Welcome To My Jukebox (#2) Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Way You Do the Things You Do

This great song is on the flip or "B" side of a generally accepted greater song, "My Girl," by The Temptations. Whitburn's "Billboard's Book of [U.S.] Top 40 Hits" says "The Way You Do the Things You Do" was The Temps' first Top 40 (Pop) hit, nine weeks before "My Girl," which reached number one on the Pop chart. Gordy label, natch.

Answer: a relic

Certainly I'm not the only person to claim "Old Time Rock & Roll" as their personal anthem. What? You, too?

This Bob Seger song, released in 1979, only went to number 28 on the U.S. Billboard Pop chart. It was given eternal life, however, when Tom Cruise did his famous "underpants dance" to it in the 1983 movie "Risky Business."

"Old Time Rock and Roll" is on the Capital Record label, with The Silver Bullet Band, of course. "Till It Shines" is on the flip.

Answer: Bottle of Wine

The ATCO label credits this great 1968 drinking song to "The Fireballs," later to become "Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs." Group singing of the chorus is mandatory: "Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine. When you gonna let me get sober? Leave me alone. Let me go home. Let me go home and start over." This ditty spent ten weeks on Billboard's U.S. pop chart, peaking at number nine. (By the way, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs had a HUGE number one single in 1963. Do you remember it? "Sugar Shack.")

Another great drinking sing-along song (in my humble opinion) is, "Sweet Blindness" by the 5th Dimension, also from 1968. Hmmm... my freshman year in college. Coinkydink? I think not! Ahh, but then came the immortal "Margaritaville" and put all the others in their place.

Answer: I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)

This song was the third hit and the first number one for the Four Tops -- on Motown Records, of course. What soul! Levi Stubbs, Duke Fakir, Lawrence Peyton, and Obie Benson started out in Detroit as the Four Aims. At the time this quiz was written (early 2009), only Duke Fakir was still alive. Peyton died in 1997. Levi had a stroke in 2000 but held on until 2008. Obie B. died of lung cancer in 2005. The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January, 1990.

If you haven't seen the movie "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," I urge you to rent it. Fabulous music; fascinating history, mostly about the unknown "Funk Brothers," the brilliant studio musicians who backed nearly all of Berry Gordy's artists and were arguably as responsible for "the Motown sound" as were the composers/song writers.

Answer: Get up in the morning, look in the mirror. I'm worn as her tooth brush hanging in the stand.

The first "blue-eyed soul" (i.e. "non-black") duo was The Righteous Brothers, but I don't think they can hold a candle to Hall and Oates' aching, mournful, soul-deep expression of lost love. "She's Gone" charted in 1974 AND 1976 on Atlantic Records, a departure from the rest of their run on RCA.

Wrong answers: "Look at us, Baby, ..." is from The Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why", another great song filled with anguish; the "Next time..." lyric is from The Temptations' "Since I Lost My Baby"; and "To think ..." is a lyric from "She's Out of My Life" by Michael Jackson. Do you see a theme here?

Answer: Louie, Louie

It's probably not fair to ask a lyrics question about the song most famous for its almost incomprehensible words, and especially referencing the phrase that we were SURE said something really, really bad. "Louie, Louie" was banned in Indiana for what some folks THOUGHT was being sung.

You could probably win a bet asking most people if "Louie Louie" was a number one hit. It was not. For six weeks in 1963 it was number two on Billboard's U.S. Pop chart. Nevertheless, if we had to choose one song in all of rock-and-roll-dom that is the ultimate party song, this would be it, don't you think? (Haven't you seen "Animal House"?)

Interesting Factoid: The version by The Kingsmen (of Portland, Oregon) was the fourth version released of this song. Others were by Richard Berry ('57), The Wailers ('61), and Paul Revere and the Raiders ('63). If you can get your hands on one of the original releases (Jerdon record label), methinks you might make the big money, Mon!

Answer: Summer in the City

Talk about your summer songs! The Lovin' Spoonful's only number one hit (U.S. Billboard Pop chart, 1966) was written by John Sebastian's little brother. Mark Sebastian submitted his poem to a literary magazine while in prep school. (My source didn't say whether it was published.) Brother John kept the title and the refrain but changed the verses.

"Summer in the City" knocked off "Wild Thing" by the Troggs and was replaced after three weeks at number one by Donovan's "Sunshine Superman," according to The Billboard Book of Top 40 (U.S. Pop) Hits.

Answer: The Duke of Earl

Gene Chandler's "Duke of Earl" (Vee-Jay label) was number one on Billboard's U.S. Pop chart for three weeks in 1962. It was the first song and only number one in a career that spanned nine years. The beginning is so cool: [a capella bass voice:) "Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke." [repeat] [Then enter the tenor] "As I-I-I walk through this world, nothing can stop the Duke of Earl ... ". A very smooth old Doo-Wop song.

Chandler's 1970 song "Groovy Situation" was, according to Billboard's "Book of [U.S.] Top 40 [Pop] Hits", a million seller.

Answer: You Send Me

This Sam Cooke classic spent seventeen weeks on Billboard's U.S. Pop chart; it was number one for three. "You Send Me" is my all-time favorite "body-rubber" (slow-dance song). It was Cooke's first release, and he wrote it.

Tragically, this gifted, handsome, golden-voiced solo artist died at the age of 29 on December 11, 1964, when he was shot by a woman manager of a motel in L.A. She and another woman (whom Sam had taken to the motel) were, according to one version of the facts, acquitted of his murder or, under a different version, never stood trial. The mystery surrounding his death has almost achieved cult level.

Sam had four other career hits on Billboard's U.S. (Pop) Top Ten: "Chain Gang" ('60); "Twistin' the Night Away" ('62), "Another Saturday Night" ('63), and "Shake" ('65). He had a total of 29 songs on Billboard's (U.S. pop) Top 40 between 1957 and 1965. One of his best was released posthumously: the soulful, hauntingly beautiful "A Change is Gonna Come," what some consider a harbinger of the ultimate success of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.

Answer: sexual

Alas, Poor Marvin Gaye. His father brought him into this world, and his father took him out -- on April Fool's Day, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday. Marvin died in his parents' home a few months after returning from Europe and Hawaii where he had allegedly tried to evade the Internal Revenue Service. Paranoid enough that he carried a gun with him all the time, admittedly addicted to cocaine and sex, and convinced he was going to be killed, Marvin seldom left the house. His father confessed to killing Marvin and was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to prison.

"Sexual Healing" (1982) followed "Let's Get It On" (1973), so you can see where Marvin's head was at for several years.

Between 1963 and 1984 Marvin Gaye had 17 Top 40 (pop) solo hits and 12 Top 40 duets (with Diana Ross, Mary Wells, Tammi Terrell, and Kim Weston).

Marvin had an extraordinary career, starting as a session drummer for the likes of Smokey Robinson. He married Berry Gordy's sister Anna in 1961; they were divorced in 1975. His album "Here My Dear" was a bittersweet collection of songs he released to fulfill his financial obligation under the divorce decree.