That was the theme song used by comedian/actor/Los
Angeles real estate mogul Bob Hope. Here
in Canada, we’ve already celebrated our Thanksgiving. The U.S. will celebrate it this month. That got me to thinking (a very dangerous
thing indeed) that there are dozens of songs with ‘thanks’ or ‘thank you’ in
the lyrics or in the title. So that’s
our quiz for this week. Example songs
include “Thank God I Found You” by Mariah Carey in 2000, Andrew Gold’s 1978 hit
“Thank You For Being A Friend” (which was later re-recorded by a female singer
and used as the theme song for the hit TV series “Golden Girls”) and 1978’s
“Thank God It’s Friday” by Love & Kisses.
The list of ‘thank you’ songs goes on and on, so your job (should you
choose to accept it) is to guess the name of the song (and sometimes the artist
as well). All of these songs were Top 10
hits, so your brain shouldn’t get too much of a workout (that is, if you know
your music).
QUESTIONS:
1. Their last names were Moore and Prater, but
they were known professionally by their first names. These ‘soul men’ (HINT ALERT) never had a # 1
hit, but they came close in 1967. The
‘thank you’ song we’re looking for made it to # 9 on the singles chart in
1968. Most of their hits were written and
produced by the Stax Records team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter. What in the ‘Sam’ Hill (HINT ALERT # 2) is the name of this song?
2. This singer first came to fame as a member of
the Chad Mitchell Trio in the 1960’s.
Later, after he went solo, he wrote and recorded such hits as “Rocky
Mountain High” and “Annie’s Song”. He’s
an Emmy award winner for his television special “An Evening With...” and acted
in several movies, including “Oh, God”, directed by Gary Marshall and co-starring
George Burns. He had four # 1 hits
during his lifetime and was a tireless environmentalist. He also loved to fly, which was most likely
inherited from his father, a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. You’ve probably figured out who we’re talking
about, but can you guess the name of his ‘thank you’ hit?
3. “Thanks for the times that you’ve given me. The memories are all in my mind.” are the opening
lyrics of a hit song from one of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s most successful groups. One member of that group went on to even
greater solo success, although several years after this singer/songwriter left,
the group had a Top 5 hit with “Nightshift”.
The song in question was one of two # 1 hits this group had. This should be relatively ‘easy’ (HINT ALERT)
for you to figure out. Can you name the
group and the song? Well, can you?
4. San Francisco was home base for this
group. From 1968 until 1975, they
charted 20 songs that included three # 1 hits.
Their leader had a reputation of being late for gigs, but boy could they
sing and ‘dance to the music’ (HINT ALERT).
They performed at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. This group really was a ‘family affair’ (HINT
ALERT # 2) with two brothers, one sister and a cousin plus several non related
members of the group. They were inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Their ‘thank you’ song was # 1 for two weeks in February of 1970 and was
replaced by Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. What’s the name of the group and their ‘thank
you’ song?
5. Our final question is about a
singer/songwriter/actress born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1974. She once played God in the movie “Dogma”. Her career first took off in Canada where she
was labelled a teen ‘disco’ performer, but prior to that, at the age of 12, she
starred in the Canadian TV series “You Can’t Do That On Television” (which
later aired on Nickelodeon in the U.S.) In
the ‘90’s, she moved to Los Angeles, and started writing songs from her heart
about things that happened to her in her life, both good and bad. Her debut U.S. album, “Jagged Little Pill”
went on to sell over 30 million copies. The
‘thank you’ song we’re looking for came from her 2nd U.S. album. C’mon, ‘you oughta know’ this. (BIG TIME HINT
ALERT)
ANSWERS
1. That would be Sam (Moore) & Dave (Prater)
with “I Thank You”, a top ten hit in 1968.
Their ‘almost’ # 1 was “Soul Man” in 1967. It made it to # 2 on the singles chart. They recorded for Stax Records in
Memphis. Sam & Dave were not
friends. In fact, they didn’t even speak
to each other off stage for nearly 13 years.
After their short lived success, they split up and went their separate
ways in 1970. In April 1988, Dave Prater
was killed in a car crash in Sycamore, Georgia.
Sam & Dave were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. They’re also members of the Grammy Hall of
Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
2. It was “Thank God I’m A Country Boy”, a # 1
hit for the late John Denver in 1975. He
was born in Roswell, New Mexico three years before an alien spacecraft
supposedly crashed there. His real name
was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. John
took his stage name of Denver from the capital city of his favourite state, Colorado. His father, an Air Force Lt. Colonel, set
three speed records in B-28 Hustler and is in the U.S. Air Force Hall of
Fame. In March of 2007, the Colorado
Senate adopted a resolution making Denver’s 1972 hit, “Rocky Mountain High” one
of the state’s two official songs. The
other official Colorado state song is “Where The Columbines Grow”.
3. The Commodores first burst onto the singles
chart in 1974 with their # 22 hit, “Machine Gun”. They first made the Top Ten in 1976 with
“Sweet Love” and “Just To Be Close To You”.
In 1978, they finally hit # 1 with the song we were looking for, “Three
Times A Lady” written and sung by Lionel Ritchie. The Commodores hit # 1 again in 1979 with
“Still”, also written and sung by Richie, who left the group in 1982. His solo hits include five # 1’s – “Endless
Love” (a duet with Diana Ross), “Truly”, “All Night Long (All Night)”, “Hello”
and “Say You, Say Me”.
4. Sly & The Family Stone took their hit,
“Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” to the # 1 spot on the Billboard Hot
100 for the weeks of February 14th and 21st in 1970. They replaced “Venus” by the Shocking Blue. Their other # 1 hits were 1969’s “Everyday
People” and 1971’s “Family Affair”.
5. Alanis Morissette was a disco queen and a
teen TV star in Canada long before she ventured down to Los Angles and wrote,
recorded and released her 30+ million selling debut album, “Jagged Little Pill”
for Madonna’s Maverick label. In 1998, a
song from her second Maverick album, “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie”
called “Thank U” made it to # 2 on the singles chart. The song was inspired by a trip Alanis had
made to India. She was engaged to
Canadian born actor Ryan Reynolds for a few years, but that ended in 2007. Alanis became an American citizen in 2005,
but retained her Canadian citizenship as well.
In 2010, she married rapper MC Souleye aka Mario Treadway. Their first child was born on Christmas Day
2010.
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