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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 60 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Animals in Songs
Cats In The Cradle. 'Cats In The Cradle' was a #1 hit for the late Harry Chapin in 1974. Sadly, his life was cut short in 1981 as the result of a car accident.
Dead Skunk. A hit for Loudon Wainwright III in 1972. Incidently, Loudon made a few guest appearances on 'M.A.S.H.' playing the character of Captain Calvin Spaulding.
Crocodile Rock. 'Crocodile Rock' is from Elton John's album 'Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player' from 1973.
Ant Music. Released in 1980 and a hit for Adam and the Ants.
When Doves Cry. That's right! 'When Doves Cry' by Prince Rogers Nelson.
I Am The Walrus. Yep! 'The Beatles' off their 'Magical Mystery Tour' album.
Hungry Like The Wolf. A top ten hit for 'Duran Duran' in 1982.
Cool For Cats. 'Cool For Cats' was a hit for Squeeze in 1979. A big favourite of mine at the time and I have to admit to spending a couple of boring classes at school learning the words!
Fly Like An Eagle. From the album of the same name by the Steve Miller Band,
released in 1976.
Eye Of The Tiger. 'Eye Of The Tiger' form the 'Rocky 3' soundtrack performed by Survivor.
A bullfrog. "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" is the opening line of "Joy to the World."
Bullfrogs (Rana castesbiana) live throughout much of North America.
Toad the Wet Sprocket. The comedy sketch was by Monty Python. Pythons are constricting snakes beloging to several Old World genuses. Toads techincally are amphibians of the family Bufonidae, but many reptiles, (horned lizards for example) have also been referred to as toads.
Whitesnake. Although there are over 2,000 species of snakes, I do not believe that any is referred to as a Whitesnake.
The Turtles. There are over 250 species of turtles worldwide. Turtles have feet that are adapted for water, wherease tortoises have feet that are adapted for land travel.
Alligator lizards. "Seasons crying no despair, Alligator lizards in the air" are the rather cryptic lyrics from this song. Alligator lizards are not alligators. They are small (four to six inch long) lizards with short limbs, slender body, and a distinctive fold along the sides of their bodies. Alligator lizards belong to the genus Gerrhontonus, and you can probably find alligator lizards alongside Ventura Highway. One species, the southern alligator lizard (Gerrhontonus multicarinatus) is native to the area.
Cobra. "Hey Little Cobra" was a song by the Rip Chords. There are about 20 species of cobras (Family Elapidae) in the world.
Crocodile Rock. "We were hopping, bopping to the Crocodile Rock" was a line from the song. There are fifteen species of crocodiles worldwide.
Lizard King. Jim Morrison was the Lizard King. Lizards belong to the order Squamata (which includes snakes and lizards). Lizards can be distinguished from snakes because lizards have eyelids, external ears, and are anatomically different internally. There are some legless lizards, and some snakes (boas, for example) have vestigal legs.
Cotton Mouth. The water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscavorus), a venomous snake from the Southeastern United States is referred to as a cottonmouth because the inside of the mouth is white.
Spiders and Snakes. "Spiders and Snakes" was a hit for Jim Stafford in 1974 containing the line "I don't like spiders and snakes." I guess it's obvious from this quiz that I don't share the same sentiment. Maybe my next quiz should be about spiders?
REM. The title, "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" is a parody of the song title "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (REM put a version of "TLST" on the 'B' side of the single).
The single got to number seventeen in 1993. It was taken from the number one album "Automatic for the People". The album also contains "Man on the Moon" which includes the lyric;
"Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
Snakes alive!
Don't Shoot Me I'm only the Piano Player. "Crocodile Rock"; Elton John and Bernie Taupin's homage to the doo-wop era appeared on "DSMIOTPP" in 1973 (the single had been released ahead of the album). The album reached number one. Other tracks on the album include "Daniel", "High Flying Bird" and "Have Mercy on the Criminal".
The Flying Lizards. "Money (That's What I Want)" was originally a hit for Barrett Strong in the States in 1959 and holds a place in music history as it was the first hit record for Berry Gordy's Motown flagship label. Many people have covered the song over the years including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
The Flying Lizards struggled to follow up their success and only scored one more minor hit with "TV".
The Stray Gators were a group of musicians who provided backing on Neil Young's "Harvest" album.
There is no band called Skink Anansie; the first word is Skunk and disappointingly Herb Alpert's band were the Tijuana (not iguana) Brass.
Rod Stewart. "In a Broken Dream" was first recorded in 1969 with Rod Stewart on lead vocals but was not a hit single until 1973 when it reached number three. The line up of Python Lee Jackson varied greatly through the 'sixties and 'seventies with members from both Australia and the UK.
| Which band sang these lyrics?
"An' here I go again on my own,
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone.
An' I've made up my mind;
I ain't wasting no more time." | 'Snake, Rattlers and Crawl'- Reptiles in Songs
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Whitesnake. The lyrics are from Whitesnake's 1987 hit "Here I Go Again". It was a reworking of an album track and got to number nine in Britain.
Black Cobra are a metal band from California.
Blackadder was a successful British comedy series.
Jim Stafford. Jim Stafford had a few (mostly light-hearted) hit singles in The States but only charted twice in Britain. "Spiders and Snakes" was a hit in 1973 and Jim followed that up with "My Girl Bill" in 1974.
Ray Stevens also had several novelty hits in the 'seventies including "Briget the Midget" and "The Streak".
Loudon Wainwright III has never scored a hit single in the UK but I did buy "Dead Skunk" all those years ago.
The Life of Brian. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was written and performed by Eric Idle as part of the crucifixion scene in "The Life of Brian". The film had been shelved by the original film company and may never have been completed but for the financial imput of former Beatle, George Harrison, who put in a substantial amount of his own money to help finance the movie. In 2006 it was voted the best comedy movie of all time by viewers of Britain's Channel 4.
The single reached number three in 1991.
| We'll start with probably the best known song about a pachyderm. Originally recorded by child actress Mandy Miller, it received a new and punky lease of life in 1984 when it was released by the Sunderland band The Toy Dolls. Who was the perambulating pachyderm? | Songs Featuring Creatures #1
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Nellie. "Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump"
Written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart, this was a children's favourite for many years. Little did we realise that the next generation (and some of us too!) would be pogo-ing to it. According to Wikipedia, this song can be used to give the correct timing for CPR. This is presumably the original, as doing it to the Toy Dolls would probably kill both the resuscitator and the patient. All the wrong answers are fictional elephants.
| On to 'the bravest animals in the land'. Timid Toad, Reckless Rat, Artful Owl and Batty Bat drove off an evil snake that was keeping "the woodland folk awake
In fear and trembling every night
In case he gave someone a bite"
Sung by Keith Michell, who would probably prefer to be remembered for his masterly portrayal of the king in 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII', this song reached number five on the UK charts in 1980. Who was the leader of this band? | Songs Featuring Creatures #1
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Captain Beaky. "The bravest animals in the land are Captain Beaky and his band
That's Timid Toad, Reckless Rat, Artful Owl and Batty Bat
They march through the woodlands singing songs
That tell how they have righted wrongs"
This was written by Jeremy Lloyd, better known as the author or co-author of successful sitcoms including 'Allo 'Allo!', 'Grace and Favour', 'Are You Being Served?' 'Vampira' and 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'.
| Even the biggest superstars have not been immune to the lure of the small furry animal. Which teen hearththrob released a song, written by Harry Nilsson, with the deathless lyrics:
"If only I could have a puppy
I'd call myself so very lucky
Just to have some company
To share a cup of tea with me"? | Songs Featuring Creatures #1
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David Cassidy. This was released (in the UK at least) on a single with 'Daydreamer' in 1973. I'm afraid this was not his finest hour, although it did reach number one. All the wrong answers had posters on my wall (I was a teenager, though). David Cassidy is still going strong in 2008 as an artist, actor and horse owner.
| This song was written by Benny Whitehead and recorded by Gene Cotton in 1975. It tells the sad story of a singer reminiscing about when he was with a girl (who has now left him) and a happy day at the zoo. A song of heartache, which animal still remembered the singer's lost girl?
| Songs Featuring Creatures #1
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The elephant. "But it's already been well over a year
And just in case you're interested you might like to hear
How everybody's doing down at the City Zoo
Without you
Well the monkeys forgot ya and the hippo forgot ya
And so did the kangaroo
But me and the elephant, we still remember you
Me and the elephant, we'll never forget you"
Aww! The song was also recorded by Kenny Starr and Bobby Goldsboro in 1977.
Gene Cotton got 1,554 votes when he ran for a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2001, losing to Republican Glen Casada.
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