35. Joan Baez [Back]
36. The Everly Brothers [Back]
37. 5th Dimension [Back]
38. Tennessee Ernie Ford [Back]
39. Neil Diamond [Back]
40. Don McLean [Back]
41. The Mamas and the Papas [Back]
42. Dean Martin [Back]
43. Harry Belafonte [Back]
44. Jack Jones [Back]
Singers, Crooners, and So Forth // Answers
1. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 [Back]
2. Elvis Presley, with more than 450 registered clubs [Back]
3. Peggy Lee, who died in 2002 [Back]
4. Dean Martin [Back]
5. Ethel Waters [Back]
6. Dolly Parton; the park is Dollywood. [Back]
7. Mahalia Jackson [Back]
8. Frank Zappa [Back]
9. Jimmy Swaggart [Back]
10. Ethel Merman [Back]
11. The Righteous Brothers [Back]
12. Johnny Cash [Back]
13. The Osmonds [Back]
14. Guitar (Tom) and stand-up bass (Dick); both were singers as well. [Back]
15. Elvis Presley [Back]
16. Kate Smith [Back]
17. Perry Como [Back]
18. The Jacksons (or, in their original form, the Jackson 5) [Back]
19. Judy Garland, who was born Frances Gumm [Back]
20. The Andrews Sisters [Back]
21. Tex Ritter, father of John Ritter [Back]
22. Kenny Rogers [Back]
23. Amy Grant [Back]
24. The Lennon Sisters [Back]
25. Bert Parks (“There she is, Miss America . . .”) [Back]
26. Buddy Holly [Back]
27. Roy Rogers [Back]
28. Howard Keel [Back]
29. The Air Force Band [Back]
30. Barry Manilow, who wrote (among other jingles) “I Am Stuck on Band-Aid” [Back]
31. Elvis Presley; Sun also helped launch Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. [Back]
32. Al Jolson; the movie is credited with being the first talkie. [Back]
33. Chicago [Back]
34. Merle Haggard [Back]
35. Charlie Daniels [Back]
36. Ray Charles [Back]
37. Willie Nelson [Back]
38. Aerosmith; Tyler’s nickname is “Demon of Screamin’.” [Back]
39. Bing Crosby [Back]
Creating the American Song // Answers
1. “The Star-Spangled Banner,” written during the bombing of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in 1814 [Back]
2. Connecticut [Back]
3. Oklahoma; the song “Oklahoma!” is from (what else?) the play Oklahoma! [Back]
4. “Always” [Back]
5. “America the Beautiful” [Back]
6. Stephen Foster, more famous for “Camptown Races,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” and “My Old Kentucky Home” [Back]
7. Maryland’s; the song is “Maryland, My Maryland,” sung to the same tune as “O Christmas Tree.” [Back]
8. “Aloha Oe” [Back]
9. “Happy Birthday to You” [Back]
10. Billie Joe, in the “Ode to Billie Joe” [Back]
11. It was the first gold (million-selling) single. [Back]
12. “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” written in 1831; curiously, Smith didn’t realize the tune he selected was the tune used for the British national anthem, “God Save the King.” [Back]
13. “White Christmas” [Back]
14. “Swanee River” [Back]
15. John F. Kennedy [Back]
16. Carl Sandburg [Back]
17. “I Don’t Want to Walk without You, Baby” [Back]
18. “Moon River” [Back]
19. Benny Goodman [Back]
20. “The Star-Spangled Banner” [Back]
21. Burl Ives [Back]
22. Merle Haggard [Back]
23. “Home on the Range” [Back]
24. Tennessee, with “The Tennessee Waltz” [Back]
25. Grover Cleveland, who bore the stigma of having fathered an illegitimate child [Back]
26. Virginia’s; the song is “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.” [Back]
27. Roy Rogers [Back]
28. Dwight Eisenhower [Back]
29. Stephen Foster, who wrote “Swanee River” (Florida) and “My Old Kentucky Home” (Kentucky, of course) [Back]
30. “Yankee Doodle” [Back]
31. George and Ira Gershwin [Back]
32. Indiana’s [Back]
33. Kansas [Back]
34. “The Star-Spangled Banner” [Back]
Composers and Songwriters and Such // Answers
1. John Philip Sousa, who wrote “Stars and Stripes Forever” and other band classics [Back]
2. John Williams [Back]
3. George M. Cohan, the subject of the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy [Back]
4. West Side Story [Back]
5. Stephen Foster, a Pennsylvanian who spent almost no time in the South [Back]
6. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein [Back]
7. Gian Carlo Menotti, famous especially for his Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors [Back]
8. Antonin Dvorak, famous for his New World Symphony [Back]
9. Scott Joplin, who wrote “The Entertainer,” “Maple Leaf Rag,” and many other popular songs [Back]
10. J. S. Bach; the Bach Festival each May is a major event. [Back]
11. Fanny Crosby, famous for “Blessed Assurance” and many other songs [Back]
12. The Mississippi; it’s the Mississippi Suite. [Back]
13. An Academy Award—that is, the Oscar—which he won for a song he’d written for a movie [Back]
14. Billy the Kid [Back]
15. Stephen Foster; the Swanee River, made famous by Foster’s song, is not far away. [Back]
Holidays, Holy Days, and Other Special Days // Answers
1. Labor Day [Back]
2. Christmas; presumably the day after Christmas is a good day to whine. [Back]
3. Columbus Day; Columbus was an Italian working for Spain, and his voyages led to the settlement of Latin America. [Back]
4. Robert E. Lee’s [Back]
5. Mother’s Day [Back]
6. Valentine’s Day [Back]
7. Memorial Day; it was Decoration Day because graves were tended and decorated with flowers. [Back]
8. Abraham Lincoln’s [Back]
9. It meant the wearer’s mother was still living. A white carnation meant she had died. [Back]
10. Independence Day [Back]
11. Technically, none. The U.S. can declare certain days to be holidays for federal employees, but the states themselves have to designate holidays. [Back]
12. George Washington (Feb. 22) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) [Back]
13. Good Friday [Back]
14. Groundhog Day; Punxsutawney Phil is the unofficial rodent weather forecaster of the U.S. [Back]
15. Boston, Massachusetts [Back]
16. Father’s Day [Back]
17. Thanksgiving [Back]
18. Veterans Day [Back]
19. Arbor Day, dedicated to trees and their preservation [Back]
20. Columbus Day; the 1792 fest was the tricentennial celebration of Columbus’s 1492 voyage. [Back]
21. Flag Day (June 14) [Back]
22. George Washington’s birthday (February 22) [Back]
Four-Wheeled Friend: The Automobile // Answers
1. Henry Ford [Back]
2. Smart Fortwo [Back]
3. Pontiac; the make was discontinued in 2010. [Back]
4. He shortened it to eight hours. [Back]
5. Taxicabs [Back]
6. Cranking, of course; the starter was introduced in 1914. [Back]
7. The Mustang [Back]
8. Nissan [Back]
9. The Pep Boys [Back]
10. The Phillips screw; in 1937 Cadillac became the first maker to use Phillips screws and drivers on assembly lin
es. [Back]
11. Buick; it got its start in 1899. [Back]
12. The Chevette [Back]
13. Toyota [Back]
14. Early names for the automatic transmission [Back]
15. Isuzu; it was its first model in the United States. [Back]
16. Lee Iacocca of Chrysler [Back]
17. The Camry [Back]
18. Cadillac [Back]
19. Rubber; this made durable, all-weather tires a possibility—a major breakthrough for automobiles. [Back]
20. Pike’s Peak, near Denver [Back]
21. Hummer [Back]
22. Hyundais [Back]
23. The Indianapolis 500 [Back]
24. Spark plugs (Remember Champion spark plugs?) [Back]
25. Lansing, Michigan [Back]
Join the Club // Answers
1. The Friars Club [Back]
2. American Kennel Club [Back]
3. The Optimists [Back]
4. The Moose Lodges—Loyal Order of the Moose [Back]
5. The YMCA, which was (as people often forget) the Young Men’s Christian Association [Back]
6. National FFA Organization (formerly Future Farmers of America) [Back]
7. The DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution [Back]
8. The National Rifle Association, which opposes gun control [Back]
9. Stamps; philately is the fancy name for stamp collecting. [Back]
10. Shriners, of course [Back]
11. The Christian Coalition [Back]
12. The Rotary Club [Back]
13. The John Birch Society [Back]
14. The American Numismatic Association [Back]
15. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes [Back]
16. The Elks [Back]
17. The Masons [Back]
18. The Sons of Confederate Veterans [Back]
19. The American Legion [Back]
20. The Moral Majority, later renamed Liberty Federation [Back]
21. Alcoholics Anonymous (noted for not using its members’ last names) [Back]
22. Public speaking, particularly among high school students [Back]
23. The Civil War; the GAR was composed of Union veterans, not Confederates. [Back]
24. Descent from a signer of the Mayflower Compact of 1620 [Back]
25. Promise Keepers [Back]
26. The Eagle Forum [Back]
Christmas, American Style // Answers
1. The poinsettia, named for Joel Poinsett; the flower is native to Mexico, and Poinsett liked it so much he brought some back with him. [Back]
2. “The Night before Christmas,” originally titled “A Visit from St. Nicholas” [Back]
3. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, of course [Back]
4. “White Christmas,” by Irving Berlin—widely considered the most popular pop song of all time [Back]
5. The Nutcracker, with music by Tchaikovsky [Back]
6. The Salvation Army [Back]
7. Mary and Joseph’s search for an inn (see Luke 2:7); posada is Spanish for “inn.” [Back]
8. A Charlie Brown Christmas [Back]
9. A type of Nativity scene; “putz” was the name used by the early Moravian Christian settlers. [Back]
10. Michigan [Back]
11. Williamsburg [Back]
12. The Opryland Hotel [Back]
13. Salt Lake City, Utah [Back]
14. George Frideric Handel’s Messiah [Back]
15. George Washington, of course; his famous crossing took place on Christmas Day, 1776. [Back]
16. Aluminum [Back]
17. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’s great contribution to the world’s celebration of Christmas [Back]
18. Portland, Oregon [Back]
19. Its Moravian settlers had sung a Christmas hymn praising the town of Jesus’ birth; they liked the name, so they used it. [Back]
20. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” [Back]
21. Christmas, naturally [Back]
I Love a Parade // Answers
1. St. Patrick’s Day [Back]
2. Walt Disney World [Back]
3. Chinatown [Back]
4. Thanksgiving Day [Back]
5. The Tournament of Roses parade [Back]
6. Tampa, Florida [Back]
7. Chickens; the Chicken Show each July includes omelet cook-offs, egg games, a chicken art show, and a chicken parade. [Back]
8. Helena, Montana [Back]
9. The Mummers Parade [Back]
10. Billy Graham [Back]
11. The Mardi Gras parade [Back]
The Big Book of American Trivia Page 22