We're Number Two! - Vol VI Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vehicle

"Vehicle" was recorded by the Chicago based outfit, Ides of March, led by Jim Peterik. As lead singer, he sounded very much like David Clayton Thomas and the group's use of a horn section completed the illusion that they were the new Blood, Sweat and Tears. Alas, all similarities ended there except for one common denominator - interpersonal tension would signal the demise of both groups by the middle of the decade. Peterik would later surface as keyboardist for the group Survivor and they had several hits in the early 1980s, most notably "Eye of the Tiger", a Number One hit in 1982.

"Vehicle" was conceived when a member of the group spied an anti-drug poster with the line "I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan, won't you hop inside my car", a message to kids to avoid unsavory characters who might be peddling drugs. The song itself wasn't near as sinister. It was more of a love song with a guy asking a girl to join him in life and that she would go far hooking up with him.

"Dream Weaver" was a Number Two hit by Gary Wright in 1976, "Hi-De-Ho" was a Number 14 hit in 1970 for B.S. & T. while "Run Away Child, Running Wild" reached Number Six for the Temptations in 1969. "American Woman" by The Guess Who was the Number One Billboard hit that stymied "Vehicle" on its road to the top.

Answer: Put Your Hand In The Hand

Not many songs that could be termed "religious" made charting appearances during the rock era of the 20th Century but these were four of them. A group named Ocean performed our title hit. "Shadrack" was a Number 19 hit for Brook Benton in 1962. Originally, it was a spiritual written in 1931 and tells the Biblical story of three young Judeans, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were tossed into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. Their faith in God allowed them to emerge from the ordeal unscathed.

"Wings Of A Dove" was a Number 12 hit for Ferlin Husky in 1961. The chorus gives you a clue as to its tenor.
"On the wings of a snow-white dove
He sends His pure sweet love
A sign from above
On the wings of a dove"

Then there are these lines from the Norman Greenbaum Number Three hit in 1970, "Spirit In The Sky".
"Never been a sinner, never sinned
I've got a friend in Jesus
So you know that when I die
He's going to set me up with the spirit in the sky"

A Canadian named Gene MacLellan wrote "Put Your Hand In The Hand". He had written "Snowbird" for Anne Murray, her breakout hit, and this song was also intended for her. However, her record company was not keen on the religious overtones inherent in the song and would not permit her to record it. Needless to say, she was some ticked off when Ocean made a big hit of the song. For Ocean, it would be the acme of their career. Three other releases performed adequately on the Canadian charts but could do no better than Number 73 on the Hot 100. They ultimately disbanded by the middle of the decade. For the record, Three Dog Night's big hit "Joy To The World" was Number One at the time that "Put Your Hand In The Hand" peaked on the Hot 100.

Answer: All By Myself

Surely, "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen had to be one of the most depressing songs ever to make an appearance on the Hot 100. If you're in any way suicidal, DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS SONG ALONE!

Carmen had pretty much completed the lyrics for the song and was pondering how he wanted to frame them musically when he heard Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto Number 2". He immediately saw the possibilities and incorporated part of Rachmaninoff's piece into his composition. At the time, he presumed the music was in the public domain... but it wasn't and when that was discovered, an amicable agreement was forged with the composer's estate for a share of the royalties.

Carmen first broke into the music scene in 1971 with the pop-rock band The Raspberries which had a few charting hits, most notably the Number Five "Go All The Way" in 1972. Going solo in 1975, "All By Myself" was his first hit as a solo act and he scored four more moderate charting successes before fading from view. He made a stunning comeback in the late 1980s with the Number Four "Hungry Eyes" and the Number Three "Make Me Lose Control". Thereafter, he scaled back on recording and concentrated on composing works for other artists.

Anka's "Lonely Boy" topped the charts in 1959 while Andrew Gold's entirely different song peaked at Number Seven in 1977. "Lonely Days" was a Number Three hit for The Bee Gees in 1971. "All By Myself" spent three weeks at Number Two. "Love Machine" by The Miracles was the Number One song for one of those weeks, "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" by The Four Seasons held it at bay for the other two.

Answer: Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

All these were Elton John songs, of course, but that lyric sample comes from "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". This was song number three out of an eight song series from November 1973 to October 1975 that would chart at Number Four or higher on the Hot 100. No one else could rival that sort of charting success at the time. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was a Number Four hit in 1975, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Kiki Dee, topped the charts in 1976 while "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" also charted in 1976 at Number Six. In 1991, Elton would record the song again in a duet with George Michael and that version reached Number One on both sides of the Atlantic. The original was denied Number One by "Annie's Song" recorded by John Denver.

In the book written by Philip Norman, "Sir Elton: The Definitive Biography", Gus Dudgeon, the producer of the original version, offers an interesting anecdote about the recording of the song. It seems that Elton was having a very difficult time laying down his vocal track. As he relates "On some takes, he'd scream it, on others he'd mumble it, or he'd just stand there, staring at the control room. Eventually, he flung off his headphones and said, 'Okay, let's hear what we got'". When Dudgeon played the tape, this was John's reaction; "That's a load of (blanking) crap. You can send it to Engelbert Humperdinck and if he doesn't like it, you can give it to Lulu as a demo." Funny! In the end, they obviously got it right.

Answer: Playground In My Mind

It's my hope that the discerning reader might muse that the lyric sounds like a child's playground chant, thus leading you to the correct response, "Playground In My Mind". The song, recorded by Clint Holmes, relates the story of a fellow who, to escape the drudgery and pressures of everyday life, would close his eyes and hearken back to his carefree childhood days when playground chants such as these were the rule. The song was written by its producer, Paul Vance. Clint Holmes sang half the song, lamenting his present day plight and the yearning to return to simpler times. The other half of the song was performed by Vance's young child who sang the playground chants. Jogging any memories?

Clint Holmes was born in Britain, the son of a black American serviceman and his white British wife. He grew up in New York State and served in the Viet Nam war. Upon his discharge, he started performing in Washington, D.C. nightclubs where he caught the attention of Johnny Mathis' producer, Vance, which led to the recording of this song. Initially, it laid an egg but some six months later, a Wichita DJ started playing it around Christmas time because of its jovial nature. It slowly, very slowly, began to attract national attention until it stormed the charts in the summer of 1973, a full year after it was recorded. Holmes would have no other charting success, a true one hit wonder. For the last 30+ years, he has performed at Atlantic City and Las Vegas casinos and has done considerable TV work.

"The Nickel Song" was a minor Number 35 hit for Melanie in 1972 and "Message To Michael" was a Number Eight hit for Dionne Warwick in 1966. "The Candy Man", of course, was a huge Number One smash for Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972.

Answer: Live And Let Die

Okay (I say laughing), I played a little game with you here. The only part of the lyric that was usable for a clue had been used before in one of my previous quizzes. I loathe duplication. There wasn't much to the lyric so I used the next best alternative lines. I thought that "Live And Let Die" was so obvious an answer due to the rhyming scheme that the only way I could possibly confuse you was with those other red herrings which are not song titles at all. I apologize! But I was quite serious about the aberration this poor song endured in its quest for Number One.

When "Live And Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings reached Number Two on August 11, 1973, "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern was holding forth at Number One for its second and final week. On August 18, Diana Ross and "Touch Me In The Morning" leap frogged "Live And Let Die" to assume the Number One spot. Then on August 25, it happened yet again. "Brother Louie" by Stories moved to the top leaving McCartney's song to languish as runner up for the third and last week. As I stated in the question, this seemed to be the first instance in Hot 100 chart history where this had occurred.

Answer: I'm Not In Love

The winning answer was "I'm Not In Love" by the British band 10cc. "It's A Heartache" was a Number Three hit for Bonnie Tyler in 1978. "Pick Up The Pieces" was a Number One hit in 1975 for AWB, parenthetically known as The Average White Band. There was no song that I'm aware of with the title "Big Boys Don't Cry". "Big Girls Don't Cry", however, was a huge Number One hit for the 4 Seasons in 1962.

Let's relive 10cc's agony. "I'm Not In Love" peaked at Number Two on July 26, 1975 behind "The Hustle" recorded by Van McCoy. "One Of These Nights" by the Eagles usurped the top spot during the week of August 2 then the Bee Gees with "Jive Talkin'" took control of Number One on August 9. "I'm Not In Love" remained at Number Two for those two weeks to complete the hat trick then started its slide down the charts a week later.

The song was written by group member Eric Stewart and he performed the lead vocals. The idea came to him when his wife complained that he didn't say "I love you" to her often enough. It was his thought that even though he did truly love her, if he said those words too many times they would lose their impact. Methinks a lot of guys think the same way to the chagrin of their mates! Incidentally, that sultry voice that intones the words "big boys don't cry" belonged to a gal named Kathy Redfern, a secretary at Strawberry Studios.

Answer: Fire

Indeed, the Pointer Sisters hit the big time with their rendition of the Bruce Springsteen penned "Fire". He had written it a couple of years earlier but was unable to record it at the time when a legal dispute with his former manager and a court injunction curtailed his facility to record any new material. The Pointers were the lucky recipients. Eventually, Springsteen did get his version on vinyl in 1987 but the best it could do was Number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, the Pointer Sisters would have a nice run of big hits in the 1980s with such songs as "He's So Shy" (Number Three in 1980), "Slow Hand" (Number Two in 1981) and "Jump" (Number Three in 1984). Their career stalled in the late 1980s when, as one critic observed, their recordings started sounding "formulaic".

Two of your other choices also charted in 1979; "Heartache Tonight" topped the charts for the Eagles that year while "Stumblin' In" by Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman topped out at Number Four. "It's A Heartache" was a Number Three hit for Bonnie Tyler in 1978. "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart rode the top of the Hot 100 for the two weeks that "Fire" nestled in the Number Two slot.

Answer: Superstar

"Superstar", by The Carpenters, was written by Leon Russell and indeed, nowhere in the lyric does the word 'superstar' appear. Off the top of my head I could think of only two other instances where that was the case - "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" by Bob Dylan. There have to be others but I couldn't come up with any of them after brief thought. Suffice to say, the number must be few.

Over the course of their recording career, The Carpenters would accumulate five hits that peaked at Number Two. This ties them with Elvis and Creedence Clearwater Revival for second place, Madonna leading the pack with six. Among your alternatives were a pair of their Number Two hits, "Hurting Each Other" and "Yesterday Once More". The other two were "Rainy Days And Mondays" and "We've Only Just Begun". Your other choice in this question, "For All We Know", was a Number Three hit in 1971. "Superstar" could not overthrow Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" at the top of the chart during its two week run at Number Two.

Answer: Loves Me Like A Rock

Following the lyric segment in the question come these lines:

"My mama loves me, she loves me
She gets down on her knees and hugs me
And she loves me like a rock"

The song charted in 1973 during the Senatorial investigation concerning a possible White House cover-up subsequent to the Watergate affair. As we all know, President Nixon was ultimately implicated in the scandal and was obliged to resign from office in 1974. In an interview at some point later in time, Paul Simon, who wrote and sang the song, admitted that he was stimulated to compose the piece because, in his view, Nixon felt that all his misdeeds were okay because his mother still loved him despite them.

Simon's song had a very spiritual sound to it, abetted by the presence of The Dixie Hummingbirds who performed the background vocals. Understandably, it didn't chart quite as strongly in the U.K. only reaching Number 39. Your other choices were all Number Two hits during the 1970s and may surface in subsequent quizzes in this series. "The Rapper" charted in 1970 for The Jaggers, "Mr. Big Stuff" made the charts in 1971 for Jean Knight and Steve Miller took "Fly Like An Eagle" to Number Two in 1977. During our titled song's one week stint at Number Two, Cher ruled the roost with "Half Breed".