Songs About Singers and Musicians Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In their song "Roll over Beethoven", to whom did the Beatles suggest we "give the news"?

Answer: Tchaikovsky

"Roll Over, Beethoven" was written by Chuck Berry in 1956, and covered by a plethora of artists, including the Beatles and Jerry Lee Lewis.

"You know my temperatures risin and the jukebox is blowin a fuse/My heart beats in rhythm and my soul keep on singin the blues/Roll over Beethoven and give Tchaikovsky the news"

Legend has it that Chuck Berry was inspired to write the song by his sister, who played classical piano.

2. Which sixties band paid tribute to soul singer Otis Redding in a song which ran "Poor Otis, dead and gone, left me here to sing his song, pretty little girl with the red dress on, poor Otis, dead and gone"?

Answer: Jim Morrison and the Doors

Soul singer Otis Redding, probably best known for "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay", died in 1967 at age 26. Jim Morrison and the Doors paid tribute to Redding in their song, "Running Blues". Lest anyone have doubts that the song refers to Otis Redding, check out this verse!

"Well, I've got the running blues/Running away, back to L.A./ Got to find the dock of the bay/Maybe find it back in L.A."

3. Country and Western singers are great at acknowledging one another. Which country singer wrote a song that includes this verse? "You don't have to call me Waylon Jennings/ And you don't have to call me Charlie Pride/ And you don't have to call me Merle Haggard, anymore/ Even though you're on my fighting side".

Answer: Steve Goodman

Chicago-born Steve Goodman wrote "You Never Even Called Me By My Name", and sent it to singer David Allen Coe, claiming that it was the "perfect county song". "It can't be the perfect country song" Coe wrote back "because you don't have anything about Mom, trucks, trains, or being drunk". Goodman then added the following verse, "I was drunk the night my Mom got out of prison/And I went to pick her up in the rain/but before I could get to the station in my pick-up truck/She got run over by a damned old train". With this addition, Coe agreed that it was the perfect country song!

4. When Paul Simon sang "I'm going to Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee/I'm going to Graceland/Poorboys and families/And we are going to Graceland", which singer's home was he going to visit?

Answer: Elvis Presley

Not surprisingly, references to "the King" abound in popular music. In fact, there are so many that a Wikipedia page devoted to "songs about Elvis Presley" divides these songs into three categories - those that clearly reference Elvis, songs with "substantial references" to Elvis, and those with "nominal references". All told, Wikipedia lists over 100 such songs! While Paul Simon's 1986 song about his trip to Graceland with his nine year old son might not mention Elvis directly, I still prefer it to songs like "I Saw Elvis at the Walmart" and similar tunes.

5. Van Morrison sings a tribute to a famous rhythm and blues singer, "____________said". Who is the singer?

Answer: Jackie Wilson

The song opens like this "Jackie Wilson said/It was Reet Petite/Kinda life you get/Knock you off your feet" and appears on Van Morrison's 1972 classic "St. Dominic's Preview". Jackie Wilson, soul singer and performer par excellence, was born in 1934 and died in 1984, after spending a number of years in a coma following a massive stroke.

6. Country singer Hank Williams has inspired a lot of singers who pay tribute to him in song. Which songwriter and singer wrote these verses: "I said to Hank Williams:'How lonely does it get?'/Hank William hasn't answered yet/But I hear him coughing all night long/A hundred floors above me/In the tower of song".

Answer: Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen was born in 1934 in Montreal, and published his first poems in 1956. In 1967, he appeared in the Newport Folk Festival. Cohen has written songs like "Suzanne" and "So Long Marianne".

7. In 1984, The Commodores recorded a song called "Nightshift". The first verse is as follows: "__________he was a friend of mine/And he could sing a song/His heart in every line'__________sang of joy and /And I can still heart him say/And take to me so you can say/ What's going on/"

Answer: Marvin Gaye

The Commodores were a well-known rhythm and blues group that got their start at Tuskegee University. Lead singer Lionel Richie left the group in 1983 to begin a solo career. In 1986 the Commodores recorded "Nightshift", a Grammy-award winning album.

The title song is a tribute to soul-singer Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Marvin Gaye was best known for hits like "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "Sexual Healing". A tragic figure, Gaye was shot and killed by his own father in 1984, at the age of 45.

8. Which band sang a song about blues singer, Bessie Smith, that begins "Bessie was more than just a friend of mine/Now many a year has passed me by/I still recall the best thing I ever had/.

Answer: The Band

Bessie Smith (1895-1937) was one of the most famous blues singers of her day. The Band recorded their song 'Bessie Smith" on the "Basement Tapes" in 1975. The verse ends thus

"I'm just going down the road to see Bessie,/Oh, see her soon/Going down the road to see Bessie Smith/ And when I get there, I wonder what she'll do".

9. Country singer Loretta Lynn wrote a song about another singer, who was both her mentor and her friend. Which country singer did Loretta "remember"?

Answer: Patsy Cline

Country singer Patsy Cline had a considerable influence on the young Loretta Lynn, and she occupies an important place in Lynn's autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter". Cline was killed in a plane crash in 1963. In 1977 Lynn recorded an album dedicated to her friend, called 'I Remember Patsy", which featured many of Cline's songs.

10. Of course, the ultimate song about singers is Don McLean's "American Pie". What event was McLean referring to when he sings about "the day the music died"?

Answer: The deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper

Don McLean's 1971 hit "American Pie" is a song that has attracted many interpretations. McLean himself has said little about the song, but does confirm that the first verse refers to the February 3, 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.

Other singers or groups alluded to in the song include the Lovin' Spoonful, Marty Robbins, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley. (Information for this question came from fiftiesweb.com and Cecil Adams website, "The Straight Dope".)

Source: Author janetgool

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Many songwriters tip their hat at a fellow musician in their songs. Some of these references are direct, and others are more oblique. Most of the references are from the sixties and seventies.

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