Quiz: Beatles Songs - 8 Questions to Test Your Knowledge

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The discussion revolves around a quiz focused on Beatles trivia, with participants answering questions about song inspirations and lyrics. Key points include the identification of "I am the Walrus" as sung by John Lennon, with the lyric "the walrus was Paul" referencing Paul McCartney, highlighting the playful nature of John's lyrics amidst the "Paul is dead" rumors. Other notable answers include "She Said, She Said" as inspired by Peter Fonda's comment during an acid trip, and "Got to Get You Into My Life" as an ode to marijuana. The conversation also touches on the origins of "Yesterday," where Paul McCartney derived the melody from a dream, and the song "Dear Prudence," which was inspired by Mia Farrow's sister. Participants debate the songwriting contributions of Lennon and McCartney, with some expressing differing views on their musical abilities and the dynamics within the band. Overall, the thread showcases a blend of trivia, personal insights, and discussions on the Beatles' legacy.
  • #31
Tuneman said:
edit: zep>beatles

Barry Manilow > Zep

:smile: :smile: :smile:
 
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  • #32
Hint: 2 of the remaining answers are off Revolver and one is from the White Album.
 
  • #33
Tuneman said:
laughing at your own jokes is cool dude, way 2 go

Hey, I happen to like Barry Manilow, although I like Led Zep II.
 
  • #34
Tuneman said:
just so when my other post gets removed by the nazi mods, I wanted to say how ovverated lennon was, and how sick I am of hearing how great of a musician he is cause his lyrics were so great.

Who said that? John was a great musician because his lyrics, music, and presence were so great. Led Zeppelin was also great, though in a completely different way. As you grow older and more experienced with music, you'll learn to better distinguish between personal taste and artistic/musical quality.
 
  • #35
George Jones said:
8. Name Paul's ode (as opposed to pde) to pot.

Got to get you into my life...hoo hoo hoo! <John in falsetto> dee dee dee dee</>
 
  • #36
George Jones said:
2. Which John song was inspired by an easy high rider?

She saaaaaaaaid, I know what it's like to be dead. Didn't she Mr. Fonda?
 
  • #37
George Jones said:
3. Inspiration for the title of a song that Paul wrote as a piano exercise for himself?

Not sure about this one, but I'd say Martha My Dear. I've heard claims that it was inspired by his dog, Martha, and also his muse. I'd go with the latter.
 
  • #38
SpaceTiger said:
Not sure about this one, but I'd say Martha My Dear. I've heard claims that it was inspired by his dog, Martha, and also his muse. I'd go with the latter.

Right on. Maybe dog and muse.

Paul: "When I taught myself piano I liked to see how far I could go, and this started life almost as a piece you'd learn as a piano lesson. It's quite hard for me to play, it's a two-handed thing, like a little set piece. In fact I remember one or two people being surprised that I'd played it because it's slightly above my level of competence really, but I wrote it as that, something a bit more complex for me to play. Then while I was blocking out words - you just mouth out sounds and some things come -I found the words 'Martha my dear'.

So I made up another fantasy song. I remember George Harrison once said to me, 'I could never write songs like that. You just make 'em up, they don't mean anything to you.' I think on a deep level they do mean something to me but on a surface level they are often fantasy like Desmond and Molly or Martha my dear. I mean, I'm not really speaking to Martha, it's a communication of some sort of affection but in a slightly abstract way - 'You silly girl, look what you've done,' all that sort of stuff. These songs grow. Whereas it would appear to anybody else to be a song to a girl called Martha, it's actually a dog, and our relationship was platonic, believe me."
 
  • #39
Yeah, Paul had a gift for the inane -- that probably bolstered his popular appeal. It really is a beautiful piano bit, though. The idea of it being about his muse really appeals to me and I like to listen to it that way. The whole dog theme just sounds really lame, so maybe it was partially in retrospect that it took on that meaning.
 
  • #40
Jeff Reid said:
I remember there was some song where Ringo states at the end of the song, "I'm very bored", which was misunderstood to be "I buried Paul".

Actually, it was John at the end of Strawberry Fields saying "cranberry sauce". You can hear it more clearly on one of the anthology versions.
The other supposed clue was Paul being the only one barefoot on the cover of Abbey Road, which would have required Paul knowing he was going to die relatively soon after that picture was taken.

In the Paul Is Dead myth, the supposed car crash occurred in 1966, three years before the making of Abbey Road, so it would have been Paul's lookalike that was barefoot.
 
  • #41
SpaceTiger said:
Got to get you into my life...hoo hoo hoo! <John in falsetto> dee dee dee dee</>

She saaaaaaaaid, I know what it's like to be dead. Didn't she Mr. Fonda?

Sorry - didn't see your other two answers. Right and Right.

Peter Fonda (who starred in the movie Easy Rider), while on an acid trip, said "I know what it's like to be dead." which inspired John's song She Said, She Said.

Paul's song Got to Get You Into My Life is an ode to pot.

EDIT (SpaceTiger): Just to be on the safe side of copyright laws, we should avoid posting complete lyrics to songs. I actually got into trouble for this once myself.
 
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  • #42
Gokul43201 said:
I remember a little bit about scrambled eggs. I think Paul "heard" the music during an acid (or somesuch) trip...and he came out of it, and played it exactly how he remembered.

I'm pretty sure MIH is right on this one, Paul made a big thing of it on the anthology. He heard the song in a dream and then spent the next year or so playing it to people so that he could make sure it wasn't plagiarized. It's for this reason that, when I'm writing, I never outright dismiss a song that sounds familiar. It could mean that it has been done, but it could also mean that it's so good as to resonate quickly in the mind.
 
  • #43
Results


1. According to the Walrus, Who was the Walrus? Back up your answer.

According to John (in the song Glass Onion), the Walrus was Paul. (Jeff Reid)


2. Which John song was inspired by an easy high rider?

She Said, She Said. (Space Tiger)


3. Inspiration for the title of a song that Paul wrote as a piano exercise for himself?

His english sheepdog Martha. (Space Tiger)

4. Where did Paul find the music for "Scrambled Eggs"?

Paul found the melody for Yesterday in a dream. (Math Is Hard)


5. Rosemary's sister was the subject of Which John song?

Dear Prudence. (Evo)


6. John's lead role in the band slid to new highs on which George song?

For You, Blue. (Jeff/Evo/Gokul43201).


7. Which John song is based, roughly, on Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata played backwards?

Because (Gokul43201)


8. Name Paul's ode (as opposed to pde) to pot.

Got to Get You Into My Life. (Space Tiger)
 
  • #44
That was a great quiz! I learned a lot!
 
  • #45
Gokul43201 said:
Harrison playing slide to a John song (which happened a lot in their later years).

Post Beatles, George became an amazing and much in demand slide player. George played some great slide on John's Imagine album, including on How Do You Sleep.

George's mate Eric often commented on George's abilities on slide.
 
  • #46
wait, post beatles he became amazing? you obviously don't know much about him then, he was an amazing guitarist, and the best musician out of all of them. Undoubtably with the guitar, lennon and mccartney aren't great guitarists by any stretch of the imagination. Harrison was a virutoso. Lennon really was much less of a musician than people give him credit for.
 
  • #47
Wishbone said:
wait, post beatles he became amazing?

I think he was referring to George's slide guitar playing.


you obviously don't know much about him then, he was an amazing guitarist, and the best musician out of all of them.

I would say with a good bit of confidence that Paul was the best "musician" out of the bunch. He was a competent (to put it mildly) bassist, drummer, guitarist, and pianist during his time with the Beatles. However, I think both John and George were better "artists".

George's guitar parts were good for the purpose that they served, but I think even he would admit that his technical abilities were nothing compared to, for example, his friend, Eric Clapton.


Lennon really was much less of a musician than people give him credit for

I'm not sure what people usually give him credit for, but I would agree that John's instrumental abilities were the least developed of the four. However, his vocal performances were by far the best and his songwriting skills were certainly on par with Paul's.
 
  • #48
SpaceTiger said:
However, his vocal performances were by far the best and his songwriting skills were certainly on par with Paul's.
I love John's vocals. There was a terrible fight between Paul and John, because Paul wrote almost all the lyrics and music for their early songs, and John contributed very little, but John insisted in getting equal credit. It was a huge thing back in the late 60's.
 
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  • #49
Great quiz George.

And I bow to thee, Tigris Astronomis.
 
  • #50
I had the album Let it Be, and I ejoyed Revolution from the album Hey Jude.

The Beatles were OK, but at that time, I was more into Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Yardbirds, Traffic, Pink Floyd, EL&P, Deep Purple, The Who, Yes, Spirit, Doors, QSM, Santana, Greatful Dead, Wishbone Ash, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Robin Trower, and many others.
 
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  • #51
Evo said:
I love John's vocals. There was a terrible fight between Paul and John, because Paul wrote almost all the lyrics and music for their early songs, and John contributed very little, but John insisted in getting equal credit. It was a huge thing back in the late 60's.

To the best of my knowledge, they both contributed approximately equally to the writing load throughout the run of the Beatles. In fact, John dominated the early years and his overall count is a bit higher (check out the book, Beatlesongs). On A Hard Day's Night (the album), for example, he was the dominant writer on all but three of the songs. As a general rule of thumb, the writer of the song would do the lead vocals. There are a few exceptions to this, but not very many, so it's a quick and easy way to determine the writer.

There was a recent dispute over the credit for a few of the songs that were solely McCartney numbers, such as "Yesterday". McCartney was upset because Yoko was getting a crapload of money for a song that neither she nor any of the Beatles had anything to do with. However, the dispute occurred long after Lennon was already dead and McCartney eventually decided to give up.

The decision for joint authorship was made in the early 60s because they were very frequently collaborating back then. The order was chosen to be alphabetical. At the time, it may even have been to McCartney's advantage to share authorship on all of their songs. As for the informal credits to the songs, there were only a few small disputes, most notably "In My Life" and "Eleanor Rigby". In the former, Paul claims to have written the entire melody, while John claims it was only the middle 8. The words are indisputably John's, but I don't think historians agree on who wrote most of the melody. In "Eleanor Rigby", John claimed to have helped with the lyrics, while Paul and a few others say he contributed nothing. I think it's generally accepted that Paul was right on that one.
 
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  • #52
SpaceTiger said:
To the best of my knowledge, they both contributed approximately equally to the writing load throughout the run of the Beatles. In fact, John dominated the early years and his overall count is a bit higher (check out the book, Beatlesongs). On A Hard Day's Night (the album), for example, he was the dominant writer on all but three of the songs. As a general rule of thumb, the writer of the song would do the lead vocals. There are a few exceptions to this, but not very many, so it's a quick and easy way to determine the writer.

There was a recent dispute over the credit for a few of the songs that were solely McCartney numbers, such as "Yesterday". McCartney was upset because Yoko was getting a crapload of money for a song that neither she nor any of the Beatles had anything to do with. However, the dispute occurred long after Lennon was already dead and McCartney eventually decided to give up.

The decision for split authorship was made in the early 60s because they were very frequently collaborating back then. The order was chosen to be alphabetical. At the time, it may even have been to McCartney's advantage to share authorship on all of their songs. As for the informal credits to the songs, there were only a few small disputes, most notably "In My Life" and "Eleanor Rigby". In the former, Paul claims to have written the entire melody, while John claims it was only the middle 8. The words are indisputably John's, but I don't think historians agree on who wrote most of the melody. In "Eleanor Rigby", John claimed to have helped with the lyrics, while Paul and a few others say he contributed nothing. I think it's generally accepted that Paul was right on that one.
Yeah, I just remember a huge animosity between Paul and John.

George, the least "public" of the Beatles really had talent. I love his songs in the movie "Time Bandits".

His son is the spitting image of him.
 
  • #53
Evo said:
Yeah, I just remember a huge animosity between Paul and John.

There was a lot of animosity right after the Beatles broke up, not so much because of writing credits, but mainly because of legal issues and petty bickering concerning the group's split. In the later years of the Beatles, Paul had grown increasingly bossy (as the others grew increasingly distant), so he managed piss all three of them off at various points. You can even see him arguing with George in "Let It Be" (the movie).

During the 90s there was a lot of friction between Paul and Yoko, mainly because of the issues you mentioned. Paul may not have been so bold had John still been alive.
George, the least "public" of the Beatles really had talent. I love his songs in the movie "Time Bandits".

Yeah, George was very cool. My ex insists that I look just like him (when he was young), though I really don't see it.
 
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  • #54
Astronuc said:
Iron Butterfly.
So someone else HAS heard of them!:eek:


they're okay
 
  • #55
yomamma said:
So someone else HAS heard of them!:eek:

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
 
  • #56
name another song of theirs..


NOBODY CAN!
 
  • #57
yomamma said:
name another song of theirs..NOBODY CAN!

You're right - off the top of my head I can't. I have heard other songs by Iron Butterfly, though. I was never really into them, but I had a couple of friends who listened to their albums over and over.
 
  • #58
Gokul43201 said:
Zooby's Quetion : I haven't got a clue (there were all kinds of different pieces snuck in there), but I'm going for the most likely wrong "duh" guess: Symphony No. 9
Sooooooo close! What piece is most like the Symphony #9 without being the Symphony #9?
 
  • #59
yomamma said:
So someone else HAS heard of them!:eek:
Ron Bushy's drum solo inspired a lot of percussionists/drummers.

Other songs from Side 1 of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,

Most Anything You Want, Flowers and Beads, My Mirage, Termination, Are You Happy. I like the last three, as well as the title track.

I collected all of their albums. Heavy, Ball, and Metamorphasis never approached the level of the IAGDV.

In addition to playing bass guitar, I did take piano lessons and had started getting into the electric organ, so I appreciate Doug Ingle's keyboard playing.
 
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  • #60
Astronuc said:
I had the album Let it Be, and I ejoyed Revolution from the album Hey Jude.

That's a shame, those were both kinda lame albums, IMO. The former was an overproduced, disorganized mess and the latter was simply a compilation album used as an excuse to put "Hey Jude" onto a long-player.

I would say the most musically important Beatles albums (in chronological order) were:

Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper
White Album
Abbey Road

Each one is a different experience and each one broadened my musical horizons. I don't listen to a lot of music pre-90s, but the Beatles (along with Zeppelin and Floyd, of course) laid much of the groundwork for modern rock and pop. I think anyone interested in rock music should listen to them.