# Music trivia question (heard on a Crap from the Past episode) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803 "2020-06-30T15:43:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/1 "2020-06-30T15:43:43Z")
I listen to the weekly radio program _Crap from the Past_ hosted by Ron “Boogiemonster” Gerber from a community radio station in Minneapolis. On the [June 19 episode](https://archive.org/details/cftp-2020-06-19), he played 25 songs, and at the end of the episode, asked what the 25 songs all had in common. (You can see the playlist at the link, and you can listen to the 2-hour episode as well if you so desire.) Nobody had any idea what the answer was. Therefore, on the [June 26 episode](https://archive.org/details/cftp-2020-06-26), Gerber provided a few hints. The hints helped me come up with a guess. I emailed my guess to Gerber, and he said that I was very close to the right answer. Any guesses? Tomorrow I will provide you with the hints, and we’ll see how many Dopers can come up with the answer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/2 "2020-06-30T18:07:38Z")
Each one involves the singers repeating themselves purely for effect? Like, immediately after saying “another one bites the dust,” he could belt out anything: he could rephrase it, or he could go off in a completely different direction, or whatever; but he instead just says “another one bites the dust” again. As far as I can tell, every song on the list pulls that: you could follow up “the devil inside” with all sorts of interesting stuff, but they instead went with just saying “the devil inside” a second time. “Maybe tonight,” says Neil Diamond, like he’s about to go on; but, no, wait; he’d like to cover that again. “Maybe tonight, by the fire,” he adds. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/3 "2020-06-30T21:08:36Z")
Good guess, but there are lots and lots of songs that make heavy use of repetition like this. There’s something more unusual about the songs in Ron “Boogiemonster” Gerber’s list. In fact, it took him two years to come up with enough examples to fill a two-hour episode. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/4 "2020-07-01T01:40:05Z")
Does it have anything to do with changing from past to present tense? ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/5 "2020-07-01T01:42:16Z")
That’s not it either. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/6 "2020-07-01T13:01:55Z")
Here are the hints that Ron “Boogiemonster” Gerber provided on the June 26 episode: You don’t need any prior knowledge about any of the songs–i.e., they don’t all have the same producer, they weren’t all recorded in the same studio, or anything like that. You can find the answer just by listening to the melodies/notes of each song. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/7 "2020-07-01T14:01:13Z")
They all seem like they would have something related by key signature. But I suck at music theory. Very strange that he’s got multiple “versions” of several songs in there. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/8 "2020-07-01T14:56:28Z")
I’d say you’re lukewarm. I’ll provide another hint later this evening. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/9 "2020-07-01T14:58:08Z")
They all have very strange minor sounding keys to them. They’ve got to have some specific rare chord in them or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/10 "2020-07-01T15:11:29Z")
Unfortunately that’s not it either. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/11 "2020-07-01T15:16:00Z")
Yeah I just did a looksee on the tabs for a few of the songs and while I don’t know what key they’re in, there isn’t a chord that sticks out or a chord that is in each of the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/12 "2020-07-01T17:16:33Z")
Well, I’m officially curious now. “Key signature?” Maybe they all start in the bass clef or something? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/13 "2020-07-01T17:28:33Z")
Do they all slip into waltz time at some point? ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/14 "2020-07-01T17:47:17Z")
The key signature doesn’t change in many (or any) of the songs. The answer also doesn’t have anything to do with the time signature. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/15 "2020-07-01T17:55:10Z")
Wild stab: the narrators in each song are addressing more than one other person. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/16 "2020-07-01T17:58:07Z")
I only listened to a few, but they all jump up a full octave within the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/17 "2020-07-01T18:01:47Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I only listened to a few, but they all jump up a full octave within the songs. That’s it! (At least that was my answer, and Ron “Boogiemonster” Gerber said that I was very close.) ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/18 "2020-07-01T18:13:35Z")
There must be something more to the answer, only because I find it hard to believe it would take someone two years to come with 25 songs where the singer jumps up an octave. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/19 "2020-07-01T18:35:20Z")
More specifically, the octave jumps are the whole verse jumping up an octave, not just a random part of the song. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803/20 "2020-07-01T20:38:06Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > There must be something more to the answer, only because I find it hard to believe it would take someone two years to come with 25 songs where the singer jumps up an octave. And then have to pad the show by playing four versions of the same song. Really? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-trivia-question-heard-on-a-crap-from-the-past-episode/913803.md?page=2)