Sounds Of The 60s Rewound Part 6 Quiz

Answer: Sir Douglas Quintet

The Sir Douglas Quintet hailed from Texas but tried to pass themselves off as British.
"She's About a Mover" was written about a woman they saw dancing at one of their performances in San Antonio. In 1965 it was a US number 13 and a UK number 15.
Between 1965 and 1983 they were to have just one more US top 30 hit, "Mendocino" at number 27 in 1968.

They were busy album makers, though, with 28 over the years before we start talking about 15 compilation albums.

Answer: The 5th Dimension

This was written by Laura Nyro and included in her first album "More Than A New Discovery" in 1967.

The 5th Dimension had recorded a couple of her songs before adding "Wedding Bell Blues" in their LP "Age of Aquarius" in 1969. The single was a US number one and a UK number 16.

Answer: Simon & Garfunkel

By now just about every S&G fan knows this song was originally entitled "Mrs Roosevelt" - after a First Lady of the US. Paul Simon changed it to "Mrs Robinson" for the 1968 movie "The Graduate". It was a chart topper in the US and reached number four in the UK.

Art Garfunkel has maintained that the song might never have been recorded if "The Graduate" director Mike Nichols had not asked the duo for songs.

It took bit of reworking, otherwise, according to Garfunkel, the tune was "A trifle song we were about to throw out".

Answer: The Swinging Blue Jeans

Hailing from Liverpool, the Swinging Blue Jeans got together in 1957 when skiffle was the big thing in Great Britain.

"You're No Good" had been recorded in the USA by Dee Dee Warwick and Betty Everett before the Swinging Blue Jeans picked it up and took it to number three in the UK.

Ten years later, it was a chart topper for Linda Ronstadt in 1975. It reached number two in Canada.

Answer: Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee was aged 18 when she took "It Started All Over Again" to number 15 in the UK and number 19 in the USA. It came five years after her first hit "One Step At A Time" reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"It Started All Over Again" was written by Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller. They wrote numerous songs together in the early 1960s.

Answer: Andy Williams

John Barry wrote the music and and lyricist Don Black the words for "Born Free", the theme song of the 1966 movie of the same name. It became the first British song to win an Oscar.

It is not quite clear why Tony Blackburn chose to use the Andy Williams version: it was a title track of an album, but I couldn't find any reference to a single, certainly it did not chart. But then the original used in the movie and sung by Matt Monro failed to chart in the UK and was number 126 in the USA.

However, pianist Roger Williams reached number seven in the USA in 1966. Meanwhile, in 1991 comedian Vic Reeves reached number six in the UK.

Answer: Lesley Gore

"You Don't Own Me" was written by John Madara and Dave White for Maureen White, but Quincy Jones persuaded them to play it for Lesley Gore and she quickly recorded it. The song hit number two on the Hot 100 in 1963.

Gore had four US top ten hits that year, including one that made number one when she was aged just 16.

In her career she released 37 singles and 12 studio albums.

Answer: The Supremes

"Stop! In The Name Of Love" was a product of the renowned Holland-Dozier-Holland hit Motown songwriting team.

It was a US number one in 1967 - the fourth in a row for The Supremes and they were to go on to add anther successive chart topper.

Answer: David Bowie

"Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on..."

These became the well known opening lyrics of the 1969 song "Space Oddity". It reached number five in the UK and number 124 in the USA.

Rereleased in 1975, it made number one in the UK and number seven in the USA.

David Bowie wrote the song after seeing the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968).

Answer: Bobby Vee

Jack Keller and Gerry Goffin wrote "Run To Him" in the Brill Building in New York city.
It was intended to go to the Everly Brothers, but, as recounted by songfacts, Bobby Vee's producer Snuff Garrett called into Aldon Music's office to pick up demos for Vee and right next to a stack for Vee was a single demo for the Everly Brothers. "Garrett swept the whole pile together and out of those songs, "Run To Him" was the one he chose for Bobby Vee."

This was a number two US hit for Bobby Vee in 1961 and made number six in the UK.

Answer: The Carpenters

Karen Carpenter's glorious singing voice provided a slower, balladic, feel to McCartney and Lennon's "Ticket To Ride".

Paul McCartney loved Karen Carpenter's singing voice, saying it was one of the most distinctive and beautiful he had ever encountered.

This was a number 54 on the Hot 100 for the brother and sister duo in 1969.

Answer: Petula Clark

"When you're alone, and life is making you lonely
You can always go, downtown..."

"Downtown" was penned by the British songwriter Tony Hatch, and it is often forgotten nowadays just how influential he was.

This was a UK number two but Petula became the first British woman singer to hit the top of the charts in the USA. A multi-lingual singer, Clark had been concentrating on European markets and hardly promoted "Downtown" in the US.

In an interview with 'The Guardian' newspaper, Clark said Tony Hatch suggested she should be recording again in English. "My head wasn't in it at the time. I was totally into French, Italian, German, whatever. I said: 'Well, you know, if I could find the right song' and he said he had an unfinished song he wanted to play me, and he played 'Downtown' on the piano. I said: 'Whoa, I like that.' So I asked him to write a lyric up to the standard of the tune, and two weeks later we did it."

Answer: The Four Tops

In 1965, The Four Tops took "It's The Same Old Song" to number five in the US Hot 100. The was yet another hit from the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.

The Four Tops had seven songs reach the top ten of the Hot 100, with two reaching number one. In the UK, ten songs reached the top ten and one reached the top spot

Answer: Edwin Astley

Kudos to those of you who associated music and composer straight away and did not get there by a process of elimination!

"The Saint" was a popular British television show in the 1960s. It starred Roger Moore, later to play 'James Bond 007'. Edwin Astley was the man who composed the main theme. There is no note of it having charted.

He was also behind some of British television's most popular television themes including "Danger Man" "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)", "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "The Baron" and "Department S".

Answer: Steam

If you have ever been to a sporting event, you may well have heard the words "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" sung dismissively by one set of fans towards losing counterparts or players on the opposing side.

This was one of the strangest chart-topping hits of all time, probably. It was partly written by Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer and Paul Leka for their band The Chateaus in the early 1960s.

Years later Leka and DeCarlo needed a 'B' side for a song by DeCarlo (then performing solo as Garrett Scott). Their 1961 song "Kiss Him Goodbye" came to mind. It did not have a chorus so Leka wrote one:

"Na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye
Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na,
hey, hey, hey, goodbye..."

DeCarlo, Frashuer and Leka recorded this in a lengthy overnight studio session.

It was intended be a throwaway song, but Bob Reno, the A&R (Artists and Repertoire) man at Mercury Records, loved it and didn't want to waste it as a B-side. He was on the lookout for singles for Fontana Records, but now he had one, he didn't have a band, so he credited it to Steam.

This was a US number one in 1969 and made number nine in the UK.