Promises, Promises Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lead to hope and joy and love

"Promises, promises, my kind of promises
Can lead to hope and joy and love, yes, love!"

Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the score for the musical "Promises, Promises," book by Neil Simon. Dionne had a hit with another song from the show as well, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," which was also recorded by Dionne's friends Richard and Karen Carpenter. Two of the red herrings are lines from "Promises, Promises" while the third is a reworking of a line from "I'll Never Fall in Love Again." Hal David's actual lyric reads:

"What do you get when you kiss a guy?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, he'll never phone ya
I'll never fall in love again"

Answer: Guy

The story goes that Herb Alpert asked Burt Bacharach if he had a song that was easy to sing and, opening a drawer, Bacharach produced "This Guy's in Love with You." Though known as a trumpeter (with the successful Tijuana Brass), Herb recorded the song as a vocal, taking it to the top of the U.S. charts in 1968. It instantly became a contemporary standard, and has been recorded by numerous artists ever since, including Eydie Gorme and Aretha Franklin.

It is easy to sing, with a simple melody that has a range of about an octave and a half. Hal David's gentle, uncomplicated lyrics, written in rhyming couplets, are catchy and memorable. Small wonder that the song is a perennial favorite. Dionne's version was released as a single in 1969, becoming a top ten hit for her in the U.S.

Answer: It don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime/It don't snow in Minneapolis when the winter comes

"Little Green Apples" was written by Bobby Russell. Besides Dionne, the song has been recorded by artists as diverse as Bobby Goldsboro, Roger Miller, O.C. Little, Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry and Frank Sinatra.

Answer: The lyric consists entirely of questions.

The wistful "Where Is Love" (music and lyrics by Lionel Bart) consists entirely of questions. While other songs on the album, notably the title song, show off Dionne's power as a singer, her rendition of "Where Is Love" is executed with a sensitivity that brings a lump to the listener's throat.

Answer: Who Is Gonna Love Me?

"Who Is Gonna Love Me?" is another Bacharach/David gem. Burt also conducts the orchestra on this track.

"If You Go Away" and "Who Can I Turn To?" were also popularized in the 1960s. "If You Go Away," with music by Jacques Brel and English lyrics by Rod McKuen, has been recorded by a number of artists including Frank Sinatra, Dusty Springfield, Glen Campbell and Sandler & Young, who perform both McKuen's lyrics and Brel's original French song, "Ne me quitte pas."

"Who Can I Turn To?" was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for their 1964 musical "The roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd." Like "If You Go Away," it has become a widely recorded Pop standard, having been sung by the likes of Tony Bennett, Andy Williams and Donny Osmond. Dusty Springfield also recorded "Who Can I Turn To?" and, pertinently to this quiz, so did Dionne on her 1965 album, "The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick."

"I Wanna Wake Up with You" (or "I Want to Wake Up with You") was written by Ben Peters and first recorded by Boris Gardiner in 1986. He took the song to Number One on the UK Singles chart for three weeks that year. It has also been recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck on his 2003 album "Definition of Love."

Answer: Yes

"Whoever You Are, I Love You" is from Bacharach and David's score for the musical "Promises, Promises." Burt also conducts the orchestra on this track.

Answer: Charity

"Sweet Charity" was written by CY Coleman and Dorothy Fields with book by Neil Simon. It tells the story of Charity Hope Valentine, a taxi dancer at the Fandango Ballroom in New York City, who finds and eventually loses the man of her dreams. Dionne sings "Where Am I Going?" in a plaintive, almost bewildered way that is very touching.

Jerry Herman wrote "Hello Dolly." Carol Channing starred as the matchmaker, Dolly Levi, on Broadway while Barbara Streisand played her in the film adaptation.

Elizabeth is the female third of the love triangle in Allan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe's "Paint Your Wagon," which is set in Gold Rush era California. The show was on Broadway in 1951 with Marijane Maricle originating the roll of Elizabeth. The 1969 film adaptation, starring Jean Seberg as Elizabeth opposite Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, has a rather different storyline, in which Elizabeth is a Mormon woman who has two husbands.

The 1967 spoof of silent movies, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" starring the sparkling Julie Andrews as Millie Dumount, who discovers it's better to be a nice, old fashioned girl than a modern, intersperses period songs from the 1910s and 1920s with original songs by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn. Not till some forty years after the release of the movie was it turned into a stage musical.

Answer: I can see

"Wanting Things" comes from the Bacharach/David musical "Promises, Promises".

Answer: Lonely in my heart

"Lonely in My Heart" was written by David Williams and Peter Matz. Matz also conducts the orchestra on this track.

There are two songs that I know of called "Without You." One was written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans (the song most people probably think of when they hear the title) and one by Ritchy Adams and Alan Bernstein. The Ham/Evans song has been recorded by Vikki Carr, Shirley Bassey, Harry Nilsson (probably the best known version) and Engelbert Humperdinck, among others. The only recording your quiz maker has heard of the Adams/Bernstein song is on Engelbert's 1977 album "Miracles By Engelbert Humperdinck."

The lovely "Crying in the Rain" by Howard Greenfield and Carole King - their only collaboration - was a U.S. top ten hit by The Everly Brothers.

The verse of Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" is based on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18, proving as has been seen so often before through the decades, that classical music can have great popular appeal. "All By Myself" reached Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 and gave Carmen a gold record. The song has also been recorded by Donny Osmond among others, though not to my knowledge by Dionne.

Answer: Yesterday

Mexican composer Armando Manzanero wrote the Spanish language song "Esta Tarde Vi Llover" and Canadian-American lyricist Gene Lees wrote the English lyrics. In 1968, the same year Dionne included the song on "Promises, Promises," Tony Bennett used "Yesterday I Heard the Rain" as the title track of the album he released that year.

It is a Pop standard that has also been recorded by Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr and Perry Como, among others.