Answer Songs Trivia Quiz

Answer: I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen

The 1875 song "Barney, Take Me Home" was written by George W Brown (using the pseudonym George W Persley) and dedicated to his friend Thomas P Westendorf. Westendorf imagined a response from Barney when he wrote "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" in 1875. Fortunately, Maureen O'Hara's character in "Rio Grande" was called Kathleen. Many others have recorded versions including Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

Answer: John Mayer

All the people listed have been linked romantically to Taylor Swift at some point however it is John Mayer who wrote the song as part of his 2013 "Paradise Valley" album. Both singers avoid naming names, in effect denying their songs have any connection to the other singer. Attention-grabbing media stories suggested a plausible connection between the songs.

Answer: Killing Me Softly with His Song

"Empty Chairs" (1971) is about lost love and it struck a chord with Lori Lieberman, who had just come out of a failed relationship. Written in collaboration with Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, she was denied writing credits and so received no royalties.

Her own version of the song did not do well in the charts. Roberta Flack's version hit the top of the charts in the US, Canada and Australia while the version by the Fugees in 1996 topped the charts in 20 countries. The Fugees also recorded two of the other songs listed as possible answers.

Answer: This Land is Your Land

Woody Guthrie's anthem "This Land Is Your Land" was written in 1940 as an answer to "God Bless America", written by Irving Berlin in 1918 (and revised in 1938). Guthrie originally called his response "God Blessed America for Me". He was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing Irving Berlin's song and came up with his own song with a melody echoing a Baptist gospel hymn.

The lyrics changed as his politics did and it is a milder 1944 version that the Smithsonian preserved.

Answer: Elvis Presley

Songwriter Jim Steinman wrote Meat Loaf's 1977 "Bat Out of Hell" album. During a 2003 interview, he mentioned being confronted by a cast member of his musical "Rhinegold" about the complexity of his songs. A radio was playing Elvis Presley's "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" at the time which became the basis of the challenge to write something simpler for audience appeal. "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" was his answer and became the final song for the album.

Answer: Bear Cat

"Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog)", which Rufus Thomas recorded two weeks after "Hound Dog" was released, reached number three in the Rhythm & Blues charts compared to the chart-topping Thornton original. This was Thomas' first hit. Other answer songs include "Mr. Hound Dog's in Town" (1953) by Roy Brown and "Rattlesnake" by John Brim and His Gary Kings (recorded 1953 but not released until 1969 due to the threat of legal action).

Marking a cross-over from rhythm & blues into rock & roll, "Hound Dog" has been recorded hundreds of times with Presley's version being the best known and best selling.

Answer: My Way

Bowie as a for-hire songwriter was asked to do the English-language lyrical adaptation and came up with "Even a Fool Learns to Love" (1968) for which he produced a demo tape. This was rejected mainly because he was relatively unknown. Paul Anka acquired the rights, wrote the lyrics with Sinatra in mind and "My Way" was the result. The same melody appears in the French original, Bowie's demo version and "My Way".

Bowie decided he could do better than that and wrote "Life on Mars?". Part of the "Hunky Dory" album (1971) and released as a single, it reached a higher position in the UK Singles chart although Sinatra's version spent a record 75 weeks in the UK Top 40 charts and had higher sales.

Answer: Lynyrd Skynyrd

A song in Lynyrd Skynyrd's second album "Second Helping" (1974), Neil Young gets a specific mention:

"Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her
Well, I heard old Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow"

"Sweet Home Alabama", along with "Free Bird", are probably the band's best known songs. Warren Zevon wrote a response to "Sweet Home Alabama", titled "Play It All Night Long" (1980), which can be seen as a satirical homage.

Answer: Empire State of Mind

The "Empire State of Mind" title is a reference to the city of New York. The song can be found on "The Blueprint 3" album (2009). The accompanying mainly black-and-white music video showcases multiple locations around New York. Alicia Keys did her own answer song to Jay-Z's version with her 2009 song "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down", giving her version of how she saw the city. For "California Gurls", Katy Perry collaborated with rapper Snoop Dogg to produce a chart-topping single.

Answer: Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks

Both songs were released as singles and both were chart-topping although in different countries. "Go Your Own Way" written by Lindsey Buckingham was his way of exploring the relationship break-up, according to him in Episode 150 of Song Exploder. The softer "Dreams" written by Steven Nicks came later after "Go Your Own Way" had been presented to the band. She explains her thinking in Blender magazine. Both are an essential part of the album but arguably making it harder for the writers to move on while the songs continue to be performed.