Singer-songwriters have come back into fashion of late, though most are indistinguishable and earnest men with scruffy beards whining about getting dumped. This quiz isn’t really about them, though (though one or two might match that description . . .). Instead, here are 30 questions about the names in brackets below the titles – the women and men who write the songs.
Answers: here
1 What’s the title of Anohni’s 2016 album, the first released under the artist’s new identity? Under what name does Ross Birchard, who wrote and produced a number of the tracks on the album, ply his trade?
2 Whose first solo album, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth (2005), was sung entirely in Welsh? What’s the name of his 2014 effort, accompanied by a film of the same name that followed in the footsteps of the Welsh explorer John Evans?
3 Who were the songwriting duo behind the success of Abba? (Full names for the points.)
4 Who wrote the country hits ‘Galveston’ and ‘Wichita Lineman’ for Glen Campbell? Which psychedelic smash had he previously written for the 5th Dimension?
5 Car, Scratch, Melt and Security – what are they?
6 Which discarded Beach Boys project did Brian Wilson revisit on his sixth solo album, released in 2004? Which lyricist, who had been involved in the original project, collaborated with Wilson on it?
7 Who wrote ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’ for the Drifters, ‘Suspicion’ for Elvis Presley and ‘Can’t Get Used to Losing You’ for Andy Williams? Which band had a UK number three hit with the latter song in 1983?
8 Before These Crowded Street, Everyday, Busted Stuff, Stand Up, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King and Away from the World all topped the US albums chart for which band, who have never even made the UK Top 50? What unique record do the six chart-toppers hold?
9 Which songwriter and composer was the subject of Brian Wilson’s 2010 solo album? And which Randy Newman song from Toy Story kicked off Wilson’s next album, a reimagining of classic Disney songs?
10 Who wrote the classic and much-covered ballad ‘Because the Night’?
11 Who was a Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie in 1998? And who joined her to co-headline the Five-and-a-Half Weeks Tour while promoting her own album To Venus and Back?
12 Running on Empty (1977) remains, by some distance, the bestselling album by which American singer-songwriter? Which old soul song by Maurice Williams did he cover for the album’s final track?
13 Who wrote the Julie Covington hit ‘Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina’? Who sang the song in the original stage version of Evita after Covington turned down the role?
14 Jeff Buckley recorded an acclaimed version of the song ‘Hallelujah’. Who wrote it? And whose version of the song featured on the soundtrack to Shrek, despite not being the recording used in the film?
15 What’s the title of the 1993 single and album that gave Billy Joel his last big international hit? Which song about an itinerant lounge singer, also the title track to one of his albums, gave him his commercial breakthrough?
16 Which duo wrote the 1967 classic ‘The Look of Love’, a hit for Dusty Springfield? Who nicked the title for a track on their 1982 album The Lexicon of Love?
17 Named after the Elvis hit they wrote, Hound Dog is the title of the 2009 autobiography by which songwriting pair? And for which band did they write a string of hits in the late fifties and early sixties, including ‘Charlie Brown’, ‘Yakety Yak’ and ‘Poison Ivy’?
18 Which 1998 David Gray album sold slowly at first but ended up shifting three million copies in the UK? A nine-minute version of which Soft Cell song closes the album?
19 Who offered advice for boys on his 1979 single ‘It’s Different for Girls’? What’s the title of his 1982 album that features his other UK Top 10 single, ‘Steppin’ Out’?
20 Which downbeat folk-blues classic by Bonnie Dobson has been covered by Tim Rose, Jeff Beck, Robert Plant and the National? Which Californian psychedelic band adopted the song as a signature tune?
21 Elton John didn’t have a UK number one single on his own until 1990. Paired with ‘Healing Hands’ on a double A-side, which song finally took him to the top? Which lyricist, who has worked with John for much of his career, wrote the words?
22 Which song connects American band Grand Funk Railroad to Kylie Minogue? And who wrote it?
23 Muslim singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam performed under which name before his conversion in 1978? What has been his biggest hit in the UK, reaching number two in 1967?
24 In Between Dreams became the first Jack Johnson album to top the UK charts in 2005. His next two albums accomplished the same feat – what are they called?
25 Which Irish singer and songwriter supplied female vocals to Damien Rice’s album O? What was Rice’s follow-up album, which reached number four?
26 What has been by far the most successful album of Rufus Wainwright’s career to date, reaching number two in the UK and number 23 in the US in 2007? Which father of a friend played guitar on five of the album’s 12 tracks?
27 Who looked at love from ‘Both Sides Now’ in the charts in 1967? Who wrote the song and recorded it two years later on her album Clouds?
28 Before his first album, Every Kingdom, who released EPs called Games in the Dark and These Waters? What’s the name of his UK chart-topping follow-up album, released in 2014?
29 In Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’, which month made the singer shiver? And from whom did the Jester borrow a coat before singing for the King and Queen?
30 What was Elvis Costello’s first UK Top 20 single? And what was ‘she’ doing while they were dragging the lake?