U.S. Cities in Song Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marc Cohn

"Walking in Memphis" is a song written and sung by Marc Cohn. It was released in March 1991. According to Cohn, the song is autobiographical and describes a "Jewish gospel music lover". He goes to Memphis to find kindred souls and winds up singing in a church where Muriel plays the piano.

When Muriel asks "Tell me are you a Christian child?", he replies "Ma'am, I am tonight!". The song reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: ZZ Top

Texas rock band ZZ Top released "La Grange" on their 1973 album "Tres Hombres". It reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following year. It was one of their best selling singles. The song is about a house of ill repute (called "Chicken Ranch"), on the edge of La Grange, Texas.

The brothel was also featured in the show and movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

Answer: Paper Lace

British pop group Paper Lace gave us the song "The Night Chicago Died" from their 1974 album "And Other Bits of Material". The the hit reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and won a Juno Award for International Single of the Year. While the lyrics reference a real period in 1930s Chicago, the gun fight between the police and Al Capone is fictional.

The song's setting, "The East side of Chicago", is almost surrounded by water, and an unlikely place for a shootout.

Answer: Glen Campbell

Country music singer Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" is the name of both the 1968 album and hit song. Written by Jimmy Webb, it was Campbell's first gold single, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The tune hit number 3 on the U.S. pop charts.

In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song number 195 on their list of the 500 Greatest songs of all time. And, despite Glen's developing Alzheimer's, "The Wichita Lineman is still on the line".

Answer: Waylon Jennings

Another song about a Texas town, "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)", was recorded by country singer Waylon Jennings in 1977, on the "Ol Waylon" album. It was co-written by Bobby Emmons and Chip Moman (who was Jennings producer at the time).

The lyrics include country performers Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Jennings himself, and speaks of his desire to go back to the basics of those times. The song hit number one on Billboard's country album chart.

Answer: Arlo Guthrie

Folk singer Arlo Guthrie recorded Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans" in 1972. Goodman penned the autobiographical ballad which was based on a train ride he took from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad. The nostalgic tune, on Guthrie's album "Hobo's Lullaby" reached number four on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and number eighteen on the Hot 100 chart.

It was Arlo's only Top 40 hit besides "Alice's Restaurant".

Answer: Marty Robbins

Texas towns seem to come up a lot in song. Another example is Marty Robbins' 1959 hit, "El Paso", first released on the album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs". The lyrics tell of his love for the Mexican "maiden" Felina, in Rosa's cantina in El Paso, the shootout and subsequent retribution with "one little kiss, then Felina good-bye".

The ballad hit number one on both the country and pop music charts, and won the Grammy Award for Best Country and Western Recording in 1961.

Answer: KISS

The 1976 album "Destroyer" featured "Detroit Rock City" by the American rock band KISS, i.e., Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. While the song references Detroit, it is based on an incident in Paul Stanley's life that took place somewhere else.

While on tour (maybe in Charlottesville), there was a fatal car accident outside the arena, showing the tenuousness of life, i.e., "I got to laugh 'cause I know I'm gonna die".

Answer: Fats Domino

Going way back, Fats Domino was going to "Kansas City", from a rhythm and blues song written in 1952 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ("Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock"). As an aside, neither one of the songwriters had ever been to Kansas City, but they wrote about "standing on the corner of 12th Street and Vine, with my Kansas City baby and a bottle of Kansas City wine". Leiber and Stoller picked the city as homage, because that's where Count Basie and Charlie Parker recorded.

Answer: Billy Joel

Released in 1982, "Allentown" was from Billy Joel's album "The Nylon Curtain". The song is about the decline of the American manufacturing industry, and its result on blue collar cities like Allentown, Pennsylvania, with the closure of the Bethlehem steel plant. "Allentown" hit number seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending six consecutive weeks there, and placed #43 on the Billboard year-end Hot 100 chart for the year 1983.