The Lyrics Quiz: Labour (Answers)
Answers for Quiz 3 of Term 4, 2024
Kia ora koutou ē hoa mā
Welcome to Friday afternoon and the answers!
Two songs were correctly identified by everyone who sent in an answer this week: “At The End of The Day” from Les Miserables, and Britney’s “Work B*tch”. “Roll On” from The Living End caused the most confusion.
1970s: “Working Class Hero”, John Lennon
1980s (musical): “At The End of The Day”, Les Miserables
1980s (rock): “Working Class Man”, Jimmy Barnes
2000s (AU): “Roll On”, The Living End
2000s (US): “21st Century Breakdown”, Green Day
2010s: “Work B*tch”, Britney Spears
Your leaderboard this week:
🥇 on 12/12: I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Quiz Team Name, Megan and The Chamberlains, Team LSP, Sam J, WDPTBTI, Flying Lizards, Team Impoverished, All the worlds a song, and Lore in Order
🥈 on 11/12: Kirsty MacD, and Siobhan M
🥉 on 10/12: The Bogan Crūe, and BSA Team
Have a great but unfortunately not long weekend, and brace yourselves for The Hardest Quiz next week!
Kirsti.
1970s: “Working Class Hero”, John Lennon
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function, you're so full of fear
Hint: A song written for the people that this now-deceased Liverpudlian singer feels “are working class, who are supposed to be processed into the middle classes, or into the machinery”. The fact that he was worth about £70,000 in 1970 when his band broke up for a range of factors including death, heroin, domineering behaviour, and girlfriends doesn’t appear to have made him realise he was hardly working OR middle class at this point. Song title not in lyrics quoted.
1980s (musical): “At The End of The Day”, Les Miserables
At the end of the day it's another day over
With enough in your pocket to last for a week
Pay the landlord, pay the shop
Keep on grafting as long as you're able
Keep on grafting 'til you drop (Keep on grafting)
Or it's back to the crumbs on the table ('Til you drop)
Well, you've got to pay your way
At the end of the day!
Hint: In this song, a man who stole a loaf of bread is revealed to now be a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, while his workers sing about how poor and angry they are and how things are heading for a reckoning. Song title in lyrics quoted.
1980s (rock): “Working Class Man”, Jimmy Barnes
Well, he's a steel town disciple
He's a legend of his kind
He's running like a cyclone
Across the wild midwestern sky
Hint: Fun fact! This song was written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, but it was made famous by an Australian singer who was the lead singer of a band who’s name sounds like “gold fizzle”, who dueted with Tina Turner on “The Best” and who performed this song at the closing of the Sydney Olympics. In 2014 he re-released his 1990 song “Lay Down Your Guns” with the band from the next song, and it’s an absolute bop. Song title not in lyrics quoted.
2000s (AU): “Roll On”, The Living End
We'll roll on with our heads held high
Our conscience in the gutter
Our dreams up in the sky
The shipyards are deserted on the docks of Melbourne town
The wharfies standing strong
They gathered round to see what the union had to say
There's too much work and not enough pay
Hint: This song was based on the Australian waterfront dispute of 1998 was an event in Australian industrial relations history, in which the Patrick Corporation undertook a restructuring of their operations for the purpose of dismissing their workforce - a restructuring that was later ruled illegal by Australian courts. You may know this punk three piece from such songs as “Second Solution”, “Save the Day” (which I tend to get stuck in my head whenever another team at work asks for my help with data), “West End Riot”, or “Prisoner of Society”, or the fact their bassist plays a double bass rather than a bass guitar which I just think is as cool as heck. Song title in lyrics quoted.
2000s (US): “21st Century Breakdown”, Green Day
Born into Nixon, I was raised in Hell
A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
The last one born and the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sun
My generation is zero
I never made it as a working-class hero
21st century breakdown
I once was lost, but never was found
I think I'm losin' what's left of my mind
To the 20th century deadline
Hint: Having one punk rock opera that expresses the disillusionment and dissent of a generation that came of age in a period shaped by tumultuous events such as 9/11 and the Iraq War wasn’t enough for this punk trio, so they made a second. Both are ABSOLUTE BANGER albums with only a few skips (namely “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, both of which have suffered from a lot of overplay imho), and this song lends it’s title to the whole second album. Song title in lyrics quoted.
2010s: “Work B*tch”, Britney Spears
You want a hot body? You want a Bugatti?
You want a Maserati? You better work, b*tch
You want a Lamborghini? Sip martinis?
Look hot in a bikini? You better work, b*tch
You wanna live fancy? Live in a big mansion?
Party in France? You better work, b*tch
You better work, b*tch
You better work, b*tch
You better work, b*tch
Now get to work, b*tch
Hint: This song from the Princess of Pop is an EDM song containing mostly spoken lyrics in which she puts on a slightly strange accent; the accompanying video is one of the most expensive music videos of all time. Don’t Hold It Against Her. Song title in lyrics quoted.