UPDATE: Last answers added.
Okay, I'm going to cheat on this one just a wee-tiny bit. Normally my rule is that I will use a question from a song I've heard, even if I don't remember the lyrics and have to look them up. This time, I'm going to use at least one I've never heard, just because it's too cool. My apologies all around, but I didn't know until I went a-googlin' just how many songs Johnny sang (and probably wrote) about historical events. Oh yes, I knew some, but there were far more I didn't know about. But in the interest of full disclosure, I will note the ones I had never heard.
Anyway, here goes, starting with the mega-easy ones first:
1) Musta been a hundred of 'em doing what? And what did we stand beside? [Joel: A hundred Brits beatin' on the drum. And please don't feel guilty, even if it's a gimme]
2) Out of the cold and foggy night came what? [Wolfwalker: Came the British ship, the Hood]
3) He had a partner named George Pratt and a brother named Billy. Who was he? Where did he leave from and when? And where did he go? [Wolfwalker: He was Big Sam, and he left Seattle in the year of (18)92 and went North to Alaska]
4) When it's springtime in Alaska, what is it? [Wolfwalker: When it's springtime in Alaska, it's 40 below]
5) [Full disclosure: I knew of this song, but not that Johnny Horton sang it] There was a whine and a rock and the great explosion roared. What laid on the ocean floor? [Spoiler: The "Reuben James"]
6) [Full disclosure: Again, I never knew Johnny sang this one] He's big around the middle and broad across the rump, runnin' ninety miles an hour takin' thirty feet a jump. Who is he? [Spoiler: "Ole Slew Foot"]
7) [Full disclosure: Another classic I never knew that Johnny sang] What's a mighty good road, indeed, it's the road to ride? [Wolfwalker: Rock Island Line]
8) [Full disclosure: I never knew there was even a song written about this guy, but I remember reading about him when I was a mere snip of a youth] In 1855 in old California a man was a looking in the paper one day. Uncle Sam needed a postman to carry the mail through the High Sierra Mountains over God forsaken trails. Who told 'em he knew he was their man? [Joel: Snowshoe Thompson. Seriously, I never knew anyone wrote a song about him, and it's tres cool that Joel got it without knowing that also]
9) [Full disclosure again: I vaguely remember this one from the far distant past, but not by Johnny] You marched into battle with the Grey and the Red, when the cannon smoke cleared it took days to count the dead. Who fought all the way? [Wolfwalker: Johnny Reb]
1) British, beating on the drum. And we stood beside our cotton bales and didn't say a thing. (I feel guilty even taking first shot at that one.)
5) Was it the Bismarck?
6) It's not the Tennessee Stud, is it? It sounds familiar, but I don't recall Johnny singing that. Durn near everyone else did, though.
8) I've never heard the song, but I'll bet a beverage it was Snowshoe Thompson.
Posted by: Joel, President of Catholics for Xenu at July 25, 2007 05:41 PM#1 yes, #8 yes, #5 and #6, no. And I'm a bit surprised you would answer to number 5, considering...
Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at July 25, 2007 05:52 PMOh, and Tennessee Stud - I've never heard anyone except Doc Watson. Who else sang that one?
Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at July 25, 2007 05:55 PM2) The British ship the Hood (from "Sink the Bismarck")
3) Big Sam left Seattle in the year of [eighteen] ninety-two, and he went North to Alaska to dig for gold
4) Forty below
7) The Rock Island Line
9) Johnny Reb.
Posted by: wolfwalker at July 25, 2007 06:19 PMExcellent, wolfwalker!
Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at July 25, 2007 06:35 PMI think I must have lost a day somewhere, because all of a sudden there are blogposts and stuff (not just here) that I don't remember seeing. And I didn't get to guess!
Once upon a time, Lileks wrote a Bleat in which he is shocked to find that Johnny Horton once did a horribly racist song. He deleted his small stock of Johnny Horton songs in indignation.
Well, that's dismaying. BUT! Snopes to the rescue! Turns out it was some other guy. For some reason Snopes's Bleat link doesn't work. It should be here. It turned up in my Google search, too, but there is no mention of Johnny Horton there, that I can see. This guy, whom Snopes links, quotes the relevant (now redacted?) portion of Lileks's post.
So, for those of you who read that Lileks post and were saddened by it, it's all better now.
I wasn't going to burn any CDs over it, though.
Still, it's disappointing that Lileks, having accidentally slandered Horton, didn't at least add a note saying he'd been mistaken.
Posted by: Angie Schultz at July 26, 2007 10:48 AMInteresting, Angie. It doesn't appear at all in the post, yet that post still turns up #1 on google. The reason seems to be noted in the cached file:
"These terms only appear in links pointing to this page: james lileks johnny horton"
It appears that the stuff about Horton was removed (I assume) but it still hits high because of links to it.
Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at July 26, 2007 12:12 PMThese terms only appear in links pointing to this page: james lileks johnny horton
Yeah, I know. I hate it when I get that. How hard can it be to give us the linked page?? Grrr!
Posted by: Angie Schultz at July 26, 2007 03:00 PM