Song Titles (Parenthetically Speaking) Quiz

Answer: (You're My)

Bill Medley and the late Bobby Hatfield had ten Top 40 hits (Billboard's U.S. Pop chart) between 1964 and 1974. This one was a certified million selling gold record, their only one.

Answer: The Four Tops

Don't feel bad if you missed this one; I almost did, and I wrote the quiz!

The original Four Tops were Levi Stubbs, Duke Fakir, Lawrence Payton, & Obie Benson. Their first record for Motown was an album of jazz standards released shortly before their first hit, "Baby I Need Your Loving".

Answer: (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone

Aretha Franklin's "Sweet Sweet Baby" was a million seller in 1968 that never made it higher than number five on the Pop Chart (U.S., Billboard), but hit the very top of the R & B chart. Aretha and Teddy White wrote the song. Looking through her list of hits, she'd be a good bet for Artist Whose Song Titles Include the Most Parentheticals; I counted six, in 33 charted songs.

By the way, none of the titles in the incorrect answers use parentheses.

Answer: The Hollies

Originally part of the British Invasion, mates Graham Nash and Allan Clarke hooked up with, at various times in the group's incarnation, Tony Hicks, Dan Rathbone, and Erick Haydock. They began as a cover band in England in the early '60s. The Hollies had a few hits there before breaking into the American Top 40 with their own penned songs, starting with "Look Through Any Window," and "Stop Stop Stop" in 1966. Between 1965 and 1975, the group had eleven top 40 hits and two gold records ("Long Cool Woman" and "The Air That I Breathe," in 1972 and 1974 respectively). Nash left the band in 1968 and joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills for another round of mega-hits as Crosby Stills & Nash, later augmented to a quartet by the addition of the inimitable Neil Young.

The Hollies, said to have named themselves in honor of Buddy Holly, had a good run even after Graham Nash's departure.

Answer: Naturally

"Alone Again" brought Gilbert O'Sullivan (born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan) a gold record in 1972. He also wrote it. The song was huge worldwide, reaching number three in the U.K., number one in the U.S., and number two in New Zealand. Its status resulted in Record Mirror music mag voting O'Sullivan "Male Singer of 1972." The singer-songwriter's first manager changed his name to make a play on words with the famous operetta composers.

Answer: Looking Glass

Poor Brandy... In love with a guy who's in love with the sea. Bummer. At least she got a nice locket (on a fine Spanish silver, braided chain) out of the deal.

The four members of Looking Glass graduated from Rutgers Univ. in New Brunswick, N.J.

Answer: Escape

"...I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon. Cut through all this red tape. At a bar called O'Malley's where we'll plan our ESCAPE." This is one of those story songs with a twist, not unlike "Clair" (Gilbert O'Sullivan, where Clair turns out to be a child he babysits), and Johnny Rivers' "Memphis": "Marie is only six years old. Information, please... try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee." In "Pina Colada," the guy unwittingly responds to a personals ad placed by his wife. This clever song hit number one on Billboard's Top 40 in both the U.S. and U.K. (and Japan, and ...)

Holy Cow! This guy is no one-hit wonder! He wrote "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" for Broadway, which won the Tony Award for Best Book, Best Music, and Best Lyrics as well as Best Musical -- the first person in history to pull that off. He also penned "Say Goodnight, Gracie," a B'way play on the life of George Burns, and has twice won the coveted Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for his mystery novels, including "Where the Truth Lies," which was made into a movie starring Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth. Who knew??

Answer: Paul Anka

I really hate this song. So did the National Organization for Women (NOW), which voted it the Worst Song of All Time in 1975. It spawned (pun intended) a "reply" version titled, "I'm Having Your Baby" by country vocalist Sunday Sharpe.

Anka, a very talented Canadian, hit gold with his first attempt, "Diana" when he was only 15. His many claims to songwriting fame include writing "The Tonight Show Theme" for Johnny Carson, and "My Way" for Frank Sinatra.

"(You're) Having My Baby" was Anka's first number one since his 1959 smash "Lonely Boy." "Having My Baby" was knocked off (not up) the top slot by Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff." Thanks, Eric!

Answer: With Glasses

"John Fred?" What kind of name is John Fred? Are we supposed to believe he's a playboy type?

Speaking of "take-off" songs, this parody was, of course, engendered from The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" from the Sgt. Pepper album. The lyric "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes" fostered one of the most amusing misheard lyrics of all time: "the girl with colitis goes by..." (Source: " 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy' and Other Misheard Lyrics" by Gavin Edwards.)

I'm wondering if Al Yankovic began his career by channeling John Fred for his many parodies.

Answer: Otis Redding

Poor Otis. His biggest hit came posthumously. He died in a plane crash in December, 1967.
Guitarist and songwriter Steve Cropper co-wrote "Dock of the Bay" with Otis. He described the process as Otis coming into the studio one day with a line based on his stay in a boathouse in San Francisco: "I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again." Cropper picked up his pen and the rest, as Shakespeare wrote, is history. The song spent sixteen weeks on Billboard's Pop Chart, soaring to number one in March of 1968.
In an interview on NPR in 1990, Cropper stated about Otis, "He didn't usually write about himself, but I did. 'Mr. Pitiful,' 'Sad Song Fa-Fa,' they were about Otis' life. 'Dock Of The Bay' was exactly that: 'I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay' was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform."

Answer: (They Long to Be) Close to You

I'll bet The Carpenters wished they had a nickel for every 70s wedding that included this song, or another of their hits, "We've Only Just Begun." (Have you seen "Four Weddings and a Funeral"? Classic!)

Brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter were, as of the mid-80s, the second-most successful duo of the Rock and Roll age behind The Everly Brothers. The Carpenters had ten gold records between 1970 and '75 (from "Close to You" to "Please Mr. Postman"), mostly due (in this quiz author's humble opinion) to Karen's velvety alto voice. Tragically, Karen suffered from anorexia and died of cardiac arrest in her parents' home on February 4, 1983, at the age of 32.

Answer: Roses Are Red (My Love) - Bobby Vinton

Did I catch you? Roy's song is "Oh Pretty Woman" -- no comma, no parentheses. And don't look for it under "P" for "Pretty." It will just say, "See 'Oh Pretty Woman' ". That one is a shock to a lot of people. The other two wrong answers have no parentheses in their titles.

Bobby Vinton has been called the "all-time most successful love-ballad singer of the rock era" by Joel Whitburn, author of "Top Pop Artists & Singles 1955-1978" and "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits."

Answer: The Rolling Stones

I have no idea why Mick and Keith put in the parentheses. Perhaps it was a compromise by the writing team between titling the song "Satisfaction" vs. the full five-word phrase.

This was a mega-hit in the summer of 1965, sitting at number one for four weeks and a million seller for the so-called Bad Boys of Rock and Roll. Their label? London Records, that is for all of their songs until 1971 when they had their first hit on their own Rolling Stone label. Do you know what that was? (I'll wait, humming the think-theme from "Jeopardy!" while you cogitate. Got it?) Yup: "Brown Sugar."

As of the summer of 2009, four of the five original members are still alive (Brian Jones died in July, 1969) writing, writhing, kicking, and screaming. Rock and roll will never die, and, apparently, neither will The Rolling Stones!

Answer: (No Can Do)

Daryl Hall and John Oates met while both were students at Temple University. They became friends and played together in Hall's band, "Gulliver," before leaving to start their joint "blue-eyed soul" career. Hall & Oates first appeared on the pop charts in 1974 with "She's Gone" from their album "Abandoned Luncheonette." It fared moderately well, but became a much bigger hit in 1976 when it was re-released following the pair's success with "Sara, Smile."

Answer: December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)

In Barbra Streisand's song, the word "Evergreen" is what is in parentheses. In KC and the Sunshine Band's song, the first three words are in parentheses, not the last three. And in Lennon-McCartney's strange and wonderful hit, there is a slash mark (/) between the two titles, as if the two names are alternate titles; there are no parentheses.

"December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" was a 1978 hit for the Four Seasons (originally The Four Lovers), a quartet from New Jersey. (Hence, the Broadway and touring smash-hit play about them is aptly called "The Jersey Boys.") Frankie Valli (born Francis Castellucio) was the lead singer, and this song was their last hit and second gold record. "Rag Doll" from 1964 was the first.