Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The Beatles Quiz

Answer: Love Me Do

John Lennon and Paul McCartney were listed as the writers on eight of the 14 songs on the album. This was a rarity in the early 1960s. The songs credited to the Lennon and McCartney team were:
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"Misery"
"Ask Me Why"
"Please Please Me"
"Love Me Do"
"P.S. I Love You"
"Do You Want to Know a Secret"
"There's a Place"

Answer: Do You Want to Know a Secret

This song was a take on a song featured in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" titled "I'm Wishing". Lennon and McCartney specifically wrote the song for Harrison to sing, giving the melody a limited range which would fit with Harrison's voice. This song was not released as a single in the UK, but it was released in the USA in March of 1964.

Answer: Don't Bother Me

All of the other listed songs were penned by the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team. This album featured eight originals and six cover songs. Noted covers on this album were "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry) and "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (Smokey Robinson).
This album had significance in the UK as it was only the second album to achieve sales of over one million. The first was the soundtrack to the musical "South Pacific".

Answer: All My Loving

It's possible that the most heralded appearance of any musical act ever on television was on February 9, 1964 when The Beatles appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show". This appearance has been documented and analyzed by music historians for decades. After Mr. Sullivan's opening introductions, The Beatles took the stage and performed their hits "All My Loving", "Till There Was You" and "She Loves You". Later in the program, the band regrouped onstage for their performance of "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

The show was viewed by a then record 73 million fans.

Answer: False

The Beatles actually never played this song in any concert setting. It was once played on a BBC radio program, but never in concert. This song has many interesting cover versions from artists as varied as Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles and Diana Krall.

Answer: Can't Buy Me Love

This song was recorded at Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France on January 29, 1964. The band was playing a series of 18 shows at the Olympia Theatre when this track was recorded. The song was written in a Paris hotel suite which was equipped with a piano that Paul McCartney used to write the song.

Answer: Carl Perkins

Although there were cover songs by Holly ("Words of Love"), Berry ("Rock and Roll Music") and Johnson ("Mr. Moonlight"), it was Carl Perkins who wrote two of the songs. "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" were written by Perkins, and both appeared on side two of the album.
It's also a fact that the only two songs that were not sung by either Lennon or McCartney were the two Perkins covers. "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" was the only song to feature George Harrison on vocals and "Honey Don't" was the only song to feature Ringo Starr.
"Honey Don't" was the original B-side to Perkin's "Blue Suede Shoes" single.

Answer: Little Richard

The song was originally titled "Kansas City" and credited to Leiber and Stoller. People in the Little Richard camp noted it and demanded that Little Richard receive his credit. The name was changed to reflect the medley and proper credit was given to both.

The medley was, in essence, a cover song. Little Richard had been singing "Kansas City" in concert and then he added the "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" portion (his own creation). The Beatles heard that version, liked it, and they recorded it in October of 1964 for inclusion on the "Beatles for Sale" release.

Answer: NUJV

The letters on the slightly different US release were "NVUJ". The album's art director simply did not like the way the photos looked when the band actually spelled out the word "help", so he decided to pick the letters that had the most pleasing visual appearance.

Answer: Scrambled Eggs

As was the case with so many songs from The Beatles, Paul McCartney had the melody and tune for the song, but had no lyrics. For that reason, he needed some words to use while the music was being finalized, thus "Scrambled Eggs" was used.
"Yesterday" has been included in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as being the most covered song in history. There have been over 3,000 versions recorded and BMI states the song has been played over seven million times in the 20th century.

Answer: Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

George Harrison really was the first to get into the whole transcendental meditation scene. After hearing about Ravi Shankar, he decided to purchase one of his albums. Once he listened to it, he felt very emotional toward the sound. That experience prompted him to buy a sitar from a London store and he began using it in music, both The Beatles, and his own solo material.

Answer: What Goes On

This song was originally to be the follow up to "Please Please Me", so it was written well before the other songs on "Rubber Soul". The credits are listed as Lennon/McCartney/Starkey for this track. Of course, Richard Starkey is the birth name of Ringo Starr.

Answer: Love You To

George Harrison had been studying with Ravi Shankar during this time and was becoming more and more influenced by Eastern music and religions. This song was performed solo by Harrison with only some tambourine by Ringo Starr in the background. Harrison also used a tambura in this song. A tambura is an Indian style lute-type instrument popular in Eastern music.

Answer: Got to Get You into My Life

This song had such an element of funk that the American soul group Earth, Wind and Fire covered it with great success. Paul McCartney was hugely influenced by the modern blues and soul music coming out of places like Memphis, Chicago and St. Louis and he wanted to emulate some of those sounds.

The song was never released as a single in the UK, and only released in the US ten years after the album was released. The record label simply did not think the sound was indicative of the musical direction the band was heading. It should be pointed out that this album really did pave the way for other styles of music into the mainstream. Raga rock had been experimented with by The Kinks ("See My Friends"-July 1965) and The Yardbirds ("Heartful of Soul"-June 1965), but it was The Beatles who really pushed the envelope with their songs "Love You To" and "Within You Without You".

The band can also be responsible for what many consider to be the early forms of electronica on their song "Tomorrow Never Knows".

This album has to be recognized for literally changing people's perspectives on what popular music could become.

Answer: Adolph Hitler (German dictator)

John Lennon requested that Jesus Christ and Adolph Hitler be included, but that was considered too controversial and the request was denied. I've always found it interesting that Shirley Temple warranted three appearances on the cover (two face shots and once as a doll figure).
This album cover was the most expensive album cover of its time, costing in excess of 2,800 pounds. It is estimated this was over 100 times what any other album cover had cost.
Notable figures who were included on the cover include: Mae West, Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, W.C. Fields, Dylan Thomas, Marilyn Monroe, Laurel and Hardy, all four Beatles and Edgar Allan Poe. Even old band mate Stuart Sutcliffe made an appearance.

Answer: Ringo Starr

Ringo was going to be this central character primarily for his charisma and acting abilities. There was a rumor that there could possibly be a movie and Ringo would be a desirable lead character for the big screen. The Beatles had quit touring in August of 1966.

This allowed them, for the first time in their recording career, to focus their full attention on the purpose of song writing and to advance their skills in the studio. The songs on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" beautifully showcased that extra effort and it became what many consider to the be best pop rock album of all times.

The album received seven Grammy award nominations and won four. The album reached the top of the albums charts in the UK, US, Australia and Norway.

This album also marked the first time that the exact same track listing was used on an album by The Beatles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Answer: Don't Pass Me By

All incorrect song titles were all written by either Lennon or McCartney. Harrison's songs included "Long, Long, Long", "Savoy Truffle", "Piggies" and the magnum opus of his time in the band, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". That song featured a guitar solo performed by Eric Clapton, a favor Harrison repaid by providing the solo on the Cream track "Badge" on their final album. Much of this album was created while the band were away in India studying transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

By the time the group returned to their home studio, things were obviously tense and aggravations were beginning to affect the band. In one regard, this has lent itself as the basis for some of the most unique songs recorded by the band, but on the other hand, things were so strained, the album had little flow or focus.

The album appears to be a mismatch of songs, each with a newly acquired identity of the individual band member.

Answer: A race war between whites and blacks where he would stay underground until such time the country was in such disarray that Manson could surface and take over control.

In addition to Manson's believing that the song was some sort of a code which would give him control of the world after a great race war, he also found interpretations in Harrison's "Piggies" as motivation to strike out against authority and the establishment. During the Sharon Tate murders (along with the LaBianca couple and Gary Hinman), the bodies were mutilated with knives and forks because these utensils were mentioned in the song.

The walls were also smeared with the victim's blood, spelling out "Pigs" and "Piggies" as if this would somehow give the crimes a justification.

Answer: "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need is Love"

"Yellow Submarine" had been released on the "Revolver" album and "All You Need is Love" was released as a single in 1967. This album only had four original tracks from the band, and many felt it should have been released as an EP instead of as a full LP. The new tracks included:
"Only a Northern Song" by George Harrison
"It's All Too Much" also by George Harrison
"Hey Bulldog" by Lennon and McCartney
"All Together Now" also by Lennon and McCartney
The two George Harrison tunes had been recorded prior to the sessions for this soundtrack. The two Lennon/McCartney numbers were originally intended for this release. The remaining tracks on the album were all part of the film's score and was written by George Martin.

Answer: Our World

"Our World" was a BBC feature in which music material from all over the world would be played live and broadcast by satellite. The event took place on June 25, 1967. The Beatles were asked to write some new material and contribute as the representative of Britain.

In true Lennon fashion, he felt a song to help promote peace and love should be The Beatles' message, so the song was written specifically for the event. The song was re-recorded for inclusion on the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack.

Answer: Something

The album "Abbey Road" seemed to give the spotlight to George Harrison, as two of the more popular songs from that album are Harrison compositions. "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" were both hugely popular tracks written by Harrison.
This album was also recorded using an eight track recorder, so the sound was fuller and had more tone than many of the other Beatles' recordings.
It should also be noted that although this was not the last album released by The Beatles, it was the last album fully recorded by the band before their break up. "Let It Be" would not be released until after "Abbey Road", but most of the material was in the can before these sessions started. "Abbey Road" was the end of the road for the band as evidenced by John Lennon touring with the Plastic Ono Band even before this album's release.

Answer: Her Majesty

I believe this may be the first example of a hidden track in music, as the song does not begin until 14 seconds after the conclusion of "The End" which was originally going to finish out the album. The song was going to be part of the "Abbey Road Suite", between the songs "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". McCartney objected to the way the song sounded, so they literally cut the tape of the song and ordered it to be destroyed.

There was a long standing tradition at Abbey Road that no Beatles material be discarded, so the sound engineer literally picked the tape off the cutting room floor and added it to tail end of the recording with instructions for it not to be included in the final recordings.

By the time the tapes, with "Her Majesty" on the tail end had reached the upper offices, it was discovered that the song sort of fit in. Everyone liked the results, so it was left as is.

Unfortunately, the first printing order for the album jacket had already been made, so the song title was left off until the next production run. In regards to all of the songs on any of the 12 original UK albums, "Her Majesty" is the shortest in duration, clocking in at only 23 seconds in total length.

The longest? "Revolution 9" from "The Beatles" was a whopping eight minutes and 22 seconds, practically an eternity for a song released in that era.

Answer: Phil Spector

The film "Let it Be" has been described as the witnessing of a great band breaking up. In this documentary George Harrison quit the band, John Lennon and Paul McCartney each tried to wrestle control of the band, John Lennon slipped further into heroin addiction and Yoko Ono became the face that broke up the greatest musical group of all time. Phil Spector was given the masters of the songs that would become "Let it Be" to ready for release.

His over-production created a sound that was not what the band had intended.

The band wanted to return to their roots and release an album of simplified rock and roll music without all the studio tricks and techniques that they had employed over their last four albums. When the album came out, the reception was less than stellar. Even the band did not like the overall sound, but Lennon did defend Spector implying that he didn't have quality material to work with.

Answer: I've Got a Feeling

The other three live recordings made to be featured on "Let it Be" included "Two of Us", "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae".
The "Let it Be...Naked" release was the idea of McCartney to go back in and redo the album without the spectacle of Spector's arrangements. In addition, two songs were pared from the release, "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It". A reworked version of "Don't Let Me Down" was included in the release.

Answer: Across the Universe

Fitting I suppose that the first transmission, well, across the universe (into deep space) would be titled as such. On February 4, 2008, scientists from NASA celebrated the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of the Deep Space Network and the 50th anniversary of NASA in one monumental event. The transmission of "Across the Universe" was beamed from a station in Madrid, Spain in the direction of the star Polaris located 431 light years from the Earth. The idea was that of Beatles historian Martin Lewis and had the blessings of Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono and the folks at Apple Records.

This quiz has been a small sampling of the history of the band as told primarily through their music. There is no way to comprehensively relate the importance or sheer genius of this band into a quiz of any size. It is estimated that over 10 million articles have been published regarding this band and probably again that many in internet blogs, fan web sites and other distribution. I hope this quiz has brought back some good memories, educated a few people to some unknown ideas or at least introduced some earlier music to the younger crowd. Thanks for putting up with this piece of work.