American Locations in Song Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marc Cohen

"Walking in Memphis", though it enjoyed only modest success on the charts, still became a favorite with many, if not most people who heard it. It has a cool verse about the singer's going to Gracel'nd (as it is pronounced in that city) and meeting the ghost of Elvis on his way to a romantic assignation. Cohen explains that he himself is Jewish, and combines this heritage with a gospel feel, in the verse about the woman who asks if he's a Christian, which has the singer answering, "Ma'am, I am tonight!"

Answer: Kentucky Rain

The song "Kentucky Rain" appears on a very popular album called "From Elvis in Memphis". The lyrics describe the singer's poignant sense of loss and his determination to find his wife, or perhaps she's his girlfriend. "Seven lonely days, and a dozen towns ago, I reached for you one night and you were gone. Don't know why you'd run, what you're running to or from, all I know is I want to bring you home..." Elvis sounds as serious as a heart attack on this number.

Answer: Bruce Springsteen

"Streets of Philadelphia" was written specifically for the movie "Philadelphia", and does not appear as part of an original album, except for compilation albums such as "The Essential Bruce Springsteen." The song won the Oscar for 1993's "Best Song from a Movie" category.

The movie "Philadelphia" took on the controversial subject of discrimination in the workplace against employees with HIV/AIDS.

Answer: Memphis

To give the song its original title, it's really called "Memphis, Tennessee", though over the years it has become known as "Memphis". It starts: "Long distance information, give me Memphis, Tennessee, help me find the party that tried to get in touch with me, she could not leave her number but I know the place to call, 'Cause my uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall..."

An instrumental version of "Memphis" was a very big hit for guitarist Lonnie Mack in 1963, and in 1964 his record company released a greatest hits album, which is probably still selling, called "The Wham! of That Memphis Man". Other covers of Chuck Berry's song are literally too numerous to mention.

Answer: Texas Flood

The lyrics of "Texas Flood" tell the story of a man who is trying to call his girlfriend in Texas, but can't get a working telephone line. Presumably he goes in person, as the song says: "Well flood water keeps a rollin', Man, it's about to drive poor me insane." In the third verse, he tells the girl of his intention to go back home, where the sun shines every day. This is told within the 12-bar blues structure. In reality, Stevie Ray Vaughan was himself from Texas, having been born in Dallas in 1954.

Sad to say, the state of Texas has been experiencing devastating floods that, as of 2016, go back for several years, and have resulted in the deaths of many people there.

Answer: Please Come to Boston

"Please Come to Boston" rose to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1974, and soared to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in the US (a sort of Easy Listening ranking). Dave Loggins is half of the singing duo of Loggins and Messina. He related to a source that the lyric is almost true; he was in fact travelling around as a musician at that time. However, there was no one special woman in his life, and the longing expressed in the song was actually for a "companion".

Dave Loggins is in fact from Tennessee. His song "Please Come to Boston" has been covered by Joan Baez, Jimmy Buffett, and many other singers.

Answer: Brook Benton

"Rainy Night in Georgia" was written by Tony Joe White. In early 1970, the song went to No. 1 on the Billboard Bestselling Soul Singles, and to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Many other artists have covered the song after Brook Benton's success.

One especially notable example was a duet of the song, done by Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave) and Conway Twitty. This was recorded in 1993 for the production of the highly respected documentary "Rhythm Country and Blues", on the subject of the connection between those two music genres.

The sad song was made especially poignant by the unexpected death of Conway Twitty, at age 59, just afterwards. (He died from an aneurysm, having collapsed onstage.)

Answer: Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson was the man around whom the legend of selling his soul to the devil, in exchange for great musical ability, grew up. He recorded "Sweet Home Chicago", along with 28 other songs, for John Hammond Sr. and the Library of Congress archives, in 1938. Johnson drew on various sources for the lyrics, and no one person has been credited with the writing of the song.

"Sweet Home Chicago" went on to become the title of a Delmark label blues compilation album in the sixties, and a standard of just about every blues bar band, at least in North America and Europe.

Answer: Bruce Springsteen

"Nebraska" is the only album recorded by Bruce Springsteen with just an acoustic guitar with vocals; he usually has a backing band, normally
the E Street Band.

The song "Nebraska" is very different from most of the songs in this quiz, as the singer is a cruel and callous mass murderer, a man who makes no apologies for his actions. He even tells his captors that when he goes to the electric chair: "You make sure my pretty baby's sitting right here on my lap." Bruce Springsteen shows a side of society we don't usually want to see.

The background material used in writing the album is based on the real life case of the murderer Charles Starkweather, from Lincoln, Nebraska, who went on a statewide rampage in 1958 and killed ten people, supposedly out of boredom.

Answer: That's How I Got to Memphis

"That's How I Got to Memphis" is a song that touches many listeners' emotions even upon first hearing, though the evidence for this is anecdotal rather than statistical (chart position, etc.). Deceptively simple, the lyrics begin: "When you love somebody enough, you'll follow wherever they go, that's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis. When you love somebody enough, you'll go where your heart wants to go, that's how I got to Memphis, that's how I got to Memphis." The singer is asking a friend's help to find his or her loved one.

The definitive version of this song is probably the one by Bobby Bare (he also had other hits, such as "Detroit City" and "The Streets of Baltimore"). It continues to be covered by male and female artists such as Solomon Burke and Kelly Willis. There is also a duet by Johnny Cash and his daughter, singing star Roseanne Cash.

Although Memphis, Tennessee is known to have been named after the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis on the banks of the Nile River, connections between the two locations are quite tenuous.