Covered With Glory Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Clash

Junior Murvin brought his song "Police and Thieves" to legendary producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, who tweaked the lyrics and they recorded it at Perry's Black Ark studio in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1976, in multiple versions. The song, with its hard-hitting lyrics about gun crime and police, was an instant hit: "All the peacemaker, turn war officer".

The Clash heard and appreciated the song when they were in Notting Hill, London, in 1976, when violence broke out at the annual carnival. They covered it for their first album, "The Clash" in 1977 - an example of the fusion of reggae and punk which became a trademark. Murvin and Perry were not impressed, at first, anyway, but Perry worked with The Clash on "Complete Control", which was added to their album for its later US release.

Answer: Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

Klaatu was a Canadian band named after the alien played by Michael Rennie in the 1951 science fiction classic movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still".

The band had half a dozen minor hit singles in Canada, and scraped into the Billboard charts with two songs, "Sub-Rosa Subway" in 1976 and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" in 1975.

"Calling Occupants..." is a song addressed to alien civilizations, asking them to make contact with us: "In your mind you have capacities, you know, To telepath messages through the vast unknown".

1977 was a big year for science fiction movies, with "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" both released, and The Carpenters covered the song that year for their eighth album, "Passage". They added a jokey introduction, with an alien contacting a vacuous DJ on a radio phone-in. It was a hit worldwide and led to a TV special, "The Carpenters...Space Encounters" in 1978.

Answer: Killing Me Softly with His Song

Lori Lieberman was a singer-songwriter who released her debut, self-titled, album in 1972. One of the tracks on the album was "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Lieberman had an unusual songwriting arrangement with Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. They would discuss things she had written - notes or poems - and create a song. Sometimes she was given a writing credit and sometimes not.

Lori Lieberman had seen Don McLean performing his song "Empty Chairs" and wrote a poem based on the experience - "I felt all flushed with fever, Embarrassed by the crowd, I felt he had found my letters, And read each one out loud. I prayed that he would finish, But he just kept right on". This led to "Killing Me Softly with His Song".

Roberta Flack heard the song and recorded it in 1972 - Helen Reddy having turned it down - and it was a huge success, winning a Grammy for Best Song in 1973.

With all the royalties accruing from its success, the writing credits became very lucrative for Fox and Gimbel. They maintained that Lieberman had had no meaningful role in writing the song. Eventually, when the original poem was unearthed, and with McLean's backing, a settlement was reached.

Answer: Step On

"He's Gonna Step on You Again" was co-written by South African singer John Kongos and Christos Demetriou, and recorded by Kongos in 1971. The recording featured a tape loop of African drumming. It hit the top 5 of the UK charts.

The song was covered by three Australian bands - The Party Boys, Chantoozies and Exploding White Mice - before Manchester band Happy Mondays weighed in with their version in 1990. "Step On" was their biggest hit - reaching the top 5 in the UK and entering the US Billboard Hot 100, and was featured in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

Answer: The Man Who Sold the World

The title track from David Bowie's third studio album, "The Man Who Sold the World", has lyrics that are oblique, dream or nightmare-like: "We passed upon the stair, We spoke of was and when. Although I wasn't there. He said I was his friend".

Lulu's cover version, that was recorded in 1973, featured most of the classic Spiders from Mars lineup - Bowie, Mick Ronson and Trevor Bolder were joined by Aynsley Dunbar and Mike Garson. The single was a top 5 hit for Lulu in 1974.

Nirvana recorded the song as part of their 1993 MTV Unplugged concert. Bowie was impressed with the "heartfelt" performance, but complained that whenever he performed the song in concert subsequently, fans told him how cool it was that an old guy was covering a Nirvana song!

Answer: Respect

Otis Redding wrote "Respect" in 1965. It was a demand for respect for a man coming home to his woman: "... I'm about to, just give you all of my money. And all I'm asking, hey, A little respect when I come home."

Aretha Franklin reworked the lyrics for her 1967 cover to be from the woman's point of view, and added features like "R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Find out what it means to me", and her backing singers singing "Sock it to me". The song became a huge hit, a signature song for Franklin, and an anthem for feminism and civil rights. Redding, impressed, said "..this girl she just took this song".

Answer: Rainbow Connection

Willie Nelson wrote some of the greatest songs of the twentieth century, including "Hello Walls", which was a hit for Faron Young; "Crazy", which was a smash for Patsy Cline; and "Half a Man", which he recorded and was covered by George Jones and Merle Haggard. His 49th studio album, recorded in 2000, was named after and featured his cover of the song "Rainbow Connection", that was written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher, and originally sung by Jim Henson in character as Kermit the Frog at the start of "The Muppet Movie" (1979).

"Rainbow Connection" was nominated for an Academy Award as best song at the 52nd Academy Awards, and was surely unlucky to lose to "It Goes Like It Goes" from "Norma Rae" - co-written by Norman Gimbel (of "Killing Me Softly..." fame) and David Shire.

Answer: Billy Joel

Dylan wrote "Make You Feel My Love" for his 30th studio album, "Time Out of Mind". A simple, slow ballad, with heart-felt lyrics: "I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue, And I'd go crawling down the avenue. No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do, To make you feel my love."

Bill Joel recorded the song as one of two previously unreleased numbers for his third volume of "Greatest Hits". It was the first single released from the album, and reached the top 50 of the Billboard charts.

Having recorded the album in January 1997, Dylan released it in September, a month after Joel's album was issued.

"Make You Feel My Love" became very popular with other singers - covers were produced by artists such as Adele, Kelly Clarkson and Garth Brooks. Dylan released it as a single in 2010.

Answer: Judy Garland

Rufus Wainwright's album "Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall" (2007) was a live album from Wainwright's performances at Carnegie Hall in 2006. These concerts were a "cover" of the entire concert of April 23, 1961 that Judy Garland performed at the venue, immortalized in the album "Judy at Carnegie Hall".

The original concert was a triumphant return to performing by Judy Garland after illness, which was one of the most legendary performances of the 20th century. The songs performed included "The Trolley Song", "The Man that Got Away", "Swanee" and "Over the Rainbow". Garland's recording gave her the Grammy for album of the year, making her the first woman to win the award. Wainwright's cover version won him a Grammy nomination.

Answer: Got My Mind Set on You

"Got My Mind Set on You" was released in 1987 and reached number one in several countries. It was the last US number one by Harrison. The song was written by Rudy Clark and recorded by James Ray in 1962, with a slightly different title: "I've Got My Mind Set on You".

Harrison's other US number ones were "My Sweet Lord" in 1970 - not a cover, but subject to litigation because of plagiarizing "He's So Fine"; and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" (1973).