“I read the news today, oh boy.” That, of course, is a line from Lennon and McCartney’s “A Day in the Life” that applies today. The world and the bag of worries that accompanies it can be a tough place. Some days it all seems to be overwhelming. That is why we have music to distract us. So, instead of me prattling on (I’ll prattle next time) about yada, yada, yada, let’s play a simple match game involving lyrics and songs we all know.
Here is how it works. I will give you the name of an artist or a phrase or both and you match it with the place. I’ll give you the first one: I’ll write, “Tony Bennett left his heart there.” You will look over the list of responses and say, “Oh, yeah. San Francisco (S).” Then you will transfer the letter in the parentheses to the appropriate answer line. It is so simple it is embarrassing. This is a test. As a teacher I have great hopes for your success; however, the past informs me that many may fail. Here we go – that is if anyone is still with me. The answer is a phrase that addresses the question in the title.
Here’s the phrases:
1. Tony Bennett left his heart there.
2. John Denver gets high just looking at them.
3. The Monkees are on the last train to there.
4. Where Big Bad Leroy Brown is from.
5. James Taylor is going there in his mind.
6. The Beach Boys suggest you go here to get away from it all.
7. God didn’t make little green apples and it don’t rain here in the summertime.
8. Ray Charles always has this place on his mind.
9. Where Harry Belafonte had to leave a little girl.
10. Arlo Guthrie sings of riding this train.
11. Where the Eagles see a girl in a flat-bed Ford.
12. Dionne Warwick asks if you can find your way there.
13. Bobby Darin says Mac-the-Knife can be found here.
14. Frank is spreading the news about this town.
15. Nancy Sinatra tells her man to go ahead and go there.
16. The pinball wizard has played every machine from here to there.
17. Johnny Rivers asks the long-distance operator to get him this city on the line.
18. Simon and Garfunkel inform Mrs. Robinson of what awaits her if she just prays.
19. Janis Joplin says she let Bobby McGee slip away near here.
20. They’ve got some crazy little women there.
21. Where Carly Simon’s vain boyfriend flew his Lear Jet to see the eclipse.
22. By the time Glen Campbell gets there, she will be sleeping.
23. Where the broken-hearted go according to Jimmy Ruffin.
24. The prison where Johnny Cash had the blues and sang the blues.
25. The Beatles say: If not too dear, a 64-year-old would do well to vacation here.
26. Journey sings about a boy from here who met a small-town girl.
27. Where the Mamas and the Poppas did a lot of dreaming.
28. Where loneliness would not leave Otis Redding alone.
Here are the answers, in random order, with the required letter:
Kansas City (I)
Chicago (M)
Heaven (I)
Folsom (S)
California (S)
Memphis, TN (L)
Indianapolis (T)
San Francisco (S)
Isle of Wight (E)
South Detroit (A)
Salinas (V)
Kingston Town (M)
New York (T)
Clarksville (M)
Phoenix (G)
Winslow, AZ (A)
Rocky Mountains (U)
Back in Town (D)
Nova Scotia (N)
Land of Broken Dreams (I)
Georgia (I)
City of New Orleans (E)
Dock of the Bay (Y)
Soho to Brighton (E)
San Jose (N)
Jackson (H)
Kokomo (R)
Carolina (E)
You’ll have to use a sheet of paper and write the numerals 1 through 28 on it. As noted before, 1 is S. Continue in order through 28 to figure it out.
You have solved the puzzle! Congratulations! Or, more likely you have sworn off ever reading my articles again.
Here’s The Thing: My head is filled with minutia. Sometimes it just spills out. This was one of those times. Now you know for sure that I am no Will Shorts (puzzle master for the NY Times – and IU graduate), rather, I am just another troubled man.
I will buy a cup of coffee for the first 5 who send the correct answer to my email below. Wait! Let’s make it 6 since I know I only have a half-dozen readers. The coffee emporium will be winners’ choice.
In anticipation of some readers’ concerns, I would ask you to consider that I am 72 years old, I listen to oldies stations, and that in my mind it is 1969. I am just a kid at heart. Now, can someone help me out of this chair?
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Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of articles written by a group of retired and current teachers — LaNae Abnet, Ken Ballinger, Billy Kreigh, Kathy Schwartz, Anna Spalding. Their intent is to spur discussions at the dinner table and elsewhere. You may also voice your thoughts and reactions via The News-Banner’s letters to editor.
