Sing Me a Number Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ready or Not, Here I Come

"Ready or Not, Here I Come" like all the songs that are part of multiplication rock was written (music and lyrics) by jazz musician and composer Bob Dorough (1923-2018). Dorough also sang the song. The accompanying animated video features one child counting by fives as the other children are hiding.

The narrator has to count several times because various children claim to not yet be ready. "Ready or Not, Here I Come" first aired on February 17, 1973.

Answer: Figure Eight

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009) was a jazz vocalist and pianist who was known for her "light" voice. In my opinion, her voice gives the song an almost ethereal sound. The video features a group of students walking into their one-room schoolhouse in the winter.

The narrator daydreams about ice skating in a "Figure Eight" shape as the teacher explains how to multiply by eight. The song emphasized the idea that multiplying by eight is the same as multiplying by four twice. (For example, 8 X 1 is the same as 4 X 2.) "Figure Eight" first aired on February 24, 1973.

Answer: Elementary, My Dear

Bob Dorough performs the vocals in "Elementary, My Dear", which first aired on January 27, 1973. Noah uses the animals exiting from the Ark to explain multiplying by two to his son, both wearing raincoats and rain hats. A long train of animal pairs are shown including alligators, bears, camels, and snakes.

The song and video is notable for explaining how to multiply 2 by 196 by breaking it down into three problems: 2 X 100, then 2 X 90, then 2 X 6.

Answer: Three Is a Magic Number

"Three Is a Magic Number" was the pilot episode for "Schoolhouse Rock". An advertising executive had noticed that his son could master lyrics to popular songs more easily than lessons at school and thought that songs could be an effective way to teach children basic facts. First airing on January 6, 1973, "Three Is a Magic Number" was performed by Bob Dorough.

The video opens with a magician who attempts to pull a rabbit out of a hat and instead pulls out a number three which transforms into a rabbit that grows three times.

The man and woman who become a couple and have a child (before playing in the park as a family) appear more than once.

Answer: Hey, Little Twelvetoes

"Hey, Little Twelvetoes" introduces the idea of a duodecimal number system (base 12). The song, performed by Bob Dorough, has (in my opinion) an eerie feel. A farm boy imagines a visit from an alien who has twelve fingers and twelve toes. In the alien's world, everyone would use a duodecimal number system where our twelve would be their "do" and written as "10".

This would make multiplying by twelve easy. The video also includes several images of a pinball machine that lights up with multiples of twelve.

Answer: The Good Eleven

The lyrics to "The Good Eleven" state that it is easy to multiply eleven by numbers up to nine. In the video, this is shown by an angel flying by single digit numbers and crashing into a ten. At several points, a close-up on a number eleven is shown to be a person's legs when the camera draws back.

As shown in the song and video, multiples of eleven are a particular number twice: eleven times two is 22 and so forth. "The Good Eleven", performed by Bob Dorough, first aired on March 24, 1973.

Answer: I Got Six

The video begins with a young boy holding six balloons who is soon joined by two other friends also holding six balloons each. Later the children buy twenty four gumballs (six times four). The song and video also feature nine hungry men with six dollars each who cannot afford to dine in a particular restaurant while six hungry men with nine dollars can. (The video shows a menu with several entrees priced at seven or eight dollars each.) Grady Tate performs "I Got Six" which first aired on February 24, 1973.

Answer: The Four-Legged Zoo

Bob Dorough performs "The Four-Legged Zoo" with the help of a children's chorus. The song describes and the video shows a trip to the zoo that a teacher and her class take. The teacher suggests that the students practice multiplying by four by counting the number of quadrupeds (four legged animals) that they see. Several animals are mentioned including camels, horses, and buffalo. "The Four-Legged Zoo" first aired on February 17, 1973.

Answer: Naughty Number Nine

Drummer and singer Grady Tate (1932-2017) sings "Naughty Number Nine". The video features a cigar smoking cat in a loud suit who places a small white mouse on a pool table and uses him as a cue ball. Despite hitting the pool balls, the mouse still is able to show us how multiplying by nine is connected to multiplying by ten. (Nine is one less than ten, so if ten times two is twenty then nine times two is eighteen or one times two less.) Despite this, the mouse continues to be mistreated by the cat. "Naughty Number Nine" first aired on March 17, 1973.

Answer: Lucky Seven Sampson

"Lucky Seven Sampson" shows the titular rabbit traveling into town (with 7s on the bottom of his hind paws) and teaching children located near a produce store how to multiply by seven. At several points he tears numbers off of a daily calendar to help illustrate his points. Eventually Sampson wears out his welcome as first the store owner and then a police officer chase him out of town. Bob Dorough performed "Lucky Seven Sampson" which first aired on February 17, 1973.