Kingston Trio Trivia

1. "Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet / Leave the bottle full for others, thank you kindly, Desert ____." Who signed this note?

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Pete

"Desert Pete" was a single from Kingston Trio's 1963 album "Sunny Side!" and was released with "Ballad of the Thresher" on the B-side. The narrator of the song is traveling on a cattle run and is extremely thirsty when he discovers a water pump with a message from Desert Pete that serves as a metaphor for trusting in and helping others: "You've got to prime the pump, you must have faith and believe You've got to give of yourself 'fore you're worthy to receive Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet Leave the bottle full for others, thank you kindly, desert Pete."

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Into the quiet town

"The White Snows of Winter" was written by Bob Shane and Tom Drake.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: The Reverend Mr. Black

This song tells the story of the Reverend Mr. Black, who "carried a Bible in a canvas sack" and was "poor as a beggar" but "rode like a king." He'd go about singing this song: "I gotta walk that lonesome valley. I got to walk it by myself. Oh nobody else can walk it for me. I got to walk it by myself." One day, a lumberjack comes into church where the Reverend Mr. Black is preaching and cusses right in his face. Then he punches the Reverend. Mr. Black, however, doesn't fight back. Instead, he stands like a rock, lets the man hit him again, and then says the words that are the chorus of this song. In the end of the song, the narrator reveals that the man he is singing about, the Reverend Mr. Black, was his father, and he's learned his pacifist ways by heart, but now that his father is dead, he has to walk that lonesome valley by himself.

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Down

The song's melody is based on a theme from Johannes Brahms' First Symphony.

From Quiz The Kingston Trio

Answer: The Ivy League / Calypso crossover appeal

Bob went home to Hawaii after graduation and worked for a while at his father's sporting goods company, also performing as an Elvis-influenced solo act. Meanwhile, Dave and Nick began playing with bassist Joe Gannon and singer Barbara Bogue as Dave Guard & the Calypsonians. Nick left that group following his graduation and was replaced by Don McArthur. The group then called themselves the Kingston Quartet. Calypso was very popular at the time and Bob lists Harry Belafonte and various other Hawaiian and calypso groups among his musical influences. The Calypsonians were advised to part with Gannon, whose bass technics were not so very well developed, and when he left, Bogue went too. Nick and Bob, now back from Hawaii, were welcomed back into the group, and the name was revised to the Kingston Trio. Nick Reynolds was actually born in Coronado, California, on July 27, 1933. Bob Marley was not born until 1945, so could not have been an early musical influence on the Kingston Trio.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Tom Dooley

"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song popularized by The Kingston Trio on their 1958 debut album. The single sold millions of copies and tells the story of the murder of Laura Foster in 1866 and the man, Tom Dula, who allegedly committed the crime: "Throughout history there have been many songs Written about the eternal triangle This next one tells the story of a Mr. Grayson, A beautiful woman, and a condemned man named Tom Dooley When the sun rises tomorrow, Tom Dooley must hang."

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Christmas

The Kingston Trio included the song on their Christmas album "The Last Month of the Year".

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: a wailing song and a good guitar

"And I don't give a --- about a Greenback a-dollar Spend it fast as I can For a wailing* song and a good guitar The only things that I understand, poor boy The only things that I understand." (* Some sources say whaling instead of wailing.) The singer also says: "I've learned that a bottle of brandy and a song The only ones who ever cared, poor boy The only ones who ever cared." This song was recorded on The Kingston Trio's third album, "New Frontier," released in 1962. It was the lead single for the album, with "New Frontier" on the B-side.

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Cold

Founded in 1957, The Kingston Trio was well enough established by 1960 to issue a Christmas album.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: The MTA

"Today a new crisis has arisen The Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known as the MTA Is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population In the form of a subway fare increase Citizens, hear me out, this could happen to you!" This parody song tells the story of a man who gets on the subway in Boston but is never able to get off because he doesn't have the appropriate fare: "Well, did he ever return? No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (What a pity) He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston And he's the man who never returned." The song was written in 1949 by Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes. It was originally recorded as a campaign song for the Progressive Party's candidate for mayor, Walter A. O'Brien.

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: October

Sales of "The Last Month of the Year" fell short of expectations and Capital Records withdrew the album shortly after its release. This puzzles your quiz writer, who agrees with critic David A. Milberg's assessment in his Allmusic review, "An essential part of any Christmas album collection." As he points out, "these are true Christmas folk songs, from spirituals to Old English rounds." The fact that "The Last Month of the Year" was re-released on CD three times in less than fifteen years (in 1991 by Capital, in 1999 by Collectors' Choice Music and in 2014 by Real Gone Music) attests to the enduring appeal of this lovely, gentle album.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: In an English tavern

"One, two, and three jolly coachmen sat at an English tavern Three jolly coachmen sat at an English tavern, And they decided, and they decided, and they decided to have another flagon." "Three Jolly Coachmen" was the B-side to "Scarlet Ribbons," which along with "Tom Dooley" were the singles released from The Kingston Trio's debut album.

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Called

The founding members of The Kingston Trio were Dave Guard, Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds. The group formed in San Francisco, California USA.

From Quiz The Kingston Trio

Answer: The Kingston Trio At Large (fourth album, released June 1959)

The Grammy Award for 'Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording' was awarded from 1960 to 1986. The years reflect the year in which the awards were presented, for works released in the previous year. At first it was called 'Best Performance - Folk', and after several more name changes, the award was split in 1987 into two separate categories, 'Best Traditional Folk Album' and 'Best Contemporary Folk Album'. The December 12, 1959 issue of Billboard listed four Trio albums in the Top Ten Best Selling Albums, a feat unmatched for nearly 40 years. "At Large" was the Trio's first stereo album. http://www.kingstontrio.com/content/discography1.htm

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: O'Hanlon

Dominic Behan wrote the lyrics to this Irish ballad, which was set to the melody of "The Merry Month of May". It tells the tale of Fergal O'Hanlon, who was a young IRA volunteer killed in January of 1957 in an attack on Brookeborough Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks. He was killed at the age of 20, though the song puts him as 16: "My name is O'Hanlon, and I'm just gone sixteen My home is in Monaghan, and where I was weaned I've learned all my life, cruel England's to blame And so I'm a part of the patriot game." Bob Dylan later used this same melody for "With God On Our Side."

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: sea land

Dave Guard left the trio in 1961. Bob and Nick continued playing with John Stewart, finally disbanding in 1967.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: dust

These lyrics are from the song "Raspberries, Strawberries" from The Kingston Trio's 1960 album "Sold Out." The album stayed at number one on the Billboard Top 40 for an impressive 54 weeks. "Raspberries, strawberries, the good wines we brew. Here's to the girls of the countryside, the ones we drink 'em to."

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Love

With Tom Drake, Bob Shane wrote "Blue Eyed Gal", "Blow the Candle Out", "Who's Gonna Hold Her Hand" and "Mary Mild" as well as "The White Snows of Winter". "Mary Mild" also appears on "The Last Month of the Year".

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone" was recorded as the B-side to The Kingston Trio's single "O Ken Karanga" and released in 1961. Although Pete Seeger wrote the first three verses in 1955, and published them in "Sing Out!" magazine, it was his 1964 release of the single that was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in the folk category.

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Blessings

Tom Drake worked as a child actor on the CBC, a corporate newsletter writer, an English professor and a Folk musician (founding The Other Singers and The Goodtime Singers, who replaced The New Christie Minstrels on "The Andy Williams Show") before settling on a career as a film and television writer and director. He and Bob Shane remained lifelong friends.

From Quiz The Kingston Trio

Answer: Auto racing, ranching, opened a movie theater, antiques business

The group's final performance came at the end of a three week stint at the Hungry i on June 16, 1967. Nick Reynolds left the music business and for a time took up auto racing before moving to Oregon to raise a family. There for the next 20 years he ranched, opened a movie theater, and later ran an antique business. In 1988 he would come out of retirement to replace Bob Haworth, formerly of the Brothers Four, and join George Grove and Bob Shane once again in the Kingston Trio.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Tess

"Away out here they've got a name For rain and wind and fire The rain is Tess, The fire's Joe And they call the wind Maria." The lyrics of "They Call the Wind Maria" were written by Alan J. Lerner, and the song was set to music by Frederick Loewe for the 1951 musical "Paint Your Wagon." The Kingston Trio's live version was released on their 1959 album "...from the "Hungry i," which was recorded in 1958 at a San Francisco club.

From Quiz The White Snows of Winter

Answer: Warm

In Question 4 the winter night was cold because "my love cannot be found", whereas here, the winter night is warm because "my love at last I've found". The winter night becoming warm is not a contradiction. Rather, it shows how perceptions change with changing circumstances. The speaker's heart was cold in loneliness. Now it is warmed by the glow of rediscovered love. And, after all, love is what Christmas is all about.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: El Matador

"Aye, To-re-ro, she is here, Aye, Matador I feel her eyes, They are wide with excitement and fear I feel her heart For it cries when the horns are too near, I will be bold, Brave and swift will I be, And I will be nu-mer-o u-no To-re-ro fi-no She'll dream tonight of me..." This song was released as a single from the 1960 album "Sold Out" with "Home From the Hill" on the B-side. In 1963, Johnny Cash recorded a similarly themed and titled song ("The Matador"), but with a twist in which the woman has taken up with a new lover: "The crowd is waiting for the bullfight Matador My final fight the place is packed once more But Anita won't throw me a rose this fight The one she wears is not for me tonight She's watching now with her new love I know Walk proud and slow Be strong and sure give the crowd a show They want blood you know!"

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Seasons in the Sun

"Adieu, Emile, my trusted friend, we've known each other since we were nine or ten. Together we climbed hills and trees, learned of love and ABCs, skinned our hearts and skinned our knees." The song is an adaptation of "Le Moribond" by the Belgian songwriter Jacques Brel. The lyrics were rewritten by Rod McKuen, an American poet and songwriter. The chorus of the song runs: "We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the hills that we climbed Were just seasons out of time." In 1974, a version of "Seasons in the Sun" became a worldwide hit for Canadian singer Terry Jacks.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Woody Guthrie

One of the most famous patriotic folk songs, and a favorite of school children across the country, "This Land is Your Land" was written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 and used the tune from The Carter Family's song "When the World's on Fire." In addition to being recorded by The Kingston Trio, it's been covered by Bob Dylan, The New Christy Minstrals, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, among others.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: Long Black Veil

"The judge said, 'Son, what is your alibi? If you were somewhere else Then you won't have to die I spoke not a word though it meant my life For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife." Now that the narrator has been executed for the murder he didn't commit, his lover visits his grave: "She walks these hills in a long black veil She visits my grave when the night winds wail Nobody knows Nobody sees Nobody knows but me." The Kingston Trio covered the song on their 1962 album "New Frontier." The song was written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and was originally recorded in 1959 by Lefty Frizzell as a single with "When It Rains the Blues" on the B-side. Johnny Cash further popularized the ballad with his version, which he first performed live on "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1969.

From Quiz Kingston Trio Songs

Answer: In the Long Island Cemetery

"Back to back, belly to belly At the Zombie Jamboree Zombie Jamboree took place in a New York cemetery (Where?) Zombie Jamboree took place in Long Island cemetery Zombies from all parts of the island (Where?) Some of them are great Calypsonians Hey, since the season was Carnivale They got together in Bacchanal." In their introduction to the song, The Kingston Trio credits "Lord Invader and his Twelve Penetrators," but it was Lord Intruder (a calypsonian from Tobago) who released the song, originally known as "Jumbie Jamberee," in 1953. However, credit is typically given to Conrad Eugene Mauge, Jr. for the authorship of the song.

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Last Updated Apr 13 2024 5:50 AM

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