A Few Songs About Home But No Food Pt 1 Quiz

Answer: No, they formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964

Lynyrd Skynyrd defined the Southern Rock genre with their 1974 "Free Bird" being archetypal of the genre. "Sweet Home Alabama" was a response to Canadian Neil Young who had had written songs like "Southern Man" and "Alabama," which implied that people from the American South were racist. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song about Southern pride, with Alabama representing the south. (The feud was good natured - Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant wore Neil Young T-shirts on stage). The song was also a tribute to the musicians of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios:
"Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two"
The Swampers were the musicians who lived around the town who backed big names like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Paul Simon, and Bob Seger. Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded there too (but after "Sweet Home Alabama was a Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit). The group suffered badly and the music world mourned when three members died in a plane crash in 1977.
R.E.M. and the B-52s were from Athens Georgia.

Answer: Phil Collins

"No Jacket Required" was a monster album for Phil Collins. "Take Me Home" was the third single released off the album. It reached top twenty in the UK but reached the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 nine months later. There has been speculation about what the song is about including Orwellian themes, and a patient in a mental facility (supposedly influenced by "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") but none of these theories have been confirmed. What is known is that this has been played at nearly every Phil Collins concert, usually as an encore.

Answer: Simon and Garfunkel

"Homeward Bound" was a 1965 song written by Paul Simon and recorded by Simon and Garfunkel and was their follow-up hit to "Sound of Silence" The former song hit number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is about Mr Simon who was performing for a period in England. He met an Essex girl called Kathy Chitty at the club where he was a regular performer, in Brentwood. The song was written at a Widnes railway station near Liverpool while he was waiting to catch an overnight train back to London and Ms Chitty.

This question was inspired by Leith90.

Answer: Rod Stewart

Blind Faith was made up of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker (both from Cream), Steve Winwood from Traffic and Ric Grech from Family. As a band they lasted six months yet their single child, their 1969 self-titled album, remains an enduring gem in any of the member's individual discographies. Their sound was a marriage of Cream's heavy riffs and Traffic's soulful blues. It didn't always work but when it did, such as the beautifully textured "Can't Find My Way Home" it was honey for the ears. Clapton surrenders his electric guitar for this number and goes acoustic, which, when combined with Winwood's crooning, takes the track to another level, reflected in the many different cover versions recorded and, possibly more telling, as a soundtrack in at least twelve TV shows and movies.

This question was created by Pollucci19.

Answer: You're My Home

"The Fletcher Memorial Home" first appeared on Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut" (1983) album, which is also the last album that Roger Waters recorded with the band before going solo. In this single he rails against the leaders of the world, mentioning them by name, calling them "incurable tyrants" and doing little to improve the world. In the end he fantasises about placing them into a retirement home and applying Hitler's "Final Solution" to them. The lyrics are raw and potent and carry Roger's subtext that this is what we are left with, this is what my father fought for and died for during World War II. (Note) Roger Waters lost his father at Anzio during the war. Roger was not yet two years old at the time and the home in the title was named in his father's memory. "Bring the Boys Back Home" was another Roger Waters' composition from the same album. In a 1979 BBC Radio One Interview by Tommy Vance, Mr Waters explains "... it's partly about not letting people go off and be killed in wars, but it's partly about not allowing rock and roll, or making cars, or selling soap, or getting involved in biological research, or anything that anybody might do ... not letting that become such an important and 'jolly boy's game' that it becomes more important than friends, wives, children, or other people."
"Nobody Home" was a Roger Water's song that appeared on the group's 1978 album, "The Wall". The song details Syd Barrett's poor mental state during 1967 before he left the band.

"You're My Home" is a 1973 Billy Joel song from the "Piano Man" album. It was a Valentine Day's gift to Elizabeth Weber, his first wife, when he returned home to New York after a musical stint in California.

This question was written by Pollucci19 and 1nn1.

Answer: Crowded House

The song is a plaintive wail about the absence of a lover, sung by songwriter Neil Finn. It was one of Crowded House's first hits and was a concert favourite. It featured in nearly all of their Australian concerts, often as the last song or an encore.

This author heard it with 100 000 other people on the steps of the Sydney Opera House of the farewell tour in 1996. I swear either everyone in crowd sang along and/or teared up. It is one of the most emotion-evoking songs I have ever heard. In 2001 in a Brisbane club of about 200 patrons Mr Finn got the same reaction when he sang an acoustic version.

The song became a tribute to Tim Hester, the group's first drummer, who died tragically.

Answer: Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow, a 31 year old multi-musician from a musical Missouri family, hit the big time in 1993 with the smash album "Tuesday Night Music Club". Incorrectly labelled as a country-rocker by the time she got to her self-titled third album, she was a full-blown rocker, so it was a surprise to find this heartbreaking balled in the middle of such a rock album. It was the second single from the album, following the huge "A Change Would Do You Good" but was not released as a single in the US.
The lyrics are searing and reek of heartbreak:
"I found you standing there / When I was seventeen / Now I'm thirty-two / And I can't remember what I'd seen in you / I made a promise / Said it every day / Now I'm reading romance novels / And I'm dreaming of yesterday."

Also on theme, Sheryl Crow recorded "Home for Christmas" in 2008, an album full of covers of Christmas songs.

Answer: Take the Long Way Home

This album was number one on the Billboard Pop Albums chart for six weeks in 1979, no doubt aided by four hits coming from the same album. The album won two Grammys. The third consecutive US Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit from the album, "Take The Long Way Home" tells the story of a successful stage musician ("When he's up on the stage, it's so unbelievable, unforgettable, how they adore him") who does not want to return home to his wife as she treats him poorly ("So, when the day comes to settle down, Who's to blame if you're not around? You took the long way home"). On a deeper level it explores the metaphorical view of what "home" actually is.

Answer: Christine Anu

"My Island Home" has become an Australian anthem, right up there with "Waltzing Matilda", "The Pub With No Beer" and "Up There Cazaly", Erroneously thought of as the "Island" being Australia, it is Elcho island off the coast of Arhem Land in the Northern Territory which the indigenous lead singer George Burarrwanga of the Warumpi Band called home.

The song is a longing for home when the singer ("west of Alice Springs") is many miles away from his family in the far north of Australia. In 1995, Christine Anu, an indigenous Torres Strait Islander, rerecorded the song changing some of the lyrics to suit her personal circumstances ("Now I'm out here west of Alice Springs" became "Now I'm down here living in the city") Ms Anu's version took the raw rock drum-based version and polished it with a synthesiser-driven feel.

This version won the 1995 APRA Awards Song of the Year but both versions were named in the APRA Top 30 Australian songs of all time in 2001. It becomes a matter of taste which version people prefer, Ms Anu's polished version is a fine song but my vote goes to the band that wrote and first recorded it.

It reflects the hard grind and beauty of the outback and is one of the truly great Australian songs.

Answer: Christmas

Homes are all about warmth and love. Christmas is meant to be when families get together and share the good spirits of the season. It is no wonder there are so many songs written about "home for Christmas". Bing Crosby recorded "I'll be Home for Christmas" in 1943. It was controversial at the time for the last line "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams." With so many troops fighting WWII, the music industry moguls believed that the song would lower the morale of soldiers. The song was a Christmas hit regardless. It was covered many times, arguably the Carpenters' 1978 version being the best, from their album "Christmas Portrait". This album attained platinum status 20 years after its release.
"Please Come Home for Christmas" is a 1960 Christmas song, recorded by American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Eagles covered the song in 1978, albeit with slightly changed lyrics, and released it has a holiday single where it peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The long haul home to Middlesbrough was not Chris Rea's idea of fun. It became even less so when he got bogged down by London's traffic. His thoughts turned to home and being with family and "bingo" the idea for a great Christmas song hit him. Mr Rea wrote the song in 1978 and had no plans to release it, though at one time he was hoping to get it to Van Morrison for him to record, but that didn't eventuate. Years later, after constant badgering from his road crew he played at the Hammersmith Odeon and it was met with enthusiasm. The song was then placed on his first compilation album "New Light Through Old Windows" (1988) and released as the album's fourth single. The song peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles charts and, even though it has not been a large seller, it has constantly re-appeared on the UK charts around the holiday season.

This question was written by Pollucci19 and 1nn1.