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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What controversial topics are addressed in Randy Newman's song "Sail Away"?
(a) Money and race.
(b) Art and realism.
(c) Power and politics.
(d) Slavery and the American dream.

2. Who wrote "Hound Dog"?
(a) Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
(b) Carl Perkins.
(c) Elvis Presley.
(d) Robert Johnson.

3. To which historical figure does Marcus compare Elvis?
(a) Stevie Wonder.
(b) Richard Nixon.
(c) Abraham Lincoln.
(d) Ralph Waldo Emerson.

4. In "Elvis," what song does Marcus use to illustrate the work Elvis puts into his music?
(a) "Good Rockin."
(b) "Hound Dog."
(c) "Boy Who Stole the Blues."
(d) "Milkcow Blues Boogie."

5. What song by Randy Newman was a satire on bigotry?
(a) "God's Song."
(b) "Short People."
(c) "Davy the Fat Boy."
(d) "Suzanne."

6. When referencing the South, who said "it's the only place in the country I've ever been where you can actually drive down the highway at night, and if you listen, you hear music"?
(a) Randy Newman.
(b) Robbie Robertson.
(c) Elvis Presley.
(d) Greil Marcus.

7. According to Marcus in "Sly Stone," what is the spirit behind Riot?
(a) White self-criticism.
(b) Black self-criticism.
(c) American pride.
(d) African pride.

8. Who wrote "Little Wing"?
(a) Sly Stone.
(b) Jimmy Hendrix.
(c) Neil Young.
(d) Bob Dylan.

9. According to Marcus in "Elvis," what was the public unsure about when Elvis' music first came out?
(a) If he was country or rock 'n' roll.
(b) What the music was about.
(c) If he was black or white.
(d) How to listen to him.

10. Where does the line "They're animals anyway . . . let them lose their souls" come from?
(a) Cleopatra Jones.
(b) The Godfather.
(c) Trouble Man.
(d) Hit Man.

11. What is the mood in the Riot album?
(a) Anger.
(b) Hope.
(c) Oppression.
(d) Joy.

12. How many people came to see Elvis open a shopping center after he produced only one record?
(a) 100.
(b) 10,000.
(c) 3,000.
(d) 30.

13. What Randy Newman song does Marcus claim suggests that the we are being laughed at and life is a joke?
(a) "Burn On."
(b) "Suzanne."
(c) "Short People."
(d) "God's Song."

14. What two lines from an Elvis song does Marcus claim are the most perfect lines in blues?
(a) "That's All Right" and "My Baby Left Me" (155).
(b) "If you don't believe I'm leavin' / You can count the days I'm gone" (152).
(c) "I tried and I failed / And I feel like going home" (154).
(d) "I'm gonna quit my crying / I'm gonna leave you alone" (152).

15. What motto of Hank Williams' made him similar to Robert Johnson according to Marcus?
(a) Life goes on.
(b) What life doesn't give me, I'll take.
(c) Nothing really matters.
(d) The end is near.

Short Answer Questions

1. Staggerlee and Sly Stone are both powerful, but what is different about them?

2. According to Marcus in "Randy Newman," what is the number one democratic desire?

3. What does Marcus point out as valuable in the Beach Boys music?

4. In what voice does Newman sing his songs?

5. Curtis Mayfield's songs in Superfly were meant to be what according to Marcus?

(see the answer keys)

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