Vehicle Crashes In Songs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jaguar

The song by Jan & Dean was released in 1964 and tells the story of a fatal street race in Los Angeles. The narrator was "cruisin' in my Stingray" one night when he was challenged to a race. They raced down the street, passing familiar landmarks. The narrator knew that toward the end of the street was an area called "Dead Man's Curve" that had been the scene of many wrecks.

The Stingray pulled ahead until "all the Jag could see were my six taillights". However, as they approached the deadly curve, the narrator describes losing control of his car after seeing the Jaguar slide into the curve. At the end of the song, he is telling a doctor that he realizes he, too, "won't come back from Dead Man's Curve."

Answer: Detroit

The song "Detroit Rock City" starts with the narrator explaining that it is nine at night and he is excited because "you gotta lose your mind in Detroit Rock City" at an upcoming concert. He has a drink and smoke and jumps in his car to make the midnight show.

He listens to the rock band on the radio as he speeds up to 95 miles per hour. All of a sudden he sees a truck's lights ahead of him and there is no time to turn. His final words were "I got to laugh 'cause I know I'm gonna die".

Answer: True

The song called "A Day In The Life" by the Beatles showcases events in the news in 1967 versus regular every day life. John Lennon sings a verse about reading an article in the newspaper about a man who died in a car when "he didn't notice that the lights had changed."

This was actually a reference to the real-life death of Guinness heir Tara Browne in a car crash. Browne, a friend of the Beatles, was driving a Lotus Elan with his girlfriend in London in December of 1966. He failed to notice that the lights had changed and crashed into a parked truck and died. Lennon read about the coroner's verdict in the "Daily Mail" newspaper and was inspired to incorporate the events into "A Day In The Life".

Answer: The Shangri-Las

The song is about a girl named Betty who was dating a boy named Jimmy. She fell in love with him but her parents disapproved because he "came from the wrong side of town". Betty had to tell him they must break up. Crushed, he gets on his motorcycle to leave.

Betty "begged him to go slow" on the wet roads but he was involved in an accident and died. She laments that he is gone and she continues to cry.

The song was a massive hit for the Shangri-Las, reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in late 1964.

Answer: James Dean

The Beach Boys did an all-vocal song in 1963 called "A Young Man Is Gone" in tribute to the actor James Dean. They lament that he had "so much had he to give" but that he "died just as he lived". They say he met his death in a car with "screaming tire, flashing fire". Although they did not mention his name explicitly, they end the song with referencing him as the "Rebel Without A Cause".

James Dean was driving his new Porsche 550 Spyder in California in 1955 when a Ford Tudor, driven by a 23-year-old student, turned left in front of him. Dean was unable to stop in time and his car crashed into the Ford. Dean died from his injuries.

Answer: Banana

The song explains that the truck driver is new and he is "just out on his second job" which is hauling 30,000 pounds of bananas to Scranton. Thinking of getting home, he misses a sign warning drivers to shift to low gear. All of a sudden, "down the two-mile drop", his brakes fail and he realizes the truck is out of control.

Quite a bit of damage was caused, including him having "clipped off 13 telephone poles", before the truck crashed, killing him. In keeping with Chapin's style of blending tragedy, comedy, and music, the song ends referencing "thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas".

Answer: Motorcycle

The song, released in 1977, is narrated by a young man who feels the only bright thing in his life is his girlfriend. One night he leaves her side and decides to hit the road "on a silver black phantom bike". He drives the motorcycle extremely fast because he can feel the adrenaline and he continues to think about the girl and the choices he has made in his life.

He does not see the "sudden curve 'til it's way too late". The song then has the sounds of a crash. Then the narrator describes himself "torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike" and experiences his own death. The listener realizes that when the song mentions that he will be "gone when the morning comes", he meant not only departed from his girlfriend but also gone from this life.

Answer: Praying

Roy Acuff sang this somber country song that carried a strong moral and religious message. The narrator came across a wreck on the highway one night where "whiskey and blood run together". He saw death and destruction but, to his sadness, he kept having to say "I didn't hear nobody pray". He wished he could change the ending but "Their soul has been called by the Master".

The song was originally written by Dorsey Dixon in 1937 after he witnessed a real car crash in North Carolina. Acuff's popular 1942 version focused less on the specific details of the onlookers and more on the need for prayer and spiritual redemption.

Answer: False

The song is about the narrator's parents. His father was a truck driver and a jealous man. His mother, meanwhile, "was a looker, Lord, how she shined". One night his father arrived home from a trip early to surprise her only to discover her out with a lover. Enraged, he left the house.

According to the motel desk clerk, the narrator's father "never hit the brakes and he was shiftin' gears" when he crashed into the motel killing his wife. He was later arrested, leaving the narrator's parents as "Mama's in the graveyard, Papa's in the pen".

Answer: Class ring

The narrator of the 1960 song is remembering the night he and his girlfriend were in a car when it got stalled on a railroad track. He pulled her out but she "went running back". He could not understand what was so important she ended up going back to the car. Later, it was discovered they found his high school ring "clutched in your fingers tight".

The song then shockingly explained that she died in the train accident as the narrator says to her memory that, "I'll never kiss your lips again, they buried you today". He keeps asking his dead "teen angel" if he is still her true love.