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Quiz about More Overlooked Gems  Circa 196668
Quiz about More Overlooked Gems  Circa 196668

More Overlooked Gems - Circa 1966-68 Quiz


Another batch of underappreciated Hot 100 hits, mostly from 1967 but some from late 1966 or early 1968. How many of these can you recall?

A multiple-choice quiz by maddogrick16. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
maddogrick16
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
349,153
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1193
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 204 (9/10), HumblePie7 (8/10), Guest 110 (5/10).
Question 1 of 10
1. A group named Harper's Bizarre had a Number 13 Hot 100 hit, also Number 34 in the U.K., with a ditty perhaps more closely identified with its composer. Can you identify this delightful "Sunshine Pop" song?

"Slow down you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobble stones
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy"
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. An unusual song, think psychedelic folk music with a calypso beat, peaked at Number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 but rose to Number Eight in the U.K. There wasn't much to the lyric but I can give you two different lines, and it should suffice for you to nail the title.

"The lock upon my garden gate's a snail, that's what it is" and
"Caterpillar sheds his skin to find a butterfly within"
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. A Number six song in 1967 by Every Mother's Son performed sufficiently well on the Hot 100 chart to finish as the 33rd ranked song of the year. It would be the only Top 40 song the group would have and by the end of 1968 they ceased to exist. Here's a few lines from the lyric that should serve as a good clue as to its title. What song was this?

"Fish all day, sleep all night
Father never lets her out of his sight
Soon I'm gonna have to get my knife and cut that rope"
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Over the years, South Africa has been under-represented in terms of providing recording acts that have achieved significant success on the global stage. Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Michael Lubowitz, who would ultimately become known as Manfred Mann, were individual artists who immediately came to my mind. However, only one group seems to have etched a place in the record book for having a record chart on the Hot 100 during the 20th century. It happened in the spring of 1968 and the group was Four Jacks and a Jill. What song of theirs turned the trick? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Dance songs should have been passé by 1968 and certainly original dance songs pretty much were. However, a group named the Human Beinz revived an old Isley Brothers song and struck pay dirt with their cover version. Lyrically, it starts with the singer apparently repeating the word "no" 31 times (I couldn't count 'em that fast so I can't confirm it... but that's close enough among friends) before breaking into these lines;

"Nobody can do the Shing-a-ling, like I do
Nobody can do the Skate, like I do
Nobody can do the Boogaloo, like I do
Nobody can do the Philly, like I do"

What song was it that peaked at Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. In 1966, The Mamas and the Papas released their first single off of their debut album and it went absolutely nowhere. A few months later in 1967, another group also made it their initial single release and this time, it was a reasonable Number 16 hit. What was that song featuring this lyric sample?

"You don't understand that a girl like me can love just one man
You've been gone a week, and I tried so hard
Not to be the cryin' kind
Not to be the girl you left behind"
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. "Yeah, I was just thirteen
You might say I was a musical proverbial knee-high
When I heard a coupla new sounding tunes on the tubes
And they blasted me sky-high"

These lines are from a tribute song of sorts to 1,352 anonymous individuals admired by the song's composer, one John Sebastian. It reached Number Eight on the Hot 100 in early 1967, also peaking at Number 26 on the U.K. Chart. Do you know it?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. A group from Dallas named The Five Americans had one big Number five Hot 100 hit in 1967. In it they sing the phrase "dit-da-dit" about a million times but also have other lines among those "dit-dits". Here are a few of them.

"I love you is my message
Just three words and no more
If she won't let you deliver
Slip it underneath her door"

What song are we highlighting here?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. During this wonderful era, we had strange songs by strange groups with strange names and darned if it didn't work... at least to some extent. A group from San Francisco named Sopwith Camel released a song that sounded very much like something The Lovin' Spoonful might have recorded. It only reached Number 26 on the Hot 100, Number Nine in Canada and as far as I can tell, went nowhere anywhere else. A toughie, to be sure, only aficionados of music from this era will probably remember this modest hit featuring these lines.

"Would you like some of my tangerine
I know I'll never treat you mean
Never knew how I'd meet you
Didn't know how to greet you
When I saw you look that way
I knew I had to say"
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. "Children behave
That's what they say when we're together
And watch how you play, they don't understand
And so we're running just as fast as we can,
Holdin' onto one another's hand"

This slice of lyric comes from a Number Four Hot 100 hit in 1967 and the 19th ranked song for the year. It was covered twenty years later and went Number One just about everywhere in the English speaking world (except for Australia)! What song are we talkin' about?
Hint



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. A group named Harper's Bizarre had a Number 13 Hot 100 hit, also Number 34 in the U.K., with a ditty perhaps more closely identified with its composer. Can you identify this delightful "Sunshine Pop" song? "Slow down you move too fast You got to make the morning last Just kicking down the cobble stones Looking for fun and feelin' groovy"

Answer: 59th Street Bridge Song

As in my previous quiz "Overlooked Gems of 1967", I'm providing links to YouTube selections which highlight the song featured in the question. I encourage you to take a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCA2hLHwEy4

"59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)" was composed by Paul Simon and was a cut on the 1966 Simon and Garfunkel album "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". It was one of the duo's favorite concert pieces and it's surprising that they didn't release it as a single.

Harper's Bizarre personified the musical genre "Sunshine Pop" perfectly. Airy melodies, cheerful lyrics and short lived. This was certainly their biggest hit by far, follow-up releases like "Anything Goes" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo" languishing in the 30s or 40s of the Hot 100. By 1970, virtually every band that focused on the genre like The Mamas and the Papas and The Lovin' Spoonful had disbanded and Harper's Bizarre was no exception although they did reunite in 1976 for one more album release.

If you've linked up to the YouTube selection offered, the lead singer with the blond locks is Ted Templeman, one of the group's founders. Right after the group folded, he immediately became involved in production work with Warner Brothers studio and eventually became their "go-to" guy. His first production project was The Doobie Brothers and under his studio stewardship, they became prominent artists by 1972. Among the other significant acts for which he served as record producer were Van Morrison, Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Michael McDonald, Sammy Hagar and Nicolette Larson.
2. An unusual song, think psychedelic folk music with a calypso beat, peaked at Number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 but rose to Number Eight in the U.K. There wasn't much to the lyric but I can give you two different lines, and it should suffice for you to nail the title. "The lock upon my garden gate's a snail, that's what it is" and "Caterpillar sheds his skin to find a butterfly within"

Answer: There Is a Mountain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uGnEc0DhY4

The YouTube link is a nifty one! Donovan is performing the song live as part of a duet with Bobbie Gentry and it is very well done. Gentry hosted a variety show on the BBC in the early 1970s and I'm presuming that this was taped then.

Donovan had eschewed his folk roots by 1967 and was into psychedelic pop in a big way following up on his two big hits from 1966, "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow". He had abandoned drugs by this time as a result of his consultations with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and was an advocate of meditation. Donovan related that he wrote this song using an old Zen Buddhist proverb as its theme, a theme that composes about 50% of the song's lyric; "First there is a mountain then there is no mountain then there is". What does it mean? As near as I can tell, "things change"!
3. A Number six song in 1967 by Every Mother's Son performed sufficiently well on the Hot 100 chart to finish as the 33rd ranked song of the year. It would be the only Top 40 song the group would have and by the end of 1968 they ceased to exist. Here's a few lines from the lyric that should serve as a good clue as to its title. What song was this? "Fish all day, sleep all night Father never lets her out of his sight Soon I'm gonna have to get my knife and cut that rope"

Answer: Come on Down to My Boat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50b-Q-Z1bF0

It's hard to say what happens to these "one-hit wonders". Every Mother's Son were formed in early 1967 in New York City by brothers Dennis and Larry Larden and were signed by MGM records immediately, not necessarily because of their musicianship but because of their squeaky clean image. A quick look at the YouTube video affirms that! Presumably, MGM had enough long-haired hippie type bands on their roster and were looking for a different image to promote and these boys fit the bill. Unfortunately, their three follow-up releases produced progressively worse chart placements and their album stalled at Number 113 on that chart. A second album yielded no hits at all and failed to chart itself. Within 18 months, the group came and went and have become nothing more than arcane trivia.
4. Over the years, South Africa has been under-represented in terms of providing recording acts that have achieved significant success on the global stage. Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Michael Lubowitz, who would ultimately become known as Manfred Mann, were individual artists who immediately came to my mind. However, only one group seems to have etched a place in the record book for having a record chart on the Hot 100 during the 20th century. It happened in the spring of 1968 and the group was Four Jacks and a Jill. What song of theirs turned the trick?

Answer: Master Jack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0WvXpyufT8

The group started out as an all male quartet in 1964 but when female vocalist Glenys Lynne joined the group in early 1965, they chose as their new moniker Four Jacks and a Jill. She would become the star of the act with facial features that reminded one of Linda Ronstadt or Barbara Feldon and a gentle, folksy singing style. Check out the YouTube link and see what you think.

"Master Jack" was written in 1966 and the country was still shackled with the policy of apartheid. Speaking out openly in opposition to apartheid was just not done. When I was going to University in Calgary that same year, I had a sociology professor who found that out. He was a white South African, lobbied for repeal of that policy and promptly found himself expelled from the country, probably for sedition.

The song was indeed a veiled criticism of apartheid. The story is told from the point of view of a miner who, after working for years and years, dreams of going out on his own. The miners were black and "Master Jack", the foreman, would always be white. The miner's dreams had no chance of coming to fruition. Obviously the metaphors were so well cloaked that government authorities could do nothing to muzzle radio stations from playing it. It went straight to Number One in South Africa and surprisingly achieved that same exalted chart position in Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia and, at the time, Rhodesia. It also charted very well in Australia but astonishingly, failed to chart at all in the U.K., the mother of all those Commonwealth countries. One interpretation suggests that "Jack" could also be viewed as the Union Jack and the song obliquely critiques the role Great Britain played in letting apartheid come into being in the first place. The BBC would not tolerate that, naturally, and if they banned the song for that reason, it would explain its failure to chart there. These interpretations of the song come, of course, from the limited research options I could access. If someone from South Africa or anywhere else has another point of view that can be collaborated, I'd welcome them.

The band would never achieve the same sort of international success ever again but maintained a high profile in South Africa until the early 1980s when they ultimately broke up. However, it appears from their website that they've reunited again during the early years of this century and are active once more.
5. Dance songs should have been passé by 1968 and certainly original dance songs pretty much were. However, a group named the Human Beinz revived an old Isley Brothers song and struck pay dirt with their cover version. Lyrically, it starts with the singer apparently repeating the word "no" 31 times (I couldn't count 'em that fast so I can't confirm it... but that's close enough among friends) before breaking into these lines; "Nobody can do the Shing-a-ling, like I do Nobody can do the Skate, like I do Nobody can do the Boogaloo, like I do Nobody can do the Philly, like I do" What song was it that peaked at Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100?

Answer: Nobody But Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8c6YDniMKY

Back in the 1960s, if you were a musician there were two ways to make a living in a group scenario. If you, or someone in your band, had the knack to create good original music, and if you could somehow wangle a recording contract, and if you had good management, and if the stars aligned perfectly, you could achieve stardom and make a bundle. Of course, very few bands were ever that fortunate. The second way was to be very good instrumentalist, develop a positive stage persona and play cover versions of other band's hits very well and with enthusiasm. Then, you stood a chance of comfortably surviving playing the cabaret/bar circuit. The Human Beinz were a band that were forced to choose the latter route.

Formed by guitarist Joe "Ting" Markulin in Youngstown, Ohio in 1964, they were a typical bar band but a good one. Along the way, somebody from Capitol Records caught their act and signed them to a contract, presumably to record those cover versions of old hits that they performed so well. Their first recordings were covers of "Gloria" by Them and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-changing" both of which failed to gather anything other than regional attention. One of their more popular performance songs was a seven or eight minute long cover of an Isley Brother song recorded in 1963 that also failed to chart at the time... "Nobody But Me". A condensed version of the live rendition was recorded and became their sole Top 40 hit. Their album release featuring this song was a marginal success and it also produced their follow-up single, one that faltered at Number 80 on the charts. A second album of original material was a miserable failure and the group broke up in 1969.

After 35 years, Markulin resurrected the band with a new slate of musicians and they've become a mainstay group in the New York/New Jersey/New England bar circuit... right back where they started, just a few hundred miles east.
6. In 1966, The Mamas and the Papas released their first single off of their debut album and it went absolutely nowhere. A few months later in 1967, another group also made it their initial single release and this time, it was a reasonable Number 16 hit. What was that song featuring this lyric sample? "You don't understand that a girl like me can love just one man You've been gone a week, and I tried so hard Not to be the cryin' kind Not to be the girl you left behind"

Answer: Go Where You Wanna Go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL0YVXYRClE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WalHqDUPPlk

The first link is for the The 5th Dimension version, the second is by The Mamas and the Papas. Listening to the two back to back, I'm not surprised that the 5th Dimension version was the successful one. It seems cleaner and more energetic to me, a superior recording.

Comparing the relative merits of these two groups is an interesting exercize.

The Mamas and the Papas had 10 Top 40 hits and six of them cracked the Top 10. They had one Number One hit, "Monday, Monday" in 1966 for which they also won a Grammy as well as a Hall of Fame Grammy for "California Dreaming". They were only together for five years before disbanding in 1968.

The 5th Dimension would have 20 Top 40 hits and the same number of Top 10 hits, six. They would have two Number One hits ("Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" and "One Less Bell to Answer") and would garner seven Grammy awards over the years, four alone for "Up, Up and Away" in 1967. They got together in 1966 and although they haven't had a significant hit since 1972, a vestige of the original group still exists as this is being written in 2012, performing on the Casino cabaret circuit.

On the surface of it, one could say that The 5th Dimension were statistically the more successful group. But, The Mamas and the Papas wrote most of their own compositions, are in the R&R Hall of Fame and have a legacy for being one of the early proponents of the folk-pop genre. The 5th Dimension performed other people's compositions and the group is not in the Hall of Fame as of 2012 although a significant movement is underway for their induction. As such, their legacy is less clear.

So, which group was superior?
7. "Yeah, I was just thirteen You might say I was a musical proverbial knee-high When I heard a coupla new sounding tunes on the tubes And they blasted me sky-high" These lines are from a tribute song of sorts to 1,352 anonymous individuals admired by the song's composer, one John Sebastian. It reached Number Eight on the Hot 100 in early 1967, also peaking at Number 26 on the U.K. Chart. Do you know it?

Answer: Nashville Cats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4p7prURvIk

Sebastian's group, The Lovin' Spoonful, recorded this hit in their typical laid back, folky style. In his lyric, he makes it clear that he was in awe of the musical talent walking the streets of Nashville. He figured that every one of those 1,352 guitarists in Nashville "could play twice as better than I will". Grammatically incorrect, certainly, but the message comes across loud and clear. He also pays homage to the 16,821 mothers in Nashville, all of whom are certain to have guitar picking offspring.

At this point in the group's career, they were a perfect seven for seven in terms of their releases attaining Top 10 status. It wouldn't last. They would never have another Top 10 hit and in fact, they would only have three more Top 40 hits before various events led to the group breaking up within 18 months in 1968. It was fun for them... and us, while it lasted!
8. A group from Dallas named The Five Americans had one big Number five Hot 100 hit in 1967. In it they sing the phrase "dit-da-dit" about a million times but also have other lines among those "dit-dits". Here are a few of them. "I love you is my message Just three words and no more If she won't let you deliver Slip it underneath her door" What song are we highlighting here?

Answer: Western Union

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJMwxucTJyo

"Western Union", besides being a pretty neat and hummable song and with enough charting points to rate as the 72nd biggest song of the year, achieved notoriety of another sort. According to Casey Kasem's "Book of Records", the repetitive dits sung here hold the record for the most repetitive word or phrase in a Hot 100 Top 10 hit. Apparently, the word is repeated 50 times then 40 times more on two other occasions...a lot of dits to be sure.

The group formed in 1962-3 at Southeastern Oklahoma State College as The Mutineers playing local frat gigs and moved to Dallas in 1964 when they thought they had the musical chops to record their material. Their first hit was the Number 26 "I See the Light" in 1966, certainly an edgier recording than the quasi-bubblegummy music they would record in 1967 leading one to the conclusion that they might have had the versatility to last a while. Unfortunately, after "Western Union", they would only have two more Top 40 hits later in the year including the similarly themed "Zip Code". Eventually, they came to be at loggerheads with their manager. They wanted to expand their horizons, their manager preferred the tried and true which, sadly, was becoming passé. By 1969, the members went their separate ways forever.
9. During this wonderful era, we had strange songs by strange groups with strange names and darned if it didn't work... at least to some extent. A group from San Francisco named Sopwith Camel released a song that sounded very much like something The Lovin' Spoonful might have recorded. It only reached Number 26 on the Hot 100, Number Nine in Canada and as far as I can tell, went nowhere anywhere else. A toughie, to be sure, only aficionados of music from this era will probably remember this modest hit featuring these lines. "Would you like some of my tangerine I know I'll never treat you mean Never knew how I'd meet you Didn't know how to greet you When I saw you look that way I knew I had to say"

Answer: Hello Hello

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11bLTZPaS2U

It's hard to believe today but when the psychedelic rock scene was starting to materialize in San Francisco in the mid 1960s, Sopwith Camel was one of the forerunners of the genre and the first of the area bands to have a Top 40 hit... this one. Being the first is their main claim to fame now, a plethora of groups achieving much more in the world of music than they ever did. Here's a partial list just to show how deep and vital the music scene was in the Bay Area at the time: Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Santana, Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Sly and the Family Stone, Country Joe and the Fish, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tower of Power, Steve Miller Band and Blue Cheer. There are many, many others.

"Hello Hello" is decidedly lightweight fluff in comparison to what those other bands were releasing. To make matters worse, it took them close to a year to record more stuff for their debut album and most of that material was of the same ilk. When the album was finally released, it was hopelessly dated and found its way into bargain bins almost immediately. Numerous personnel changes ensued along with another album failure in 1972 before the group finally pulled the pin in 1974.
10. "Children behave That's what they say when we're together And watch how you play, they don't understand And so we're running just as fast as we can, Holdin' onto one another's hand" This slice of lyric comes from a Number Four Hot 100 hit in 1967 and the 19th ranked song for the year. It was covered twenty years later and went Number One just about everywhere in the English speaking world (except for Australia)! What song are we talkin' about?

Answer: I Think We're Alone Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkMFLUXTEwM

Tommy James and the Shondells hit the big time in 1966 with their Number One recording "Hanky Panky" and it would be the start of a nice little run of 14 Top 40 hits that would last the rest of the decade. This song was their fourth Top 40 and second Top 10 disc.

By the 1970s, James was primarily involved in individual projects and the Shondells retreated to their home base of Pittsburgh. All parties were out of the limelight for several years when a perfect storm of events brought them back together in 1987. First, the teenage sensation Tiffany covered this hit and took it to the top of the charts everywhere. Astonishingly, it was bumped from the top of the Hot 100 by Billy Idol's cover of yet another Tommy James song, "Mony Mony", which had peaked at Number Three in 1968. Since then, James and the Shondells have regularly toured the concert circuit and have several venues lined up for 2012.
Source: Author maddogrick16

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ralzzz before going online.
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Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series All the Big Hits From the Late 1960s (1967 to 1969):

It's all here: the ebbing of the British Invasion, psychedelic sounds, bubblegum music and much, much more!

  1. 1967 - Everybody Look What's Going Down Average
  2. 1967 - Let It All Hang Out Average
  3. 1967 - Groovin' Average
  4. 1967 - The Happening Average
  5. Overlooked Gems of 1967 Average
  6. 1968 - Those Were The Days! Easier
  7. 1968 - They Call It A Revolution Easier
  8. 1968 - Just Dropped In Average
  9. 1968 - Hush Average
  10. More Overlooked Gems - Circa 1966-68 Average
  11. 1969 - Get Together Average
  12. 1969 - A Baaaad Moon Is Risin' Average

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