Whistle a Happy Tune Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Stranger

The song "The Stranger" is from Billy Joel's 1977 album also titled "The Stranger". The song was not released in the United States but was in Japan, where it climbed to position number two on the Oricon chart. Originally, Joel wanted the bookends or frame of the song to be played by a wind instrument of some kind.

However, Phil Ramone, the producer of "The Stranger" album, convinced Joel otherwise. When he first played the song for Phil Ramone, he whistled these parts and asked Ramone which instrument he thought would be best. Ramone responded that he thought Joel's whistling was perfect.

Answer: Centerfold

"Centerfold" became the J. Geils Band's biggest hit ever. It is found on their album "Freeze-Frame" and represents an attempt by the bluesy band that began in the 1960s to embrace more of the New Wave sound of some of the more popular 1970s bands. In addition to reaching number one in the United States, it also climbed to number one in Australia and Canada.

The song achieved such tremendous popularity that it resulted in the J. Geils Band eventually opening for The Rolling Stones. I'm certain the band's members whistled all the way to the bank.

Answer: Winchester Cathedral

"Winchester Cathedral" was written by Geoff Stephens from the United Kingdom. He created The New Vaudeville Band as somewhat of a novelty group as he was a tremendous fan of the music from the British music hall era, which was represented by the same musical stylings of the sound Americans associated with vaudeville. When the song was recorded, Stephens relied on mostly a group of different session musicians, for he didn't really have a real New Vaudeville Band at that time. Only after the song became an international hit and he had to begin touring did Stephens put together his band.

As the question points out, "Winchester Cathedral" knocked the Supremes' "You Keep Me Haning' On" off its top perch. However, a week later, The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" knocked "Winchester Cathedral" out of its number one position on the American chart. Then, "Winchester Cathedral" climbed back to number one and remained there for two more weeks until The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" replaced it. I mention all of this so that you can see how popular this song was when you consider its surrounding competition. The song was covered by Frank Sinatra on his "That's Life" album released that same year--1966, and it won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (Rock & Roll) Recording despite the fact that it was not even a rock and roll song.

Answer: Patience

Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin are credited with the composition of "Patience" although, as the question suggests, the inspiration for the song is not readily known. Worth noting is the fact that the song, in its original recording, has no other instruments than the acoustic guitar; however, three members of the band are all playing acoustic guitars--Slash on lead, and Stradlin and Duff McKagan on rhythm.

Another item of interest is that at the end of the video of the song, Axl Rose is sitting while watching old Guns N' Roses videos on a television.

Some have posed whether the song is about Axl asking for patience from his wife during a difficult relationship or whether it is somehow a song about Axl asking for patience from his bandmates during their infamously difficult relationship.

Answer: The Fishin' Hole

Most watchers of classic American television are familiar with the song "The Fishin' Hole" as they have heard it a countless number of times while watching "The Andy Griffith Show". When they hear the song, they picture Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor walking with his son Opie Taylor played by Ron Howard, who was only a little boy at the time. Each is carrying a fishing pole over his shoulder and they happily stroll down a dirt road to a small pond, Opie picking up and throwing rocks along the way.

"The Fishin' Hole" was written by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer--in about fifteen minutes, according to Hagen. Hagen himself is who viewers hear whistling the tune during the opening and closing credits of the television program.

Actor Everett Sloane wrote the lyrics for the song after its composition, but those lyrics are never heard on the show (though Sloane himself appeared in an episode of the show in 1962). Later, Andy Griffith recorded a version of the song with him singing the words.

Answer: Whistle-Stop

During the 1973 movie "Robin Hood", "Whistle-Stop" is performed by the narrator/character Alan-a-Dale, who appears as a colorful rooster who strums his guitar while marching to this tune. Of course, Roger Miller voices Alan-a-Dale. Miller composed the song "Whistle-Stop" as well as a couple of other songs performed by him during the film--"Oo-De-Lally" and "Not in Nottingham".

The single "Hampster Dance", which was released in 2000 though the song could be heard on internet memes a couple of years earlier, is merely a sped-up version of Roger Miller's "Whistle-Stop".

An actual whistle-stop is a very small, rarely used train station where a train stops only if there is a signal for it to stop to pick up a passenger or a load. However, the phrase has come to mean any place or event through which one may quickly pass.

Answer: (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay

In August of 1967, taking a short rest while on tour with The Bar-Kays, Otis Redding began writing the lyrics to "Dock of the Bay" while sitting on a rented houseboat at Waldo Point in Sausalito, California. He continued to write lyrics for the song on sheets of scratch paper here and there for the next couple of months. Finally, guitarist Steve Cropper helped Redding put the finishing touches on the song at the Stax recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, during November. According to Cropper, Redding had originally planned a little rap for the end of the song, but during the recording forgot what he was going to say and began whistling instead.

Unfortunately, Redding died in an airplane crash on December 10, and he never got to hear the release of his song in January of 1967.

He had been anxious to learn how the song would perform in public as, to him, the song represented a departure from his usual style of music.

Answer: Two of Us

"Two of Us" was released on The Beatles' 1970 "Let It Be" album with mostly acoustic instruments (George Harrison did use an electric guitar to play the bass line for the song). However, one can hear a more rock-driven version of the song on the "Let It Be" film.

The song was written by McCartney, and his original title for it was "On Our Way Home", a line that occurs frequently in the song. McCartney claims that he dedicated the song to Linda Eastman, whom he eventually married, of course, and she has also claimed that the song is about them as she remembers the exact day that he wrote it.

However, Ian MacDonald, who wrote the biography of The Beatles entitled "Revolution in the Head", has his doubts about the song's origin. MacDonald believes that, while McCartney may have dedicated the song to Eastman, he had to have originally been inspired to write the song by someone or something else. MacDonald points out that some of the lines from "Two of Us" can't possibly be reffering to a relationship between McCartney and Eastman because the two of them hadn't known each other long enough for some of the lines to make sense.

He specifically refers to "You and I have memories / Longer than the road that stretches out of here". Furtermore, he points out that "You and me chasing paper / Getting nowhere" makes little sense either as Paul and Linda were not writing songs together. Instead, MacDonald believes that the song is really about Paul remembering his past with John during a time when their relationship was falling apart.

Answer: Golden Years

David Bowie's ex-wife Angie Barnett claims "Golden Years" was written for her to encourage her to live life to the fullest and revel in her "Golden Years", as the song is titled. Bowie claims that he originally composed the song to offer it to Elvis Presley but Presley rejected it. Bowie obviously then recorded it and released it himself.

The song represents a mixture of some of the funk style that Bowie was experimenting with as well as a glitzy pop showtune. Bowie says that he was playing the Drifters song "On Broadway" on the piano when the idea for "Golden Years" came to him.

He also performed this song on the African-American television show "Soul Train" and became one of the first white performers to appear on the program that showcased Black American music.

Answer: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

As popular as Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" remains, it's interesting to note that it was not a number one hit for him. On the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart it peaked at only number 22 and did a little better in the UK, where it peaked at number 15.

The opening lines of this song, quoted in the question, have puzzled listeners and led to much debate. During a 1972 "Rolling Stone" interview of Paul Simon, Jon Landau asked Simon what created such a shock for Mama and Papa. Simon responded, "I have no idea what it is . . . Something sexual is what I imagine, but when I say 'something', I never bothered to figure out what it was. Didn't make any difference to me." In 2010, Simon, still offering no explanation for the song, described the composition as "a bit of inscrutable doggerel" during a book review he wrote of a Sondheim book for "The New York Times".