This week's quiz takes you on a musical journey through the weird and wonderful. How much do you know about. . .

We may not have a working definition for a 'novelty song', but we know one when we hear it. There's something silly about it, something catchy, and something possibly true – together, they make it memorable. How many of these do you know?

Finish the song lyric or title, or answer the burning question raised by each musical gem.

1. 'Young Molly who lives at the foot of the hill
   
   Whose fame every virgin with envy doth fill
   
   Of beauty is blessed with so ample a share
   
   Men call her the lass with. . . '
2. From 1891: 'A sweet tuxedo girl you see
   
   A queen of swell society
   
   Fond of fun as fond can be
   
   When it's on the strict Q.T.'
   What's the chorus sound like? Oh, and what the blazes is a 'Q.T.'?
3. ' She was engaged,
   
   As a picture for to pose,
   
   To appear each night,
   
   In abbreviated clothes. . .'
   These lyrics appeared to a very famous tune in 1895. You have heard it. You know you have. What lyrics do you usually sing to it?
4. The 1890s were great times for novelty songs. Try this one from 1898:
   
   'Who threw the overalls in. . . ?'
5. The darker the times, the sillier the music. In 1943, everybody was singing:
   
   'Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
   
   A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
   
   What did this mean?
6. In 'Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces', the girl's bf takes her 'fishin' in a submarine'. What colour is his hatband?
7. Why was she 'afraid to come out of the water' in 1960? (Hint: What was she wearing?)
8. 'Does your chewing gum. . .?' (Who sang that, Brits?)
9. Finish this from Right Said Fred: 'I'm too sexy for. . . '
10. All-time great novelty song: What was Chuck Berry playing with in 1972, and why wouldn't some stations play the song?

How many did you know? Click on the picture below for answers. (And stop singing. We mean it.)

Dmitri Gheorgheni

13.08.12 Front Page

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