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Quiz about 100YearOld Songs You Might Know
Quiz about 100YearOld Songs You Might Know

100-Year-Old Songs You Might Know Quiz


These songs are all over 100 years old, probably older than anyone you've ever met. Do you know any of them? They're USA-centered.

A multiple-choice quiz by littlepup. Estimated time: 2 mins.
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Author
littlepup
Time
2 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
383,869
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
798
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Question 1 of 10
1. How long was the Camptown racetrack, according to the song "Camptown Races"? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. In "Polly Wolly Doodle," where is the singer going to see his "Susyanna"? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "The farmer in the dell, Hi ho the ----" What's the missing made-up word? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "Tramp tramp tramp, the ----- are marching." Who's marching in this song? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. "Mary had a little lamb," but what was its fleece like? "Its fleece was white as ----." Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. When "Johnny Comes Marching Home," the "men will ---- and the boys will ----." What will the men and boys do? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. In the song, Yankee Doodle should mind the music and the step, but what is he supposed to be with the girls? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. What do you do with goober peas, according to the song "Goober Peas"? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. In the song "Shortnin' Bread," how many children were lying in bed? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. In "Oh! Susanna," where was the singer supposedly from, with a banjo on his knee? Hint





Most Recent Scores
Mar 26 2024 : Guest 24: 10/10
Mar 07 2024 : Guest 38: 9/10

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. How long was the Camptown racetrack, according to the song "Camptown Races"?

Answer: 5 miles

"The Camptown ladies sing this song,
Doo-da, Doo-da,
The Camptown racetrack's five miles long,
Oh, de doo-da day."

Stephen Foster published this song about a racetrack for horses in 1850, over 150 years ago. The village of Camptown, Pennsylvania claims to be the home of the actual track.
2. In "Polly Wolly Doodle," where is the singer going to see his "Susyanna"?

Answer: Louisiana

"Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I'm going to Louisiana
For to see my Susyanna"

I suspect his girlfriend's name was Susanna, but you do what you have to do, to make a rhyme fit! The song is at least as old as 1880 when the words appeared in a Harvard student songbook, but Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels advertised they were going to perform it in 1843.
3. "The farmer in the dell, Hi ho the ----" What's the missing made-up word?

Answer: derry-o

This song was first written down in Germany in 1826 and was probably brought to the US by German immigrants. There are many variations in different languages. Until I saw it written, I thought the word was "dairy oh!" because a dairy would be logical on a farm, but it's consistently spelled "derry-o," whatever that means.
4. "Tramp tramp tramp, the ----- are marching." Who's marching in this song?

Answer: boys

George F. Root wrote "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Prisoner's Hope)" in 1864 to cheer up Union soldiers who were prisoners of war during the US Civil War, though it would cheer up Confederate prisoners just as well. The boys were actually young men, mostly 18 and older, soldiers in the army.
5. "Mary had a little lamb," but what was its fleece like? "Its fleece was white as ----."

Answer: snow

This nursery rhyme set to music began as a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. She is the woman who much later convinced President Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. She supposedly based the poem on a real girl named Mary who had a real pet lamb.
6. When "Johnny Comes Marching Home," the "men will ---- and the boys will ----." What will the men and boys do?

Answer: cheer, shout

"The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out"

Ladies during the Civil War wouldn't do anything so unladylike as cheer or shout, but would probably politely wave their handkerchiefs as they gathered to see their family members and loved ones come home.

Bandleader Patrick Gilmore wrote the words in 1863, but the tune probably comes from an old drinking song, "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl." The song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" was published about the same time and also uses the same tune.
7. In the song, Yankee Doodle should mind the music and the step, but what is he supposed to be with the girls?

Answer: handy

The song Yankee Doodle goes back at least to the Revolutionary War over 200 years ago, where ragged colonial soldiers were fighting against well-equipped British troops, but there are many variations from many time periods before and after. "Handy" is an unusual word today for the treatment of girls in "Mind the music and the step, And with the girls be handy," but I expect it meant something like skillful or tactful.
8. What do you do with goober peas, according to the song "Goober Peas"?

Answer: eat them

Goober peas are peanuts. "Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas," the song says. The song is about Confederate soldiers cracking peanuts, scaring the general into thinking it was enemy rifle shots. Though the song sounds like it ought to have been sung during the Civil War itself, it was first published in 1866, a year after the war ended.

It may have been sung earlier, or it may have appeared in a stage show about the war that year.
9. In the song "Shortnin' Bread," how many children were lying in bed?

Answer: three

"Three little children,
Lyin' in bed
Two were sick
And the other 'most dead."

But their mother's favorite bread revived them! The song was a poem by James Whitcomb Riley, published in 1900. In 1915, a collector of folk songs, E. C. Perrow, already found someone singing it as a folk song.
10. In "Oh! Susanna," where was the singer supposedly from, with a banjo on his knee?

Answer: Alabama

The chorus of the original version, though there were many variations, is:

"Oh! Susanna, do not cry for me;
I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee."

Stephen Foster wrote this nonsense song in 1848. Gold was discovered in California later that year, and those heading west adopted the song as their unofficial anthem, making it the bestselling sheet music of its day. I like to count all the impossibilities: so hot I froze to death. That's one!
Source: Author littlepup

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor NatalieW before going online.
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