Ever since the dawn of popular music, songwriters have asked questions in their songs. From the patriotic ditties of two world wars, through the Great American Songbook and right into the early fifties and ‘(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?’
Listed below are fine examples of the form, mainly from the rock era – Twenty Questions so to speak:
IS IT IN MY HEAD? The Who 1973: Brilliant ‘Quadrophenia‘ cut that goes to the heart (and head) of the confusion felt by main character ‘Jimmy’. Pete Townshend at his most articulate, The Who at their most rampant.
WHAT GOOD AM I? Bob Dylan 1989: This memo to self for more (personal) compassion from ‘Oh Mercy‘ resonates far beyond its four minutes on record. Key line: ‘If I turn my back when you start to cry.’
WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE The Kinks 1965: London is just starting to swing in a way not seen since the ‘Roaring Twenties’, but that doesn’t cut much ice up in Muswell Hill – this a paean perhaps, for a time when people saluted the Union Jack rather than wore a jacket made from one. Proof yet again nobody did irony like The Kinks.
HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY Van Morrison 1989: The fact it is so poetic and so uplifting has allowed ‘Have I Told You‘ to survive several terrible covers – but on the original Van is grand, never bland.
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH (Stop Hey What’s That Sound?) Buffalo Springfield 1966: The apex of folk-rock from a band who gave it much of its elan. Chiming guitars, great harmonies, lyrics so sharp they could cut concrete. The song that annouced Stephen Stills was an emerging force.
WILL YOU LOVE ME TOMORROW Carole King 1972: Written by King and (then) husband Gerry Goffin and originally a 1960 hit for The Shirelles, for her mounmental ‘Tapestry’ album Carole slows things down to bring out all the sexual nuances. Note: the 1992 Joe Walsh cover is horrible and best avoided.
2+2=? Bob Seger 1969: Breath-taking anti-Vietnam track that cuts up rough to sound like a fusion of Creedence and the Stones. Written when he was still a great talent in the wilderness.
HOW DO YOU SLEEP? John Lennon 1971: Acerbic, pointed – John just as we love him. Shame in this instance his ire is directed at old mucker Paul – the nadir of their post-Beatle relationship.
WHAT’S MY NAME The Clash 1977: Raw and unrelenting, a keynote song from the barrage of brilliance that is their debut album – the late, much-missed Joe Strummer demands answers on behalf of Generation X.
WHAT’S GOING ON Marvin Gaye 1971: In the guise of a returning Vietnam-vet, marvellous Marvin asks searching questions of the motherland, but finds antipathy not answers. The observations are incisive, the music entrancing – leaving us with the decision: to dance or not to dance?
WHEN WILL I BE LOVED Linda Ronstadt 1974: In some quarters, professionalism, with regard to rock music, is considered a dirty word. But when you take a good song, give it to accomplished musicians and have the best female singer on the planet deliver a wonderful vocal then something special, like this, can occur.
HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR MOTHER, BABY, STANDING IN THE SHADOW Rolling Stones 1966: There is a tendency to think that by 1966 The Beatles and The Byrds had all bases covered when it comes to sonic innovation. But come on – look how good the Stones were at creating alchemy in the studio. Blaring horns, thumping keyboards, sterling rhythm work – and they could still make it sound edgy.
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET The Beatles 1963: Two minutes of sheer joy from The Beatles debut album. Written by John and Paul and according to John ‘given George to sing as it only had three notes and he wasn’t the best singer in the world.’ That as maybe, it’s hard to imagine anything better being recorded anywhere in the world on February 11 1963.
WHAT’S HAPPENING ?!?! The Byrds 1966: To begin with this sounds like another classic Byrds song of the era, but after twenty seconds David Crosby starts asking questions in the way he has continued to do ever since: (‘I don’t know exactly who you are‘). His confusion is illuminated by snatched-at guitar breaks from Jim McGuinn, whose 12-string Rickenbacker sounds like a curious mix of The Shadows and Ravi Shankar. What is this? Raga-rock? Psychedelic-rock? All that can be definitely said is The Byrds, as so often happened, had put a marker down.
WHICH SIDE Jackson Browne 2014: At the tail-end of a long career spent railing against injustice, poverty and corruption comes a scathing attack on the politicians and corporations whose self-interest is manifest. (‘Take the money out of politics and maybe we might see/This country turn back into something more like democracy‘). The music is ominous but effective as Jackson nails his colours to the humanist mast – and suggests we do the same.
HAVE YOU SEEN MY BABY Ringo Starr 1973: Okay, as a vocalist he’s no Dean Martin, but you could never fault Ringo for exuberance – which is what he provides in spades when carrying home this Randy Newman nugget. From the second he whistles up the musicians (including Marc Bolan who plays some impressive guitar), this is sure-fire fun.
WHO DO YOU LOVE? Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks 1963: Predating even ‘You Really Got Me‘ for raw power, this incendiary performance is reprised by Hawkins at ‘The Last Waltz‘ – by which time of course The Hawks are bowing out on a wondrous career spent mostly as The Band. Back in ’63 nobody could sing or play like this and expect to have a mainstream hit – The Hawks so good an ensemble Dylan enticed them away soon after.
WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969: With its allusions to Vietnam, Woodstock and The White House, composer and Creedence frontman John Fogerty turns the rain into a metaphor for the travails pouring down on late 60s America. Tough-rocking rather than hippy hopeful, in Fogerty CCR had the most politically charged American songwriter of the era – his knack of producing three minute masterpieces such as this making them the greatest Stateside singles band.
WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKEN HEARTED Jimmy Ruffin 1966: Rarely has a singer managed to sound so adandoned as Jimmy Ruffin in this sombre Motown musing on lost love. But with JFK dead three years and the Vietnam War raging, with lines such as ‘As I walk this land of broken dreams,’ and ‘Happiness is just an illusion‘ is it more than a lovelorn lament?
HOW ABOUT YOU? Frank Sinatra 1956: Chosen (just) ahead of The Traveling Wilburys, Ace, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Dusty Springfield, no apologies are made for including this masterclass in singing and arrangement from ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers.’ On an album where he virtually invents the method for phrasing a pop song, Sinatra glides through the verses – each time delivering the title with sassy eloquence.
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available as an Amazon Kindle book.
Should I Stay or Should I go Now? The Clash
Hi Brenda – hope you are well;
The ultimate question song (by the ultimate rock band!).
Decided to go for ‘What’s My Name’ to avoid an obvious Clash pick – hope you approve of my alternative!
Best wishes
Neil
You could get a massive list going and some fine old songs like Which Way You Going Billy, Who is he and What is he to you, Do You Believe in Magic, Who Do You Love, Do You Know the Way to San Jose and How Do You Do It, but I guess that would mean there are more questions than answers
Hi Barry – hope you are well (after last night I’m presuming you are!!);
With regard to my list (which I’m not sure whether you have seen), I included ‘Who Do You Love’ and was on the verge of putting ‘Do You Know The Way (to San Jose)’ in, but at the last minute went for ‘What Becomes of the Broken Hearted’ instead. In keeping it to only one song per artist, there were Who, Beatles, Dylan, Byrds and Clash songs I omitted, trying not to be too obvious with songs like ‘Who Are You’ (although interestingly that does not have a question mark after it). Now there’s a list – twenty songs that ask a question but don’t have a question mark!!!
Enjoyed your Tottenham musings from last night – good stuff, keep them coming.
Best wishes
Neil
Yeah I missed that you’d already put that on your list and I can’t blame it on the booze, but it’s fun to look at the possibilities.
Immediately you think there are lots then you realise it’s harder than you think.
I was thinking Do You Love me by Brian Poole and then I remembered it was a cover of the Contours, then I thought When Will I be Loved by Linda could also be listed under the Everly’s if you wanted to cheat
Interestingly I was having some discussion the other day about Ray Davies and his ability to weave songs from people and events and places. There’s a few songwriters that can manage it, I think Van Morrison, Pete Townsend, Ronnie Lane have all managed to capture a sense of nostalgia and characters that there are few others that can manage it.
Talking more UK here of course, the likes of Woody Guthrie and by extension Dylan did it in the states and Gordon Lightfoot in Canada and maybe that other great Canadian singer songwriter Leonard Cohen captured reflections of people that went beyond a simple love song
I’m wondering when they pass on who could possibly replace them
Weird I replied to this but it seems to have disappeared into the ether, I can’t remember exactly what I said but I do recall rambling on about Ray Davies and a few other singer songwriters in the UK like Pete Townsend and Van Morrison and the late Ronnie Lane and how they captured so many little images of people and places and things in their songs that you don’t get in so many songs
There’s songs of love and peace and war etc but few can conjour up the images evoked like say Waterloo Sunset or Madame George or Annie or that deaf dumb and blind kid or the donkey on the Isle of Man, I could go on, but if this gets lost too I’ll never remember half of what I’ve written, enough just to ask who is there that could possibly fill these guys boots when they finally join in that big jam session in the sky?
Hello Barry – hope you are well;
So many of your references are warming my heart – and what images through Townshend, Davies, Van the Man and the much missed Ronnie Lane you conjure. The ‘Townshend/Lane’ collaboration ‘Rough Mix’ is a wonderful album, which I intend to play forthwith and from there I think a Ronnie Lane solo/Faces trawl is in order. ‘How Come’ in fact was one of the first singles I can remember buying !!
Thanks for the nudge !!
Best wishes
Neil