Shooting up the Charts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Reno

The lyrics state "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry". Cash composed "Folsom Prison Blues" while still in the army in Germany. He watched a movie titled "Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison" (1951) and while writing the lyrics he tried to think of the most evil reason someone would have for killing another person.

He released the single while he was with Sun Records in 1955. The song became increasingly popular when Johnny Cash performed concerts in prisons in the sixties.

Answer: False

Sonny Bono composed the song, but it was released as a single credited to Cher from her "The Sonny Side of Cher" solo LP. It was her second solo album and "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" was her best-selling solo effort of the sixties.

Cher's first solo recording was "Ringo, I Love You" under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. She subsequently released "Dream Baby" using the name Cherylin. Both songs failed to make a significant impact on the charts.

In 1965, she released her debut solo album "All I Really Want to Do". Her first US Number One single didn't come until "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" topped the charts in 1971.

In 1966 Nancy Sinatra released a version of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" on her album "How Does That Grab You?".

Answer: Billy

Stagger Lee and Billy were fighting over gambling when Stagger Lee shot Billy. The bullet then went through the bartender's glass. The song had been around as a folk song since the twenties, when Mississippi John Hurt recorded a song chronicling the murder of William "Billy" Lyons by a man named Stagger Lee Shelton.

Various renditions were done over the ensuing decades with names such as "Stagolee" and "Stackerlee". Although Price's pop version reached the top of the charts, the lyrics had to be changed when he performed the song for Dick Clark's television show, "American Bandstand". In the edited version, the two men were fighting over a girl and made up the following day.

Answer: He shot a stranger over a girl.

"El Paso" had the distinction of being the first Number One song of the sixties decade. In the lyrics of the song a handsome young stranger made a pass at the singer's Mexican girlfriend in Rose's Cantina. After shooting the man the singer fled but was later shot trying to return to see his girlfriend, Felina. He ended up dying in her arms.

While "El Paso" was Marty's first pop crossover hit, he was no stranger to the top of the charts. He had previous Number One country hits with songs including "I'll Go on Alone", (1952) "Singing the Blues" (1956) and "A White Sport Coat" (1957). The latter also reached Number Two on the pop charts.

Answer: Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods

Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in the early seventies. They began a tour with The Osmonds in support of their first single, "Special Someone". Despite touring to showcase the song it failed to make the Top Forty. The group changed labels and released a song titled "Deeper and Deeper". After the failure of that song they covered Paper Lace's "Billy Don't Be A Hero" and had a smash hit on their hands. They followed with "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Our Last Song Together". They changed their name to "The Bo Donaldson Band" but disbanded in 1978. They reformed in 1996 to perform at nostalgia venues.

"Doing it to Death" was a 1973 Number 22 song by Fred Wesley and The J.B.'s. Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show enjoyed Top Ten success the same year with "The Cover of Rolling Stone". "The Love I Lost (Part 1)" was a Number Seven release by Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes in 1973.

Answer: Gene Pitney

When "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" reached Number Four it was Gene Pitney's first US Top Ten hit. He had chart success the year before when the theme from another movie, "Town Without Pity", reached Number 13. When he sang "Town Without Pity" at the Oscar ceremonies he became the first pop star to perform at the venue. "Town Without Pity" lost to "Moon River". "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David but did not end up in the score of the movie.

Gene Pitney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and passed away in his hotel room during a UK tour four years later. The last song he performed on the tour before he passed was "Town Without Pity", receiving a standing ovation.

Answer: Run Joey Run

In the 1975 tragedy genre song "Run Joey Run", the girlfriend's father accidentally shot her while trying to kill her boyfriend. David Cole Idema released the song under the name David Geddes. He derived the name from a street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After releasing several unsuccessful singles he returned to law school, but when "Run Joey Run" reached the Top Ten he left Wayne State University and returned to the music business.

"Running Bear" was a 1959 song by Johnny Preston in which two lovers drowned. Dickey Lee's girlfriend also drowned in his 1962 release, "Patches". In the 1961 Everly Brothers' release "Ebony Eyes", the girlfriend died in a plane crash.

Answer: Raymond

Raymond was hung for the crime. The lyrics relate that when Raymond found Andy's dead body he fired a shot in the air to sound an alarm. When the sheriff arrived and saw him standing over Andy's body with a gun he arrested him for murder.

Vicki Lawrence's husband at the time, Bobby Russell, wrote the song and offered it to Liza Minnelli and Cher. He was initially reluctant to have Vicki even do a demo, but when the song kept getting rejected by other singers she ended up releasing the single herself.

Seth is mentioned in the song as one of the other boys allegedly fooling around with Raymond's wife. Little Sister actually shot Andy. She also killed her sister-in-law, adding that the body would never be found.

Answer: 'Bout a hundred cops

The lyrics state "And I asked someone who said 'bout a hundred cops are dead". The song deals with the anguish of the singer's mom worrying about her policeman husband. At the end of the song he walked through the door.

The song was a fictional account of a mob shootout with police. The group formed in the late sixties in Nottingham, England. Although they are known as a One-Hit Wonder group in the US they had other successful singles in the UK.

Songwriter Peter Callander and Mitch Murray admitted in an interview on "Beat Club" after the song was a hit that they had never been to Chicago. Their knowledge of the city was gleaned from watching gangster films.

Answer: Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

"Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" was a the second single released from The Rolling Stones' 1973 album, "Goats Head Soup". The song, written By Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, was based on a true story that occurred in New York. The other death depicted in the song was a ten-year-old girl who died of a drug overdose. Mick Taylor played guitar on the recording and Billy Preston played the Clavinet.

"Street Fighting Man" was released in the US in 1968. "Miss You" was a 1978 Number One for the band in the US. "Shattered" was released the same year.