Here are the answers to my earlier questions.

Today’s first question concerns this date, February 23rd, while the others follow on and share a common theme.

One

Which famous photograph featuring US Marine Ira Hayes shows him and fellow servicemen raising the American flag during a pivotal World War II battle?

Answer: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

The photograph, taken by Joe Rosenthal during the Battle of Iwo Jima atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945, became one of the most reproduced images in history and later inspired the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Among the six men in the iconic Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph was Ira Hamilton Hayes, a US Marine and Gila River Indian Community member who fought in WWII’s Bougainville and Iwo Jima campaigns. Hayes later struggled with PTSD and alcoholism and died in 1955, being commemorated in art, film, and song, The Ballad of Ira Hayes. The lyrics are copied at the end of the post.

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Two

Goodbye, Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name

AZ Lyrics

Goodbye England’s rose
May you ever grow in our hearts
You were the grace that placed itself
Where lives were torn apart
You called out to our country
And you whispered to those in pain
Now you belong to heaven
And the stars spell out your name

AZ Lyrics

This song has two versions, and the first verse of each is shown above. The first was written in 1973, and it was adapted 24 years later; both were written about different people. There are several questions…

1. What’s the song title in each case?
2. Who were the songwriters?
3. Who is the subject of each respective version?

Answers

1. Candle in the Wind and Candle in the Wind 1997
2. Elton John and Bernie Taupin
3. Marilyn Monroe and Diana, princess of Wales

Candle in the Wind is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, originally in honour of Marilyn Monroe. A rewritten version, Candle in the Wind 1997, was performed as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales at her funeral. Adapted from Elton John’s 1973 song, Candle in the Wind 1997 became the best-selling single in UK and US chart history and won a Grammy Award.

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Three

This 20th-century singer-songwriter wrote about the 1959 plane crash referred to as ‘The Day the Music Died’. He also wrote a song about a 19th-century artist whose opening line references a painting often mistaken for the song’s title. There are four questions…

1. Who is the singer-songwriter?
2. What are the titles of the two songs?
3. Who were the three rock and roll musicians who died in the crash?
4. Finally, who was the artist?

Answers

1. Don McLean
2. American Pie and Vincent
3. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper
4. Vincent van Gogh

American Pie by Don McLean, released in 1971, was a number-one hit in the US and several other countries. Known for its length and cryptic lyrics, the song reflects on the musicians deaths, the cultural changes and loss of innocence experienced by McLean’s generation. In 2017, the original recording was selected for preservation in the US National Recording Registry. McLean also wrote Vincent as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh, which topped the UK Singles Chart in 1972 and was ranked No. 94 by Billboard for that year.

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Four

Lori Lieberman co-wrote this song with lyrics about Don McLean after watching him in performance. Arguably the best known version is Roberta Flack’s 1973 cover which became a number-one hit in the US, Australia and Canada, and a top ten hit in the UK. What is the song?

Answer: Killing Me Softly with His Song.

Killing Me Softly with His Song, composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel, was inspired by a Don McLean performance. Roberta Flack’s 1973 version topped charts worldwide, winning Grammy Awards. The Fugees’ 1996 cover also achieved global success, winning a Grammy and topping the Billboard Hot 100.

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Five

Je t’aime… moi non plus was written in 1967 by Serge Gainsbourg. The best known version of it was Gainsbourg’s 1969 duet with Jane Birkin which topped the UK charts. Who, often referred to as ‘B.B.’, had Gainsbourg originally written the song for?

Answer: Brigitte Bardot.

Je t’aime… moi non plus (meaning ‘I love you… me neither’) is a 1967 song written by Serge Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot.  In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded a popular duet version with British actress Jane Birkin. While this version topped the charts in Birkin’s native United Kingdom, becoming the first foreign-language song to achieve this feat and reaching number two in Ireland, it faced censorship in several countries due to its explicit sexual content.  In 1976, Gainsbourg directed Birkin in an erotic film of the same name.

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The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
By Peter La Farge

Ira Hayes, 
Ira Hayes

[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian 
Nor the Marine that went to war

Gather round me people there’s a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian 
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land

Down the ditches for a thousand years 
The water grew Ira’s peoples’ crops
‘Till the white man stole the water rights 
And the sparklin’ water stopped

Now Ira’s folks were hungry 
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered 
And forgot the white man’s greed

[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian 
Nor the Marine that went to war

There they battled up Iwo Jima’s hill, 
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again

And when the fight was over 
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high 
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian 
Nor the Marine that went to war

Ira returned a hero 
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand

But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira’d done 
And when did the Indians dance

[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian 
Nor the Marine that went to war

Then Ira started drinkin’ hard;
Jail was often his home
They’d let him raise the flag and lower it
like you’d throw a dog a bone!

He died drunk one mornin’ 
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch 
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian 
Nor the Marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes 
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin’ thirsty 
In the ditch where Ira died

AZ Lyrics

Today’s first question concerns this date, February 23rd, while the others follow on and share a common theme.

One

Which famous photograph featuring US Marine Ira Hayes shows him and fellow servicemen raising the American flag during a pivotal World War II battle?

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Two

Goodbye, Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name

AZ Lyrics

Goodbye England’s rose
May you ever grow in our hearts
You were the grace that placed itself
Where lives were torn apart
You called out to our country
And you whispered to those in pain
Now you belong to heaven
And the stars spell out your name

AZ Lyrics

This song has two versions, and the first verse of each is shown above. The first was written in 1973, and it was adapted 24 years later; both were written about different people. There are several questions…

1. What’s the song title in each case?
2. Who were the songwriters?
3. Who is the subject of each respective version?

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Three

This 20th-century singer-songwriter wrote about the 1959 plane crash referred to as ‘The Day the Music Died’. He also wrote a song about a 19th-century artist whose opening line references a painting often mistaken for the song’s title. There are four questions…

1. Who is the singer-songwriter?
2. What are the titles of the two songs?
3. Who were the three rock and roll musicians who died in the crash?
4. Finally, who was the artist?

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Four

Lori Lieberman co-wrote this song with lyrics about Don McLean after watching him in performance. Arguably the best known version is Roberta Flack’s 1973 cover which became a number-one hit in the US, Australia and Canada, and a top ten hit in the UK. What is the song?

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Five

Je t’aime… moi non plus was written in 1967 by Serge Gainsbourg. The best known version of it was Gainsbourg’s 1969 duet with Jane Birkin which topped the UK charts. Who, often referred to as ‘B.B.’, had Gainsbourg originally written the song for?

Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

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