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Quiz about Beatles for Brainiacs
Quiz about Beatles for Brainiacs

Beatles for Brainiacs Trivia Quiz


In a recent poll, dead historical luminaries revealed their favorite Beatle songs. Can you match the correct person to their fave Fab Four lyric?

A multiple-choice quiz by sidnobls. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
sidnobls
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
292,651
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Difficult
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
850
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Question 1 of 10
1. "Been away so long I hardly knew the place/ Gee it's good to be back home/ Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case/ Honey disconnect the phone/ I'm back in the U.S.S.R./ You don't know how lucky you are boy/ Back in the U.S.S.R." Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. "We gave her everything we owned just to sit at her table/ Just a smile would lighten everything/ Sexy Sadie she's the latest and the greatest of them all./ She made a fool of everyone./Sexy Sadie." Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "Here comes the sun king/ Here comes the sun king/ Everybody's laughing/ Everybody's happy/ Here comes the sun king." Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl,/ but she doesn't have a lot to say/ Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl/ but she changes from day to day." Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. "Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer/ Came down upon her head/ Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer/ Made sure that she was dead." Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. "In the town where I was born/ Lived a man who sailed to sea/ And he told us of his life/ In the land of submarines" Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. "One day you'll look to see I've gone./ For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun./ Some day you'll know I was the one./ But tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun." Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. "I'm a loser/ I'm a loser/ And I'm not what I appear to be" Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen./ I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob./ Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob g'goo." Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. "Baby you're a rich man,/ Baby you're a rich man,/ Baby you're a rich man too." Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "Been away so long I hardly knew the place/ Gee it's good to be back home/ Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case/ Honey disconnect the phone/ I'm back in the U.S.S.R./ You don't know how lucky you are boy/ Back in the U.S.S.R."

Answer: Dmitri Bystrolyotov

In a 1968 interview, Paul McCartney explained that "Back in the U.S.S.R." was a parody of a Chuck Berry song in which a Russian spy arrives back home after a long tour of duty. Dmitri Bystrolyotov was the most prominent Fifth Columnist in the years between WWI and WWII for the Soviet Union.

He set up spy networks in most of the countries in Western Europe, and even infiltrated the British Foreign Office. His life was broken, as were so many, by Stalin's purges in the late 1930's. Bystrolyotov, born in the Ukraine, was a true renaissance man, speaking many languages and having the ability to write and paint. Mostly forgotten outside of Russia, Bystrolyotov was the prototype for every movie spy from 'Bond' to 'Bourne'.

He died in 1975. All of the other names are of Soviet era folk singers whose ballads and recordings were distributed underground.
2. "We gave her everything we owned just to sit at her table/ Just a smile would lighten everything/ Sexy Sadie she's the latest and the greatest of them all./ She made a fool of everyone./Sexy Sadie."

Answer: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

John Lennon indicated that the original lyric to "Sexy Sadie" was "Maharishi". The group had studied with the Yogi years before, and were disillusioned when the great spiritual light crawled into a girl's tent one night. Sadie Bonnell was an ambulance driver in the 1st World War. Prudence Farrow is actress Mia Farrow's sister, and was present at the Yogi's teachings.

Her reticence prompted the Beatles song "Dear Prudence". Swami Brahmananda Saraswati was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's teacher.
3. "Here comes the sun king/ Here comes the sun king/ Everybody's laughing/ Everybody's happy/ Here comes the sun king."

Answer: Louis XIV

Now this was really an easy one. Louis XIV was the longest reigning king in France's history, and was so adored, that it was considered that all of France revolved around him as the planets do the Sun. All of the other answers are sun gods known as Ra in Egypt, Shamash in Babylon, and Sol in the Celtic cultures.
4. "Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl,/ but she doesn't have a lot to say/ Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl/ but she changes from day to day."

Answer: Queen Victoria

Only Queen Victoria could be called "Her Majesty" in this group. All of the other names refer to the twice divorced woman who wooed Edward VIII away from the throne to become the Duke of Windsor. Her name at birth was Bessie Warfield. She was known as Wallis Simpson when she and Edward married in 1936. Edward's pet name for "the woman I love" was 'Wally'.

As Duchess of Windsor, she was entitled to be called "Her Grace", but never "Her Majesty."
5. "Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer/ Came down upon her head/ Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer/ Made sure that she was dead."

Answer: Pope John XXIII

Paul McCartney wrote 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' as an analogy for when things go unexpectedly wrong. He claims that the references in the lyrics are all purely fictitious and wholly made up by him, yet many people will point to the ritual that occurs at the death of a Pope.

A silver hammer is used by the Vatican chamberlain to destroy the ring and seals of the pope in order to prevent the forging of documents and the issuing of statements postmortem. Whether the chamberlain actually whacks the dead pontiff on the pate with the hammer or not is speculation, but it's all quite unexpected when it happens, isn't it? Henry Maxwell, 7th Baron Farnham was a 19th century Irish peer and MP who was killed in a train wreck, not by a hammer. George Silver was a 17th century expert in swords, not hammers. Syd King was the great player and manager of the West Ham United Hammers in the early part of the 20th century.
6. "In the town where I was born/ Lived a man who sailed to sea/ And he told us of his life/ In the land of submarines"

Answer: Günther Prien

Günther Prien was the Captain of U-47, and one of Germany's greatest submariners in WWII. His Uboat sank over 30 Allied ships totaling about 200,000 tons before he was presumed killed along with his entire crew on the 7th of March, 1941 in waters west of Ireland.

His distinguished career included winning the Iron Cross. Hartmann, Barkhorn and Rall were German WWII flying aces each with more than 250 kills.
7. "One day you'll look to see I've gone./ For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun./ Some day you'll know I was the one./ But tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun."

Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus

Copernicus was the Father of Heliocentrism - that is - the science of considering the sun as the center of the solar system rather than earth. Anaximander and Ptolemny were early proponents of Geocentrism. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine had folks burnt at the stake for writing book reports on Copernicus' magnum opus "De Revolutionibus Orbium".
8. "I'm a loser/ I'm a loser/ And I'm not what I appear to be"

Answer: Samuel Jones Tilden

Sam Tilden was the winner of the 1876 US Presidential election hands down - that is, he got more votes than his opponent. Rutherford B. Hayes, however, was awarded the Presidency by the Electoral College - which had been in place for nearly one hundred years by that time to resolve disputes among candidates with closely even support.

It seems three southern states, (still smarting from the Civil War, and blaming Republicans not only for the war, but for the abuses of Reconstruction as well) sent multiple delegates with conflicting political agendas. Ulysses Grant was the outgoing incumbent just keen to get back to his liquor and cigars in Ohio. Lucius Robinson succeeded Tilden as Governor of New York.
9. "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen./ I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob./ Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob g'goo."

Answer: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

John Lennon borrowed the image of the walrus from Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and the Carpenter', which was a commentary on the capitalist and social system. It wasn't until years later that Lennon realized that the walrus represented capitalism and not socialism and regretted his choice. Lewis Carroll was Dodgson's pen name. Clemens (Mark Twain), (Zane) Gray and C.S. Lewis all published under pen names in their careers.
10. "Baby you're a rich man,/ Baby you're a rich man,/ Baby you're a rich man too."

Answer: George Westinghouse, Jr

George Westinghouse, Jr was the founder of Westinghouse Electric which was founded and flourished using concepts of Tesla's alternating current. Nikola Tesla, desperate for money, sold his patents to Westinghouse for a song and ended his life in extreme poverty as did John McTammany, inventor of the player piano and Charles M. Schwab, President of U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel.
Source: Author sidnobls

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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