Frozen Pines Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jennifer Juniper

Written and performed by Donovan (Leitch), "Jennifer Juniper" (1968) is a mellow tune with multiple verses about the various attributes of young Jennifer, and the singer's feelings for her. It has been covered by Theodore Bikel, and has appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons".

It is said to have been written about the British model Jenny Boyd, one-time sister-in-law of George Harrison. It appears to have little or nothing to do with the juniper, a coniferous tree whose berries provide the flavour for gin.

Answer: Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree

Adapted from a song written for the 1939 Broadway play "Yokel Boy" by songwriters Lew Brown and Charles Tobias, "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)" was recorded in early 1942 by the Glenn Miller Orchestra with Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and the Modernaires providing the vocals. Later that year the Andrews Sisters, backed by Harry James and his Orchestra, performed a version of the song in the film "Private Buckaroo", and also released a recording. Both versions, as well as one recorded by Kay Kyser, proved extremely popular.

Answer: The Chestnut Tree

Recorded on the Bluebird label, "The Chestnut Tree ('Neath the Spreading Chestnut Tree)" featured vocals by Marion Hutton and was listed as a fox trot on the label. The lyrics spoke of love and family and harmonious happenings beneath that welcoming chestnut tree. If they remind you at all of the Longfellow poem "The Village Blacksmith", that is probably not a coincidence.

Answer: Whispering Pines

"Whispering Pines" was written by Howard Crockett, and released in late 1958 by Johnny Horton. The lyrics seem to be making an appeal to the pines to either bring back the girl who has left, or at least to bring word of her. As a child I had a number of Johnny Horton songs on 45s and at least one album, but this tune has not stuck in my memory the way others of his ("Sink the Bismarck!" or "The Battle of New Orleans" or "North to Alaska") have done. Perhaps I was too young for a love song to have made an impression.

Answer: Frozen Pines

Lord Huron is described as an indie-rock (or indie-folk) group, and has had several different members since it was founded by Michigan-raised Ben Schneider. The song "Frozen Pines" is upbeat in tempo, but the lyrics are somewhat mysterious with lines like "I wonder where you are..." and "On the night you disappeared..." and others about "strange lights in the sky".

The final line speaks of finding the way through to "another life beyond the lie".

Answer: Lemon Tree

"Lemon Tree" appears to be a very popular title, as I've found yet another different song with the title, this time by Post Malone and rather sadder than the other two. The Peter, Paul and Mary song is largely a love song, but warns of the bitterness of the fruit of the lemon tree. Fools Garden wonder why they can only see a yellow lemon tree instead of the "blue blue sky", in a fairly upbeat manner.

Answer: Heart of Oak

"Heart of Oak" was composed in 1759, by William Boyce, with lyrics by the actor David Garrick. As a march it is often performed strictly instrumentally, and has been so recorded by the band of the Royal Marines. The lyrics refer to the wooden sailing ships of the time as "heart of oak" and the sailors as "jolly tars" who "always are ready".

It has been adopted as the official march of a number of Commonwealth navies as well.

Answer: Maple Leaf Rag

Written in 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag" was so-named by Joplin to honour the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri - not the Canadian botanical symbol. It was first released as sheet music for piano, with no lyrics. The lyrics were created four years later by Sydney Brown, and to my mind don't do the instrumental version justice, and should probably be forgotten.

Answer: Land of the Silver Birch

"Land of the Silver Birch" has been around since the 1920s, and it's a song I remember enjoying singing at summer camp. The lyrics are sometimes attributed to indigenous poet Pauline Johnson, but this is not the case. In fact, the lyrics vary from one part of Canada to another, and American Boy Scouts have been known to change the "home of the beaver" lyric to "home of the eagle". Bonnie Dobson's 1972 recording I find to have too slow a pace, dragging what should be a lilting tempo down.

Answer: The Holly and the Ivy

"The Holly and the Ivy" is a folk song dating back at least to the early nineteenth century, and possibly earlier. As is the case with such songs the lyrics can vary, but the best known ones have been popular since the early 20th century. The recorded versions are many, and include one by Petula Clark in 1958; the choir of St John's College, Cambridge in 1986 and an instrumental version by Andrew Peterson in 2004, amongst many, many others.