Sounds Of The Sixties Rewound Part 44 Quiz

Answer: Aretha Franklin

Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote "I Say A Little Prayer" for Dionne Warwick - a regular chanteuse of their songs. In 1967, she had a number four US hit.

Less than a year later, Aretha Franklin recorded her version of the song and had a UK number four and a US number ten with it.

There were some differences in presentation. Dionne had a faster tempo which Bacharach did not like and had not wanted released. One link between the two versions came from the backing singers, The Sweet Inspiration. They sang on both. Aretha also brought in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and played piano and recorded it in one take.

Aretha and Dionne had sung in the same church as teenagers but it is fair to say they were never friends - especially after "Prayer".

There are many debates about who sang "Prayer" better, but for what it's worth, this quiz author prefers the Aretha Franklin version.

Answer: Gerry and the Pacemakers

Mitch Murray wrote "How Do You Do It" for Adam Faith, but he passed, as did Johnny Angel. Next it was steered to The Beatles, who also kicked it into touch.

Meanwhile, George Martin took it to another of his stable, Gerry & The Pacemakers. It was their debut single and went to number one in the UK for three weeks in 1963. The following year it reached the top ten in the USA.

A Beatles recording of the song emerged in 1995 on the "Anthology 1" album.
Mitch Murray said the Fab Four's cover made him cringe. He said: "I felt that they had screwed up the song, perhaps deliberately."

Answer: Roy Orbinson

In 1963, "In Dreams", was a UK number six and US number seven. Orbison claimed the lyrics came to him in a dream and he wrote the music when he woke up.

"Sounds Of The Sixties" was presented by the veteran DJ Tony Blackburn. He had an unrivalled knowledge of the era and was also known for sharing corny jokes sent in by listeners. An example: "There was trouble in my street last night. The police knocked on my door, they wanted to know where I was between 5 and 11.
I said - at primary school."

Answer: The Bachelors

The Irish trio The Bachelors seemed to like songs with women's names in the title.

The song had been around since 1926 and The Bachelors took it to number eight in the UK in 1963.

Answer: The Beach Boys

What Mike Love wanted to do again was surf. Love wrote the lyrics and Brian Wilson the music. "Do It Again" topped the UK charts in 1968, but only made number 20 on the Hot 100.

Answer: The Ivy League

The Ivy League made "Tossing & Turning" a UK number three in 1965.
This was a band of seasoned session singers who recorded several albums from 1964. By 1967 it was all over. "Tossing & Turning" was their biggest single success.

Answer: Dean Martin

It was a matter of fourth time lucky for "Everybody Loves Somebody". The song had gone nowhere for Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington or Frank Sinatra, then Dean Martin made it a number one on the Hot 100 in 1964.

The song knocked "A Hard Day's Night" off the top of the US charts and Martin sent a telegram to Elvis Presley that read, "If you can't handle the Beatles, I'll do it for you, pally."

Answer: Bobby Vee

"Run To Him" was meant for the Everly Brothers, but was acquired perhaps by sleight of hand by Bobby Vee's producer Snuff Garrett.

The song was a US number two and reached number six in the UK.

Answer: The Shirelles

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" was the first big hit from the pens of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. In 1960 it topped the US charts and made number six in the UK.

This was the first number one by a black female group, and they only got it because Johnny Matthis's manager rejected it.

The Shirelles got together in 1956 and had a career that lasted until 1982. But like so many other bands of the era, their time was passing them by. Their style was overtaken by the new sound of The Beatles and the power of Motown to promote its artists. A legal dispute with a record company did not help.

The Shirelles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and soon afterward they were awarded the Soul of America Music Award. "Baby It's You!", a musical about the band, ran from 2009 to 2011.

Answer: The Move

"Fire Brigade" was written by co-founder of The Move, Roy Wood. It reached number three in the UK in 1968.

Although often glossed over in modern times, The Move had seven top ten singles in the UK between 1967 and 1972

Answer: Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich got together in 1961 but had to wait until 1968 for their first UK chart-topper, "The Legend Of Xanadu". The band had had five UK top ten hits before that, but failed to break North America.

So what was Xanadu? To steal and mangle a saying from a Canadian social media educator "Time for Mister D's histories": Xanadu was built by Kublai Khan in 1256 as summer capital of the Yuan Dynasty in China. Its first claim for fame was in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "Kubla Khan", starting with the famous lines: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree." Merriam-Webster dictionary declares: "Coleridge's fantastic description of an exotic utopia fired public imagination and ultimately contributed to the transition of "Xanadu" from a name to a generalised term for an idyllic place."

Answer: Procul Harem

Who knows what it's all about? Not many: not even the man who wrote it.
In an interview with 'Uncut' magazine, Keith Reid said: "I had the phrase 'a whiter shade of pale,' that was the start, and I knew it was a song."

"It's like a jigsaw where you've got one piece, then you make up all the others to fit in. I was trying to conjure a mood as much as tell a straightforward, girl-leaves-boy story. With the ceiling flying away and room humming harder, I wanted to paint an image of a scene."

But apart from the fantasy lyrics, what made the song memorable was the Hammond organ piece in part derived from Bach and played by Matthew Fisher.

That contribution led to legal disputes. Fisher sued for a share of the royalties and was initially granted 40% of the song's earnings. That was overturned on appeal because he had waited too long to file the claim.

Answer: The Supremes

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" came from the fertile minds of Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.

It topped the US charts, the eighth for the Supremes, and was a UK number eight in 1966.

Answer: Frank Sinatra

Altogether now:
"Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo
Doo-doo-dee-dah
Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah, ya-ya-ya."

"Strangers In The Night" had its origins in Croatian song and it was released in Croatia and in Germany before English lyrics were written by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Reworked for the movie "A Man Could Get Killed", it won a Golden Globe and four Grammys.

In 1966 it was a UK and US number one for Frank Sinatra. The "Dooby dooby doo..." bit at the end was put there by Sinatra in the recording studio.

Sinatra was said to despise the song, calling it a piece of something that cannot be named in a family-friendly quiz.

In a list of the "The 27 Best Frank Sinatra Songs - Ranked & Reviewed", the jazz fuel website placed "Strangers..." at number 19. Music columnist Matt Fripp made "New York, New York" his number one.

Answer: Cliff Richard

Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, of The Shadows, wrote this for the movie "Summer Holiday". It was released as the B side of the movie's theme song.

"Summer Holiday/Dancing Shoes" was a UK number one in 1963. It also topped the charts in Canada.

In the 1960s, Cliff Richard had seven number ones and 33 UK top ten hits. Despite success throughout Europe, Richard got the cold shoulder in the USA, with just two songs in the top 30 in in that decade.