Progressive Rock: Missing Lyrics Quiz

Answer: Park bench

Hopefully that was an easy start. If not, you should check out Jethro Tull. These are the memorable opening lines from Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung,' which follow the equally memorable guitar riff. This song was written by flautist/vocalist Ian Anderson and his then-wife Jennie about a homeless man, based on a photograph she had taken.

This is the title track to the landmark album which perhaps saw Tull's first steps into the world of Prog Rock.

Answer: Yellow Jester

One of King Crimson's early pieces off their debut album, this is 'The Court Of The Crimson King.' The song is dominated by a distinct mellotron riff and Greg Lake's powerful vocal performance. After just one album, the group fell apart with Greg joining ELP and Ian McDonald eventually joining Foreigner. Guitarist Robert Fripp kept the Crimson name alive however, despite his inability to maintain a line-up.

The lyrics to this epic track convey a range of colourful images such as the "purple piper," "yellow jester," "black queen," "evergreen," "grey mornings," and the "Crimson King," which, according to lyricist Pete Sinfield, is the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II rather than the devil, whom it is often said to represent.

Answer: Cups of tea

'Golf Girl' is the opening track to the Canterbury based prog group Caravan's defining album, 'In The Land of Grey and Pink.' In it, Richard Sinclair narrates a romantic encounter with a tea saleswoman on a golf course.

Answer: What a Scene, What a Scene

'Karn Evil 9,' by ELP is one of the most bombastic pieces of music from the prog rock movement. The thirty minute suite is broken down into three distinctly different sections. The first impression seemingly depicts a carnival, but actually represents a futuristic history of the world, starting with the 'cold and misty morning' of the earth's birth. Gradually, the humans take over; the greed, selfishness, misery and evil in humanity ("a bomb inside a car") is depicted as a circus sideshow. Due to the world becoming more artificial, seemingly ordinary things such as "a real blade of grass" are also seen as a bizarre circus feature.

The second impression, an extended piano and drums instrumental, leads into the third, which portrays the endless war between humans and robots, where Keith Emerson provides a wonderful robotic voice.

Answer: all that come near you

This is from the Van Der Graaf Generator song 'Killer,' taken from their 1970 offering 'H to He, Who Am the Only One.' Peter Hammill really shows off with his scary vocal ability on this track, as he narrates the story of a lonely shark who kills everything and, as a result, lacks a companion. This song also contains a very fine saxophone riff.

Answer: Queen of Maybe

Here we have 'Dancing With The Moonlight Knight' by Genesis and these are the lyrics, sung a cappella by Peter Gabriel, that open and set the tone for their 'Selling England by the Pound' album. The song is an ironic commentary about England; its culture and heritage is gambled over development and commercialisation, hence the narrator's country lying with the 'Queen of Maybe'.

The drowning of 'Old Father Thames' could also symbolize the loss of Britain's ancient folklore. The Moonlit Knight itself could represent some sort of ancient deity or hero of Britain, with whom the narrator is inviting people dance before the sun finally sets on empire and British culture is lost completely.

Answer: a snowflake

Once again the opening lines, this time to Camel's 'Freefall,' which introduces their 'Mirage' album. Whilst many of Latimer, Bardens and co's finest offerings are instrumentals, such as the classic "Snow Goose" suite, this track is a fine vocal attempt.

The album cover to 'Mirage' notoriously stole the artwork from Camel cigarettes. Initially, this led to the USA branch of the cigarette company demanding a change of album artwork but in Europe, the two parties struck up a sponsorship deal where boxes of cigarettes with the band's artwork and track listings were being sold in shops whilst at Camel concerts, free cigarettes were being handed out.

The cigarette company even suggested the band re-name their songs with smoking-related titles like "Twenty To The Pack," but this never went through, thankfully.

Answer: poor but rich

These lyrics are from the wonderfully eccentric Gentle Giant track 'The Advent of Panurge' which featured on the 1972 album 'Octopus.' Bearing in mind the band kept their songs mostly around the 3-5 minute length, they used some of the most complex, mathematical arrangements in all of prog rock.

They touched upon folk, jazz, baroque, classical, minimalism and just about anything else that sounded experimental. This song, like many of their others, contains intricate interlocking vocal melodies from the Shulman brothers.

The lyrics here were inspired by "Gargantua and Pantagruel," a series of novels by François Rabelais.

Answer: priests of the temples of syrinx

This is part of the '2112' suite by Canadian trio Rush, released in 1976. Containing Neil Peart's trademark sci-fi lyrics, this time about aliens that discover a guitar, it is considered as one of the genre's defining epics clocking in at 20:33, divided into seven contrasting sections.

It is loosely based on the story 'Anthem' by Ayn Rand and also contains a biblical reference, a quote from Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' and an underlying criticism of the music industry who try to heavily censor music, like the priests in the lyrics who forbid the protagonist to use the guitar he has discovered.

Answer: Silly human race

This is 'Yours Is No Disgrace' by Yes and can be found on 'The Yes Album.' It is the first song which Steve Howe graced with his presence and what a guitar riff this one has. It is also one of the few Yes songs from the classic era to feature all five members of the band as writers. Jon Anderson has said himself that many of his lyrics are somewhat nonsensical but this one was written as a protest to the Vietnam War.