Listening Test 1

Question 1

Name 5 facts about this song.

Answer 1

• Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow Tree
• by The Carter Family
• Recorded in 1927 by Ralph Peer
• in Bristol Tennessee
• Carter family was from Clinch Mountain, VA
• Appalachian mountain traditional folk/country music
• One of countries first huge stars

Question 2

Name 5 facts about this song.

Answer 2

• Blue Yodel #9
• by Jimmie Rodgers
• with Louis Armstrong on trumpet
• recorded by Ralph Peer during the “Bristol” sessions in Tenesee in 1930
• His claim to fame is his yodeling ability, had a lot of blues structure/influence
• One of the first famous country music stars

Question 3

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 3

• Avalon Blues
• by Mississippi John Hurt
• 1928 - Delta Blues genre
• Redisovered by Allan Lomax in Missisppi which kicked off the folk revival
  *

Question 4

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 4

• Rock Me -Sister Rosetta Tharpe
• 1938, was her first hit song (that was originally a gospel song she morphed into secular)
• Godmother of rock & roll
• Signed to Decca Records
• Originally a gospel singer from Mississippi
• She is credited with bringing gospel music into the main stream & made her famous for it/the first gospel super star.
• Her guitar playing style is said to have influenced Elvis & Chuck Berry’s guitar playing
• Played/had a contact with the Lucky Millinder Band (a popular swing band) and toured the country with them

Question 5

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 5

Up Above My Head

Sister Rosetta Tharpe & Marie Knight

Recorded in 1948

She found Marie Knight (gospel singer, piano & percussion from Newark, NJ) convinced her to join her act after hearing her at a Harlem Concert.

Back then, 2 women on the road together was risky but they did very well. Rumored to be lovers.

Question 6

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 6

• Your Cheatin Heart
• Hank Williams
• recorded in 1953 after his wife kicked him out
• Popularized western swing slide guitar style
• First person in the country to put such sorrowful/emotional tones in his song.

Question 7

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 7

• How Far Am I From Canaan
• Soul Stirrers
• 1952
• The gospel tour group that Sam Cooke originally sang with & gained recognition, he just up and left them one day and never told them in 1957.
• Credited with popularizing gospel music.
• Based in chicago, but very popular in Atlanta/gospel audiences.

Question 8

Name 5 five facts about this song

Answer 8

• “You Send Me” by Sam Cooke
• 1957
• Sam’s first hit single
• It was not very popular at first, sold less then his 4 albums w/ the soul stirrers.
• Became popular after a DJ played the record & exposed him to st. louis, & a DJ from LA played him on a white radio station.
• Cooke had successfully built a bridge and crossed over to a mainstream white audience while bringing his church crowd fans with him.
• It was so very controversial for a black man to be played on white stations and have white adolescent fans, he was one of the first to do this.

Question 9

Name 5 five facts about this song

Answer 9

• I Got a Woman by Ray Charles
• 1954
• Ray Charles’ first big hit.
• Gospel crossover song, originally a gospel song that Ray reworked & changed some lyrics.
• Originally tried to imitate Nat King Cole by smoking 2 packs of newports a day, until he moved to Seattle & met Quincy Jones who taught Ray charles how to be “himself”

Question 10

Name 5 five facts about this song

Answer 10

• That’s All Right
• Elvis
• 1954
• Sam Phillips recorded it with Sun Records
• Colonel Parker was his manager
• originally written by Arthur Crudup & recorded in 1946

Question 11

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 11

• Blue Moon Of Kentucky by Elvis
• 1954
• Used the song as a B side
• Originally written in 1946 by Bill Monroe recorded at columbia records in 1947
• Bill Monroe is credited with inventing bluegrass genre
• Elvis uses slap reverb in the recording, creating the rock & roll sound.
  *

Question 12

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 12

• It’s All Over Now
• Rolling Stones
• 1964

Question 13

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 13

• Norwegian Wood (Bird Has Flown)
• The Beatles
• 1965
• Rubber Soul
• George Harrison uses a sitar / which is the first time a sitar is used in a western pop song, spawning raga rock.

Question 14

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 14

• (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
• The Rolling Stones
• 1965
• recorded at Chess Records in chicago
• First group to use Gibson’s new distortion pedal/which made it sell out

Question 15

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 15

• The Supremes
• Where Did Our Love Go
• 1964
• *First hit by the Supremes - mostly because of Dick Clarke’s tour.
• *Berry Gordy specifically wanted pop music to not be racially divided into two categories (R&B, Pop) which the supremes ultimately changed forever. Motown

Question 16

Name 5 Facts about this song

Answer 16

• Death Letter
• Son House
• Delta Blues
• slide guitar
• Also redisocered during the 1960’s blues/folk revival

Question 17

Name 5 facts about this song

Answer 17

• The Supremes
• Come see about me
• 1964
• *Berry Gordy specifically wanted pop music to not be racially divided into two categories (R&B, Pop) which the supremes ultimately changed forever.
• Motown era

Question 18

name 5 facts about this song

Answer 18

• Money (That’s what I want)
• The Beatles
• 1963
• Money was originally written by Barry Gordy Jr. and Janie Brandford at Motown in 1960
• Another example of black blues influencing Pop music.

Question 19

name 5 facts about this song

Answer 19

• “Talkin’ New York” by Bob Dylan
• 1963
• One of two oiriginal songs on his first album, self titled.
• All the other songs were blues/country on his first record, influenced by Woody Guthrie
• Pre-electric Bob Dylan
• About his first visit to new york, which was to visit woody guthrie (his idol) who was sick in the hospital & about his troubles as a hillbilly in the city

Question 20

name 5 facts about this song

Answer 20

• What’d I say
• Ray Charles
• 1959
• Arguably his best song.
• One of the first 6 minute songs to be released on a 45, first 3 minutes on side a and last 3 minutes on side b.
• Typically only the first 3 minutes played on radio.
• Closed his shows with this song, usually improvised it to be 12 minutes.
• Ray Charles grew up listening to country music on the radio, he wasn’t limited to just black culture. Grew up in a baptist church, another example of gospel crossover into pop music.

Question 21

name 5 facts about this song

Answer 21

• “maggie’s farm” by Bob Dylan
• 1965, Album - “Bringing it all back home”
• 1965- Dylan & The Beatles meet, influencing each other.
• **Dylan goes electric, & debuts his electric equipment at Newport Folk Festival & plays Maggie’s farm for them, which was a slap in the face to the folk purists because they loved him, gets booed off stage.
• (Festival was only a week after his album w this song was released)

Question 22

name 5 facts about this song

Answer 22

• Beatles.
• Within You Without You (1967)
• Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - one of the first rock & roll concept albums ever, which influenced the Rolling Stones to create their own concept album.
• Written by George Harrison, with traditional Indian musicians.