" by Jinx Dawson, credited to her band Coven by her request and used as a theme song for Tom Laughlin's "Billy Jack" movies, became one of the most requested songs on the radio in the early 1970s. Skeeter Davis recorded the song in 1972 and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Country Music category. To explore more questions and facts about "One Tin Soldier" you can play the quiz "Anatomy of a Song: One Tin Soldier" by suerreal, right here at funtrivia.com!

Answer: One Is the Loneliest Number

The first line of the song is: "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do." Singer / songwriter Harry Nilsson first recorded his song "One" on the 1968 album "Aerial Ballet"; however, it was Three Dog Night's cover that sold over a million copies the following year. Aimee Mann's version for the 1995 tribute album "For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson" and its inclusion in the sound track for the 1999 film "Magnolia" made the song familiar into the 21st century.

The staccato repetition of one note in the background and the repeated words of the song are said to have come into Nilsson's mind as he was dialing the numbers to make a telephone call and kept getting a busy signal.

Answer: One Toke over the Line

Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley were kidding around in the dressing room of a coffee house about getting high before performing when they first began writing "One Toke over the Line"; but they sang it as an encore when appearing at Carnegie Hall as the opening act for another performer and included it on their "Tarkio" album based on the reception there, creating their only hit. Opposition came from as high as Nixon's Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, and some radio stations, getting the open reference to drugs (and perhaps recognizing that "Sweet Jesus" and "Sweet Mary" weren't exactly being addressed with reverence), refused to play the song.

Many stations took the risk, and the catchy melody became part of American culture, to the extent that the clean-cut singing couple "Gail and Dale" cheerfully (and innocently, it seems) chirped out the lyrics as a gospel song on the "Lawrence Welk Show" dressed in their western square-dance outfits. You may see them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg. Brewer and Shipley began touring again in the late 1990s.

Answer: One Day at a Time

Marijohn Wilkin co-wrote "One Day at at Time" in 1973 with Kris Kristofferson, and it won a Dove Award in 1975 for Gospel Song of the Year. First recorded by American Marilyn Sellars in 1974, and on the charts both as a country song and a pop song (number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 list) that year, the song was a hit for Irish singer Gloria for several years in the 1970s, for Scottish singer Lena Martell in 1979, and for American singer Christy Lane in 1980 and beyond.

While the lyrics of "One Toke over the Line" call on "Sweet Jesus" ironically, the lyrics of "One Day at a Time" seem more to reflect the spirit of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs that use "one day at a time" as a motto and a prayer.

Answer: One singular sensation

In 1976, "A Chorus Line" was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won nine of those; it also won the Pulitzer Prize and many other awards, running on Broadway from 1975 until 1990. The song that the company of young performers sing, revealing their personalities, begins: "One singular sensation, every little step she takes...." After the death of Marvin Hamlisch in 2012, a musical tribute honoring him was given the title "One Singular Sensation"; many agreed that Edward Kleban's words aptly applied to Marvin Hamlisch himself.

Answer: One Tree Hill

Bono, lead singer of U2, wrote the song "One Tree Hill" based on thoughts that went through his mind during the funeral of Greg Carroll, a Maori the band had met while on tour in New Zealand and recruited as a roadie. The song is poetic, raw, emotional, and spiritual in a way that transcends religion. Bono was moved by a visit to One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie) on an informal late night tour around Auckland with locals he had met, and he has said the experience of the place represented a sort of personal freedom. Mark Schwahn took the name for the television series "One Tree Hill" from the U2 song.

The other choices are titles of television or film productions also based in Wilmington, North Carolina.