Picking my Guitar Song Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Beatles

'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' was released on 'The Beatles', also known as 'The White Album', because the cover was completely white, with the name of the band embossed in white so you could feel it, but only read it if you held the double album at the right angle to catch the light. Quite a change from their previous release, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', with a cast of thousands (maybe not quite) on the cover.

This song, written by George Harrison, reflects his interest in Eastern religion and philosophy. He had just returned from spending time in India with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, studying transcendental meditation. Deciding to apply some of those principles to his writing, he determined to get the inspiration for a song from the first words he saw in a book and opened at random - they were "gently weeps". As well as expressing some of the sense of universal love he sees in the world, the lyrics express dismay at the way that people (especially but not solely his bandmates) allow themselves to lose contact with it. The recording took place at a time when the Beatles was finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile their individual priorities with the demands of membership in a superstar band.

Answer: Bread

David Gates wrote 'The Guitar Man' and originally recorded it with Bread, of which group he was the lead singer. It was released on the album 'Guitar Man', and also as a single which charted well, making it to the top of Billboard's Easy Listening chart (now called the Adult Contemporary chart).

The lyrics describe the way everyone enjoys watching a musician perform, making the music a part of their lives and rather wanting to be one. The performer, however, is not part of their lives, he is driven to keep finding ways to express himself with his music. But it cannot continue forever, however hard he tries:

"Then the lights begin to flicker
And the sound is getting dim
The voice begins to falter
And the crowds are getting thin
But he never seems to notice
He's just got to find another place to play
Fade away
Got to play
Fade away
Got to play"

Answer: John Denver

The last track on John Denver's 1974 album 'Back Home Again', this song doesn't just mention a guitar, it is a love song to a guitar. The specific guitar being described was his grandmother's 1910 Gibson F-hole acoustic guitar, which she gave to him when he was twelve - so it was literally an old guitar. When he died in a 1997 plane crash, he was cremated along with the guitar, and their mingled ashes scattered over the Rockies.

The lyrics describe some of the ways in which his guitar brought him joy in his life:

"This old guitar taught me to sing a love song
Showed me how to laugh and how to cry
It introduced me to some friends of mine
And brightened up some days
It helped me make it through some lonely nights
Oh, what a friend to have on a cold lonely night"

One of those friends, stated more explicitly on a later verse, was his wife (at the time), for whom he also composed 'Annie's Song', an earlier track on the album.

Answer: John Cougar Mellencamp

Johnny Cougar was the original stage name used by John Mellenkamp (a decision made by his manager without consultation) - this song was released on the 1983 album 'Uh-Huh', as he was making a transition to using his real name. Following the success of 'Jack & Diane' in 1982, he had some leverage to insist on using his real name, despite the perception that it was 'clunky'.

According to the chorus, "All women around the world want a phony rock star Who plays guitar", and the first verse describes someone whose interest in music is just that. The second verse, however, goes on to suggest that a real musician is interested in the music, not the trappings that success may bring.

Answer: Dwight Yoakam

Guitars feature prominently in Country music, and this was the title track of Dwight Yoakam's first studio album. The original title 'Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.' was used for an EP that did not include this song; it was written for the later LP, which had an additional four tracks. 'Guitars, Cadillacs' was released as a single, which made it to number four on Billboard's US Hot Country Songs.

The song is sung by a country boy who has been disillusioned by his experiences in the big city, including having his heart broken.

"Now it's guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
And lonely, lonely streets that I call home"

Answer: Radiohead

This is patently not true - ask my husband, who tried to turn me into a guitar player for several years before giving up! The lyrics of this song make the point that being a musician involves more than superficial aspects, such as managing to play a few chords on a guitar, and adopting the current style in hair and clothing.

"I want to be in a band
When I get to heaven
Anyone can play guitar and they won't be a nothing anymore

Grow my hair, grow my hair I am Jim Morrison"

'Anyone Can Play Guitar' was the second single released from Radiohead's first album, 'Pablo Honey', following 'Creep' (which was released before the album). The band's recording inexperience is clear, but their energy makes this a solid debut performance. One of the producers, Paul Kolderrie, underlined the title of 'Anyone Can Play Guitar' by having everyone (and that means everyone, not just musicians!) in the studio make a sound of some sort on a guitar, and edited the results together for the song's introduction. Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead's guitarist, made his contribution using a paintbrush to make the strings vibrate.

Answer: John Hiatt

This is the title track of John Hiatt's eleventh album, which was the last studio album he recorded with A&M, as its reasonable chart success (number 47 in the US) was not what had been hoped for.

This track takes aim at performers who smash their guitars onstage. According to an interview Hiatt made with Lyle Lovett, he was inspired by seeing Nirvana's bassist, Krist Novoselic, toss a guitar in the air during the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. It landed on his head, appearing to knock him out (although he later claimed he was faking it for dramatic effect).

"Oh it breaks my heart to see those stars
Smashing a perfectly good guitar
I don't know who they think they are
Smashing a perfectly good guitar"

Answer: Sleater-Kinney

'Words and Guitar' was released on the 1997 album 'Dig Me Out', the band's third album, which is generally recognized as their breakout album, expanding their audience beyond the Seattle indie rock scene. They formed as part of the movement known as riot grrl, a subcultural movement in which feminism and punk combine in progressive political messages.

The song's message can be seen from comparing the variations in the antiphonal chorus. At the start, the lead singer says she wants it all; then she's got it all, and subsequent choruses change between the two. The response in the first chorus is somewhat defensive.

"I want it all
(Can't take this away from me)
I want it all
(Music is the air I breathe)
I want it
(Can't take this away from me)
Words and guitar"

In the later choruses, the antiphons change to "Fill the space surrounding me" and "That is if you never breathe", suggesting a struggle between a desire for closeness and one for independence. In the third chorus it becomes "Tell me what you want in me", the fourth chorus proposes more aggressively to "Rock you till you're good and dead" and "Rock you till there's nothing left", before the final chorus, following a repetition of the first verse, indicates a sense of inner strength in the singer.

"I got it all
(Tell me what you wanna be)
I got it all
(All the things you'll never be)
I got it
(Tell me what you want in me)
Words and guitar"

Answer: The Magnetic Fields

'Acoustic Guitar' was released on the triple album '69 Love Songs', which contained exactly that - 69 songs written by Stephin Merritt, lead singer for The Magnetic Fields. The songs are in a wide range of genres, and are not all (many not at all) the romantic stuff the title might suggest. 'Acoustic Guitar' is one of the tracks for which Merritt is not the lead singer - it is sung by Claudia Gonson. This is an intentional play on the assumption one might make from simply reading the lyrics that is is a male voice. (Merritt is well known for his intentionally gender-ambiguous songs, and the songs on this concept album explore heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual relationships, sometime explicitly, sometimes subtly.)

"Acoustic guitar, I'm gonna make you a star
Get your picture all over the world
Acoustic guitar, you can have your own car
Just bring me back my girl"

Answer: McBusted

'Air Guitar' was the debut single for the group McBusted, a supergroup formed when James Bourne and Matt Willis from Busted joined with the members of McFly. Charlie Simpson was the only member of Busted to opt out of the merger. The band was active from 2013 until 2015, with an extensive 2015 tour called "McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Tour". The union was dissolved when Simpson indicated he wanted to reform Busted instead of continuing with his solo career. Future reunions are still on the cards.

This song was on the only album the group recorded, 'McBusted', released in December 2014, following the earlier release of the single. Both the single and the album had significant chart success in the UK. The lyrics of 'Air Guitar' are in the persona of someone who wishes they could play guitar, but is only successful in their own heads, when they play an invisible guitar and have all the right moves. In the chorus, he compares his performance to that of two legendary guitarists, Jimmy Page (founder of Led Zeppelin) and Brian May (from Queen).

"Close my eyes and see the crowd
But my fingers don't make any sound
My air guitar
Jimmy Page and Brian May
Won't believe the way that I can play
My air guitar, air guitar
Like this..."