The Singer Not The Song (part 5) Quiz

Answer: Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway

"He's tried to make me go to rehab
I won't go, go, go
I'd rather be at home with Ray
I ain't got seventy days
'Cause there's nothing, there's nothing you can teach me
That I can't learn from Mr. Hathaway"

I gave you a wee bit of help in that Don Cornelius, although a bigwig in the music industry, was not a singer. Rather, he was was the television show host and producer who created the dance and music show "Soul Train."

Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway were two of Amy's musical inspirations in soul music. The song won Song Of The Year, Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record Of The Year at the 2008 Grammy awards. Winehouse also won for Best New Artist, and the song's producer Mick Ronson won for producer of the year.

Answer: Frank Zappa

"We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground."

The story told in "Smoke on the Water" describes a fire that broke out in the Casino at Montreux, Switzerland on December 4, 1971. Deep Purple was supposed to record their "Machine Head" album there following a Frank Zappa concert. But during Zappa's concert, someone fired a flare gun at the ceiling, setting the place on fire. The Deep Purple band members watched the fire from a restaurant nearby, and observed afterward that a layer of smoke covered Lake Geneva, next to the casino. Bass player Roger Glover was inspired by the image and came up with the song title "Smoke On The Water," and then lead singer Ian Gillan wrote the lyrics.

Answer: Frank Sinatra

"A Salvation Army Band played
And Children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day
All day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day
Pushing the town away
Ah
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town."

Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel wrote the song, inspired by Laird-Clowes time working on a music TV program produced in Newcastle, a city in the north east of England. This very moody and evocative record reached Number Seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1986.

Answer: Frank Sinatra, Jane Russell

"Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Dietrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine
Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean
Picture of a beauty queen
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air
They had style, they had grace
Rita Hayworth gave good face
Lauren, Katherine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you."

The song reached Number One on the charts in over 30 countries around the world. Hey, here's a fun trivia question regarding this song: Who was the last surviving celebrity mentioned in the song "Vogue"? Lauren Bacall.

Answer: Doris Day

"You get the gray skies outta my way,
You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day.
Turn a mere spark into a flame,
My beats per minute never been the same."

This song was the first number one hit by the British duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, who together were Wham!. Michael and Ridgeley formed their duo act in 1981. This song, "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" was from their second album, "Make It Big" in 1984.

Answer: Elvis Presley, Al Green

"Walking in Memphis" invokes Elvis with:
"Saw the ghost of Elvis
On Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
Then I watched him walk right through"

and also Al Green with:
"They've got catfish on the table
They've got gospel in the air
And Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
But, boy, you've got a prayer in Memphis."

This song describes Marc Cohn's trip to Memphis to visit Elvis Presley's mansion in Graceland, a popular tourist destination. While there, Cohn also made a special side trip to catch an Al Green sermon. And when Cohn rode out of Memphis on Highway 61 he saw a sign that said "Hollywood," which was the Hollywood Cafe, diner and music club in Tunica County, Mississippi. This is where Cohn smelled the catfish he mentions in the lyrics.

Answer: Frank Sinatra

"Poor ol'Jimmy
Sits alone in the moonlight
Saw his woman kiss another man
So he takes a ladder
Steals the stars from the sky
Puts on Sinatra and starts to cry."

This song "On and On" climbed to number 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart was on the chart for 28 weeks. "On and On" was Bishop's biggest hit-- he did have four other Top 100 hits, "Save It For A Rainy Day" (#22 in 1977), "Everybody Needs Love" (#32 in 1978), "Animal House" (#73 in 1979), and "It Might Be You" (#25 in 1983) which was the theme song to the movie
"Tootsie".

Answer: Freddie King

The song opens with the story of the events that happened while they were on their Phoenix tour:
"Out on the road for forty days
Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze
Sweet, sweet Connie, doin' her act
She had the whole show and that's a natural fact
Up all night with Freddie King
I got to tell you, poker's his thing."

Freddie King was a blues guitarist/singer and he was their opening act. The song is one of those in which the drummer takes on the lead vocal part. Don Brewer in this case. The great Todd Rundgren produced this song along with the entire 1973 album it was on, also titled "We're an American Band."

Answer: Mick Jagger

"Alright, dig it
Cold coolin at a bar, and I'm lookin for some action
But like Mike Jagger said, I can't get no satisfaction."

Tone Loc's real name is Anthony Terrell Smith. Is there such a thing as the aphrodisiac drink, a Funky Cold Medina? No, just as the "Love Potion #9" that the Clovers sang about in 1959 was fictitious, so is Medina. Along with using Mick Jagger's name in the lyrics, this song also borrows "Honky Tonk Women" and "Satisfaction" from the Rolling Stones, sampling the former in the very opening and the latter right after Tone-Loc says "satisfaction."

Answer: Brian Wilson, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Little Richard

Other musicians and bands mentioned in the song were BB Bumble and the Stingers, Mott the Hoople, Lonnie Mack, Duane Eddy ("twangin' Eddy"), Locomotion, Poco, Passion, Deeper Purple, Sam Cooke ("Sammy's cookin'"), Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Barry, The Archies, The Righteous Brothers, Harry Nilsson, Fats Domino ("Fats is back"), Brenda & the Tabulations, Mungo Jerry, Peter Paul and Mary, Dr. John, Bonnie Bramlett, Smokey Robinson, John Denver, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Dale Hawkins, Ronnie Hawkins, Steely Dan, J.J.Cale, ZZ Top, Edgar Winter, Joanie Sommers, Johnny Thunders, Stephen Foster, etc.

The song even mentions record producers like Richard Perry, Phil Spector, and some others and DJs Alan Freed and Murray the K. I'm probably even missing some others. Even some songs and record labels get a nod in the lyrics.

But the song never mentions Brian Wilson, not even a nickname of his, but it does mention his songs: "Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Surfer Girl and Little Honda". Tina Turner is not mentioned, nor is Mick Jagger and Little Richard.

And that folks wraps up my quiz series "The Singer Not The Song."