Songs I Would Give Up A Finger To Have Written Quiz

Answer: Cat Stevens

Written by the great Cat Stevens in 1967 and first released by P.P. Arnold in May of that year. P.P. Arnold's version went to number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Cat released his own recording on his December 1967 'New Masters" album. This track has also been covered by Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow. Cat has won a few songwriting awards for this song over the years, including two consecutive ASCAP awards in 2005 and 2006.

Answer: Ed Cobb

Yeah: THAT Ed Cobb (RECORD GEEK ALERT!). Released in 1964 by Brenda Holloway and covered over the years by The Small Faces, The Spencer Davis Group, Graeme Strachan (who means nothing to you unless you are Australian where he means a lot), Alicia Keys etc.

The original version, on Motown Records' Tamla affiliate, peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. How it ever missed the Number One spot still baffles me to this day.

Answer: Sufjan Stevens

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Did I mention this song is beautiful? Another song where I have a hard time keeping the tears out of my eyes because the beauty of it overwhelms me whenever I hear it.

Released on July 1, 2003 on the 'Michigan' album (the first album of his possibly ongoing/possibly just a hoax 'Fifty States' project). The song and album were recorded and produced entirely by Stevens on his own using Pro Tools. This album went to Number One in my dreams and stayed there for a really long time.

Answer: Leonard Cohen

One of the better known tracks from Leonard's great 1971 release 'Songs Of Love And Hate". This song also was covered (and became the title track of) Jennifer Warnes album of the same name in 1987.

Now I ALMOST picked "So Long Maryanne" as my Leonard song I wish I'd have written, but then I think back to my teenage years in Germany and remember what this song meant to me back then and hey: I gotta be honest after all... Although admittedly: having the final line changed to "Sincerely U. Pancake" just does not have quite the same pizazz as the original lyric does.

Answer: Peter Stampfel/Steve Weber

Not just a song I wish I'd have written but one of my top five all time favorite songs as well. Underneath the madness, the creakiness, the general weirdness of the HMR version is a beautiful melody just begging to be released. And I am just the man to release it. One of these days (if I don't die before that happens).

Released as Holy Modal Rounders' Eletra Records label debut in 1968 this album charted... ... ... ok it did not chart anywhere at all. Probably not even Top 1000 albums of the week even. The album DID however also contain "The Bird Song", which was prominently featured on the soundtrack for the movie 'Easy Rider', along with "The Pledge" and "Werewolf", both of which featured on a few European "psychedelic music" samplers (hey - it's how I discovered them back in the day!).

By the way: the Stampfel/Weber credit is a reasonable assumption on my part. The song is credited (as are a few other songs of theirs) to an "Always", of whom not one iota of further info can be found. I have also seen it credited to just Stampfel in one instance. As a good number of their songs were written by the two of them I am going to list them as composers here as well because I just do not have the time or patience to try and figure out who or what on earth 'Always' is! I do not think any reasonable person would fault me for this.

Answer: Stan Vincent

This perfect pop/soul confection was recorded by the Five Stairsteps and released in April 1970. It was written and produced by Stan Vincent. The song went to Number Four on the US Cashbox chart, Number 14 on the Billboard R&B Chart, Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number Three on the Canadian RPM chart (YAY Canada!).

Answer: Kate Bush

This gorgeous song would bring tears to my eyes the first hundred or so times I heard it. It appeared on her September 1980 release 'Never For Ever'. This album was Kate's first Number One album, the first Number One album by a female solo artist as well as the first album by any female solo artist to enter the charts at Number One. Needless to say this was all in England because America (at the time) could not give a hoot about Kate Bush (I very much looked down upon the American people for years until her brilliance was finally acknowledged by the record buying public over here when her "Hounds Of Love" album was released in late 1985 and it went to Number 30 on the Billboard 200 charts).

"Never For Ever", on the other hand, was not released in the USA until later and never went into any chart in that country other than maybe my personal Top Ten albums of the year chart that I compiled for myself at the end of each year. Grrrrrrrrr.

Answer: Ralph Mobius (aka Rio Reiser)/Ralph Steitz

Ahhhh... Ton Steine Scherben. The legendary German band (and punk forerunners) from Berlin.

"Mensch Meier" is a song about using public transportation and refusing to pay. There is a youtube video of this song that is animated and makes the general (German language) lyrics very easy for any non-German speaking person to follow. Look for it. Written and sung by the great Rio Reiser (real name Ralph Christian Möbius 1-9-50 - 8-20-96) this track was included on the band's second album, the two LP set 'Keine Macht für Niemand' (their best album imo).

In 1978, when I bought my first replacement copy of this album for my long since worn to the bone original copy whilst staying at my grandmother's house in Germany I played the new copy constantly. To where my grandmother told my mother that she no longer wanted me to stay with her were I to ever come back to Germany again because she was convinced I was a terrorist for listening to this album as obsessively as I did (and thus she basically blocked me from ever returning to Germany again up until her death in 1988 as I would have not really had a place to stay)!

Answer: Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks

A key track on what (at the time) was perhaps rock music's single most legendary unreleased record, 'Smile'. I am not even going to attempt to summarize the entire Smile project here!

The track itself was revived for the 1969 release of "20/20", which was an album that was recorded between 1966 and 1968. Actually one of the better post "Pet Sounds" Beach Boys albums that were released at the time, the album only went to number 68 in the US Billboard 200 Albums chart. In the UK, where the band was far more appreciated during this time period than they were at home, the album went to Number Three.

Answer: Jay Ferguson

"She Smiled" (also apparently known as "She Smiles" according to a number of online sources) is a gorgeous track off of the second Spirit album 'The Family That Plays Together', released in February of 1969. This album had Spirit's only major hit on it ("I Got A Line On You").

The album went to number 22 on the Billboard 200 Chart in 1969 and number 46 in the RPM Magazine Top 50 in 1969 as well.