'Sizzling Supersuns' - 50s Rock in Other Words Quiz

Answer: Johnny B Goode

What better way to begin this quiz than with one of the most famous rock'n'roll songs of all time, not to mention Chuck Berry's signature tune among his many guitar classics? It's considered so essential to American culture a recording of it is currently leaving our solar system on the Voyager spacecraft.

There have been numerous covers, but perhaps the most well known is the one by Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) in the 1986 movie 'Back to the Future' (Michael's performance is dubbed). For the record, the original made US Billboard number eight and R & B number two, but its stature over the years far exceeds that of its initial sales.

'Bad Boy' was a 1957 Larry Williams original best known from a 1965 Beatles cover. 'Johnny Angel' was a 1962 hit for actress Shelley Fabares (number one US Hot 100), and 'Who Slapped John?' was recorded by Gene Vincent and his original Blue Caps (featuring legendary rockabilly guitar pioneer Cliff Gallup) in 1956.

Answer: The Great Pretender

Featuring the lead vocal of Tony Williams, this was the second Platters hit, and the first for them of four US Billboard number-ones. Their first, 'Only You' also made Top Ten and R & B number one. The others were 'My Prayer', 'Twilight Time' and 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'. They had many lesser hits and were a very influential vocal group in the early days of rock'n'roll.

'How Great Thou Art' is one of the best-known church hymns, with lyrics dating back to the 19th century. The original Russian melody is said to be much older. It's also the title of a 1967 Elvis Presley gospel album. 'Duke of Earl' was a number-one independent doo-wop hit for Gene Chandler on both Billboard Hot 100 and R & B, spawning the response 'Duchess of Earl' by the Pearlettes, which barely charted. 'King of Fools' was the B-side of a 1962 update of 'Be-Bop-a-Lula' by Gene Vincent.

Answer: A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

This iconic US number-three, UK number-eight single made the flamboyant boogie-woogie pianist and singer an instant international sensation. There was an original version by blues singer Big Maybelle, but it bore little resemblance. Various people claim credit for the composition so best not to speculate here. It was followed by an even bigger hit, and the title motif for this quiz, 'Great Balls of Fire', number one on both sides of the Atlantic. Lewis's meteoric rise was nobbled at its zenith by his 'scandalous' marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, but that's another story.

"Shake Your Moneymaker' was a 1961 recording by revered blues slide-guitarist/singer Elmore James, and a showstopper at his live dates. Grammy-nominated 'Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)' was a 1987 novelty dance hit for acrobatic 60s white 'soul man' Joe Tex, of 'Treat Her Right' fame (US Billboard 12, R & B seven, UK two).

'Earthquake Angel' (minus the quake) references the Penguins' 1954 R & B number-one hit, one of the earliest and most influential in the 'doo-wop' genre. It continued to sell steadily after first charting and over the years has notched an estimated ten million in sales.

Answer: Lucille

Billboard number-one R & B, number 21 Pop, and ten in the UK, 'Lucille' was this wild, histrionic blues shouter's next effort in a blistering string of them since 1955, released in 1957 and covered by a plethora of artists ever since. None have matched the sheer energy and fearless drive of the original. Richard delivers every note like his life depends on it, and his grinning, slick-haired, baggy-suited figure at the piano has become one of the most indelible visual images of the period. 'I am that I am', he declared, and indeed he was.

'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' should need no explanation - it's the Beatles a decade later. 'I Love Lucy' was the title of the beloved comedienne's TV sitcom, by far the most successful of the decade, and Long Tall Lucy is a play on 'Long Tall Sally', another Little Richard hit, in turn covered successfully by the Beatles with a wild Paul McCartney vocal for yet another 1964 hit (as if they needed one).

Answer: Summertime Blues

Cochran's legendary status as a rock'n'roll pioneer is based on only a few hits, before his untimely and tragic 1960 death in a car crash in Wiltshire UK, which also badly injured Gene Vincent (for the second time in the latter's case - he already had a prosthetic leg). Eddie was only 22.

His first US Top 20 was 1956's 'Sittin in the Balcony', but his career took off after an appearance in the 1957 Jayne Mansfield movie 'The Girl Can't Help It' singing 'Twenty Flight Rock'. 'Summertime Blues' was his biggest and most enduring success (number eight US, 18 UK). Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, voice-over man (the impersonations in the song are his), and handsome to boot, there's no telling what he could have achieved, had he lived.

'Summer Nights' is a song from the 50s-retro movie/musical 'Grease' (1978). 'V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N' was an upbeat 1962 Connie Francis Top Ten in both the UK and US, and Brian Hyland's 'Sealed with a Kiss', also about teen summer blues, reached number three on both sides of the Atlantic the same year.

Answer: That'll Be the Day

White preppie sport coats and thick black glasses were suddenly 'cool for cats' when Buddy Holly and the Crickets burst on the national scene with their appearance on the 'Ed Sullivan Show' in January 1958, slinging their electric guitars. 'That'll Be the Day', independently recorded in Norman Petty's Clovis, New Mexico studio, climbed to number one in both the UK and the US Hot 100, as well as number two R & B.

More moderately charting hits were to follow in the year or so until Holly's death in the much-eulogized light plane crash that also killed the 'Big Bopper' (J P Richardson) and 17-year-old LA Chicano rocker Ritchie Valens, while on tour in Iowa. The follow-up, 'Peggy Sue', did best, making Top Ten on all charts both sides of the pond. But the legacy of this unique Texan singer goes far beyond chart performance and is too profound to document here. As far as I'm concerned, that fateful day in Iowa was 'the day that music didn't die'.

'Devil in Disguise' was a 1963 UK number one, US number three for Elvis Presley, one of his last before he was swamped by Beatlemania. 'Little Devil' peaked at number nine US Cashbox for 'Brill Building' singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka in 1961. What's the connection with the Eagles? 'Hell Freezes Over' was the title of their 1994 comeback album.

Answer: Bye Bye Love

After signing with Nashville's Acuff-Rose song-publishing company in 1956, these talented close-harmony Kentuckian siblings struggled at first, but hit paydirt with this Boudleaux and Felice Bryant vehicle in early 1957. It made US Country number one, Pop number two and Top Ten UK. Many more hits were to follow, include several widely charting number-ones like 'Wake Up Little Suzie', "All I Have to Do Is Dream', and 'Cathy's Clown'. 'Dream', with lyrics by Felice Bryant, was inspired by a vision of her husband's face before she had even met him, according to her.

'Jamaica Farewell' was a 1954 hit for Jamaican-American 'King of Calypso' Harry Belafonte, and 'See You Later' is one of the best-known Bill Haley and the Comets swing boogies. The other alternative is a play on 'Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen', a 1961 US Cashbox number-nine hit for Neil Sedaka.

Answer: Chantilly Lace

Chantilly lace is a traditional handmade bobbin lace, usually in black, from the northern French town of that name, popular among 18th century aristocratic women for mourning shawls and the like. It was a favorite of Marie Antoinette and Mme Du Barry's, and after their execution during the French Revolution the lacemakers of Chantilly were also killed. C'est la guerre! Bet you didn't know it was a dangerous revolutionary occupation, did you? Later versions were machine produced.

A large man and former high-school linebacker, J P Richardson was a successful Houston radio personality who assumed his exuberant 'Bopper' persona behind the mike, but was said to be quite shy and quietly spoken away from it. He died on 'the day the music died' (see Q6 above) before he had a chance to see this iconic 1958 hit go gold. He made us all feel like long-necked gooses, er, geese. Goodbye, B-a-a-a-aybeee!

'Leather and Lace' was a 1981 Don Henley/Stevie Nicks duet which made Adult Country Top Ten and US Pop number six. 'Auprès de ma Blonde' ('With my Best Gal at my Side', more or less) dates back to 17th century France. 'Petticoat Junction' was a popular Paul Henning-produced 1960s TV series starring Bea Benaderet as a country hotel keeper with three teenage daughters.

Answer: Diana

An Ottawan of Christian-Arab ethnicity, Anka was only 16 when he broke through with this 1957 teen 'crush' anthem (number one US, UK, Canada) and hit followed hit in much the same heart-on-sleeve vein. He was savvy enough to retain his royalties, becoming a millionaire before he turned 21. He hit number one again with 'Lonely Boy' in 1959, and when the hits dried up, had a lucrative career as a songwriter and nightclub 'oldies' performer, especially in Las Vegas, making occasional comebacks.

Trivia: Anka wrote one of Buddy Holly's most memorable songs, 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore', recorded just before Holly died. He donated the royalties to his widow to ensure her ongoing welfare.

'Venus in Blue Jeans' (Billboard number seven) was a 1962 hit for Louisiana rocker Jimmy Clanton. If you don't know who Princess Diana is, you didn't live in the 20th century and probably shouldn't be doing this quiz. The others are vague musical references to two other modern-day princesses. If you don't know who they are, you'll have to figure that out yourself!

Answer: See You Later, Alligator

One of the best-known songs of the era, it peaked at number six on Billboard and also on Cashbox Pop. The original is by Cajun bluesman Bobby Charles, a version I personally prefer, with a shuffle beat opposed to the Comets' standard 2/4 swing-boogie formula. I like the Spanish title: 'Hasta Luego Cocrodilo'. It was to be Haley's last big hit, as the music of the times moved on from echoes of the big band era to more guitar-based rockabilly and rhythm and blues.

As for the alternatives, make a few up yourself. You can go on forever, especially if you're multi-lingual.

Answer: Blue Suede Shoes

Released by Sun Records auspiciously on 1 January 1956, by April it had become a million-seller, number one US Country, number two Pop, and the first 'country' song to top the R& B chart. This song ushered in the era of so-called 'rockabilly', the country and rhythm-and-blues fusion at the heart of rock'n'roll, and Perkins became the genre's 'godfather'. The poor sharecropper's son had done it the hard way with secondhand and homemade guitars and plain persistence and determination.

At the height of this breakthrough success, Perkins was in a car accident which later claimed the life of his brother Jay in 1958 and prevented Carl from promoting the song through personal appearances and TV. He was on his way to New York to appear on the national 'Perry Como Show'. His friend Elvis Presley performed it twice on TV that year, and it's been covered by countless artists since. The song is based on a real event, when he saw a young man chiding his girlfriend for scuffing his dancing shoes.

Other Perkins hits, 'Boppin' the Blues', 'Dixie Fried', 'Matchbox' and 'Honey Don't' were also widely covered, the latter two notably by the Beatles, who were big fans, especially George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Paul McCartney has been quoted as saying 'Without Carl Perkins there would be no Beatles".

'High-Heel Sneakers' was a 1963 r & b hit for Tommy Tucker and widely covered by many rock'n'roll luminaries, including Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Perkins himself. 'Boots' was the late 1965 breakthrough for Nancy Sinatra, number one just about everywhere. Crooner Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, not his shoes. Well, he may have done but I doubt he would have sung about it.

Answer: Roll Over, Beethoven

This song shows off Chuck's nifty wordplay as well as any and demonstrates why the athletic guitar man is sometimes called the 'Poet of Rock'n'roll'. His articulateness was quite rare for a black songwriter-performer of the day. It made number seven on the Billboard R& B chart, number 29 Pop, and was Top Ten in the UK.

Like most of the songs in this quiz, it's been covered extensively and was a staple of the Beatles' early repertoire. They recorded it in 1963 with lead guitar and vocals by George Harrison. The song is said to be inspired by Berry's frustration at not being able to get at the family piano when his sister Lucy was practising classical music.

The 'Moonlight Sonata' and 'Destiny' (a popular nickname for Beethoven's Fifth Symphony} are referenced in the alternatives. Professor Ludwig Von Drake was a Disney character often used as a narrator in cartoon pseudo-documentaries.

Answer: The Purple People Eater

'I said "Hey Mister People-Eater, what's your line?"
He said "Eatin' purple people and it sure is fine".'

Number one Billboard Pop, number 12 UK, this enduring novelty song is said to have been written by Wooley in less than an hour. It was popular with both children and adults and very danceable. Radio stations ran drawing competitions and various novelty games and figurines were marketed. Oddly, the monster is almost always depicted as purple, when strictly speaking, that was just the color of the people he ate.

'Wolf' references the 2013 Leonardo Di Caprio movie. The other two are just lame puns. Sorry about that.

Answer: Rock around the Clock

Not the first rock'n'roll record, but certainly the one that brought the budding new genre into the mainstream. It's now an integral part of modern popular culture, one of the most instantly recognizable and significant popular recordings ever made. Some sources claim figures in excess of 40 million copies sold, the biggest single of all time, though no one seems really sure. At the time it went straight to the top on the Billboard Pop chart, and it made top 20 in the UK, but it rose and fell time and again in various countries over many years. It was the UK's first million-seller of any kind.

Trivia: the nimble flat-picked electric guitar solo, one of the most admired in rock'n'roll, was played by Danny Cedrone, who never lived to hear it on the radio. He died in a fall down a stairwell only two months after the session.

'All Day and All of the Night' was a 1964 hit for the Kinks, the follow up to their prototype-punk breakthrough 'You Really Got Me'. 'Eight Days a Week' was a 1965 hit for the Beatles, and is also the title of a 2016 Ron Howard documentary about the group's live touring days. 'Twistin' the Night Away' was a 1961 hit for another 50s prime mover, gospel/soul pioneer Sam Cooke, US Pop Top Ten, R & B number one.

Answer: Blueberry Hill

Though the rock'n'roll version is the one best-remembered today, it was a big hit as far back as 1940, and was recorded by Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, Gene Autrey, Sammy Kaye, Kay Kayser, Jimmy Dorsey and other big-name artists. The Miller Big Band had a number-one with it. And that's not counting the long list of major artists who've recorded it since this chubby, flat-topped New Orleans piano man. The Wikipedia entry for this track even has a picture of Vladimir Putin singing it at a charity event.

'Strawberry Fields' is an iconic Beatles song from their 'psychedelic' period and recorded a decade later. The other two are made up, though there is a song called 'Honeysuckle Rose'. It's a jazz standard composed by 'Fats' Waller in 1929.