Grow Up Shocked Trivia Quiz

Answer: taking a bath

Bobby Darin and Murray Kaufman were friends who played on the same ball team. Murray was on the phone with his mother, Jean, while soaking his aching feet in Epsom salts. Jean, who was in the music business and had been trying to help Bobby hit the big-time, gave the boys the lyric "splish splash take a bath".

The boys took it from there, writing the lyrics, and Jean wrote the tune. The song was banned on some radio stations because of its reference to nudity.

Answer: the leader of the pack

1964 was a great year for cars and music! "Leader of the Pack" had not only dialogue and drama in its song, but added the Harley Davidson motorcycle engine thrum. This song made me wonder who was on the wrong side of town and why it mattered.

Answer: a prism

Oh, those lyrics! In "Prism Song" the girl's father walks out, her mom freaks and murders him. The next day the girl sees the police come and take her mom away. She hangs on by turning the prism in her hand and watching the colors sparkle. The idea for this song came from her real life where her dad gave her a colorful gem to hold when times got rough. Gale also wrote and recorded "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" that same year, 1964.

Answer: lightning

I was in my neighbor's car, the radio was playing and I heard "Lightnin' Strikes" for the first time. Lou Christie sang, "When she's giving me a sign that she wants to make time..." Stop. "I can't stop myself.... I can't stop that lightnin' striking..."
I was young enough to be shocked hearing this on the radio, and old enough to be rocked.
Now, I have to add that in reality anyone, regardless of gender, has the ability and responsibility to stop unwanted behavior. I'm just tellin' my own story with this song.
Lou Christie, born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco, was given an amazing present on his birthday in 1966; "Lightnin' Strikes" reached Number One in the U.S.

Answer: Choctaw Ridge

Bobby Gentry recorded this in 1967 and left quite a few interviewers stumped after having no answers for why Billy Joe jumped, what the narrator and Billy Joe were talking about on the bridge earlier, and what was thrown off the bridge. Billy Joe was originally spelled Billie Joe but conformed to the public's liking as time went by. Suicide was a pretty new song topic, then add to that the disconnectedness of the family at the dinner table and it left all of us longing for answers, and hope for wholeness.

Answer: the son of a preacher man

Whether Aretha Franklin declined singing this song or one of the writers of "Son of a Preacher Man", Ronnie Wexler, decided it wouldn't fit with the other songs she was putting out isn't entirely clear. Either way, Dusty had a huge hit with it and Aretha put her soul-spin on it in later years. I know I wasn't the only one who took a second, and third, look at the minister's son who just happened to be the right age.

Answer: she was caught with her "backfield in motion"

Mel and Tim, (cousins Melvin McArthur Hardin and Hubert Timothy McPherson) recorded their own song, "Backfield in Motion" which was immediately successful, reaching number three on Billboard magazine's R&B chart and number ten on its pop chart in 1969.

Answer: by the sea

Peter Yarrow was college roommates with Lenny Lipton when Yarrow wrote the song, "Puff the Magic Dragon". He had gotten the idea from a poem Lipton had written on the typewriter in their room. Lipton states he was homesick and had read Ogden Nash's poem, "Tale Of Custard The Dragon" dealing with the loss of childhood when he typed out some lines for a poem. Yarrow later joined Paul and Mary and recorded the song. Peter, Paul, Mary and Lipton continually rejected the notion the song was about marijuana and drug use, and I have to confess I had believed it.

After all, the lyrics use the words puff, rings, paper, painted wings... I am glad that I can now just believe in magical lands with friendly dragons - who have cool painted wings! After the song became such a success, Yarrow gave half the songwriter credit to Lipton who was a camp counselor at the time.

Answer: WAR

"WAR" was released as a single and won a Grammy for Best R&B Male Vocal. "WAR" charted number one in the U.S. and number three in Britain.

Answer: what are we fighting for

The three day festival was held on a three hundred acre farm with nearly half a million in attendance. In North Vietnam the song was regularly broadcast into Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton) to the American P.O.W's in attempts to demoralize them. Later reports said it actually boosted their morale as they sang along.

As for me, back home in the US as a high school senior, my girlfriend and I were freaking because the album came out with the actual F word spelled out. my oh my