50 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Music

Who recorded 'Alice's Restaurant Massacree', the talking blues played every Thanksgiving?

It was the title track of his 1967 debut album and took up the whole A-side.

How long does the original recording of "Alice's Restaurant" run?

Guthrie never expected it to be released, since singles of the era ran under three minutes.

In which Massachusetts town did the Thanksgiving littering arrest in "Alice's Restaurant" take place?

Guthrie and a friend dumped garbage from a deconsecrated church because the local tip was closed for the day.

What was the nickname of the police chief who arrested Guthrie in "Alice's Restaurant"?

His officers gathered "twenty-seven 8-by-10 color glossy photographs" of the trash as evidence.

Why, according to Guthrie, did "Alice's Restaurant" become a Thanksgiving radio tradition?

Classic rock and adult album alternative stations still air it each November, and the FCC has never punished a station for playing it.

In which year was "Alice's Restaurant" added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry?

The 1969 film version starring Guthrie took numerous liberties with the story.

What war was "Alice's Restaurant" protesting?

The second half of the song is set at the Army Building on Whitehall Street, where Guthrie reported for a draft physical.

Guthrie sent a demo of "Alice's Restaurant" to which relative on his deathbed in 1967?

A family joke holds that it was the last thing Woody Guthrie heard before he died in October 1967.

Who wrote the 1844 poem that became the song "Over the River and Through the Wood"?

Child was an abolitionist writer, and the poem was originally titled "The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day".

Whose house did the original words of "Over the River and Through the Wood" say the family was going to?

Most people now sing "grandmother's", but Child wrote about her grandfather's house, said to be the Paul Curtis House.

How many stanzas did the original "Over the River and Through the Wood" poem have?

Only four are typically sung, and a Christmas version swaps in "Hurrah for Christmas Day!"

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, what does Charlie Brown say after the gang sings on the way to his grandmother's?

The line closes the 1973 special as they ride in the back of the station wagon.

The hymn "We Gather Together" was written in 1597 to celebrate a Dutch victory over which country?

Adrianus Valerius wrote it after the Battle of Turnhout, when Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship under Philip II.

Who wrote the modern English text of "We Gather Together" in 1894?

The tune is known as Kremser after Eduard Kremser's 1877 arrangement, and the hymn first appeared in an American hymnal in 1903.

Which soap opera family traditionally sings "We Gather Together" in its annual Thanksgiving episode?

The hymn was also sung at the opening of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's funeral Mass.

Which West Wing episode ends with "We Gather Together" performed by the Cedarmont Kids?

The season two Thanksgiving episode has President Bartlet pardoning a bird and debating a shibboleth.

Who wrote the harvest hymn "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" in 1844?

Alford was rector of Aston Sandford in Buckinghamshire, and the last verses draw on the Parable of the Tares.

"Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" is usually sung to which hymn tune, named for a royal chapel?

Elvey's tune was attached to the words in 1858, and the hymn later became a Thanksgiving standard in the United States.

Martin Rinkart wrote 'Now Thank We All Our God' around 1636 as pastor in which German town?

During the 1637 plague Rinkart was the town's only surviving pastor and conducted as many as 50 funerals a day.

Who translated "Nun danket alle Gott" into the English "Now Thank We All Our God"?

Rinkart originally published it as a short grace to be said before meals.

On which show did Adam Sandler first perform "The Thanksgiving Song" in November 1992?

He sang it on Weekend Update as a duet with the segment's anchor.

Which Weekend Update anchor duetted with Adam Sandler on the first performance of "The Thanksgiving Song"?

The following year Sandler returned with a version in the style of Bruce Springsteen.

In "The Thanksgiving Song", Sandler complains the Mets traded which player, who had really left as a free agent?

Strawberry signed with the Dodgers; the rhyme is one of many celebrity non sequiturs in the song.

On which Adam Sandler album did the live recording of "The Thanksgiving Song" appear?

The version was taped at The Strand in Redondo Beach in July 1993 and later charted on the Adult Top 40.

Who composed the music for the 1973 special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?

John Scott Trotter arranged and conducted the score, recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Quintet at Wally Heider Studios.

Which song was introduced in the score of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, alongside the "Thanksgiving Theme"?

The 1973 score leaned into contemporary funk and disco styles.

Which jazz hit, heard on the radio by Lee Mendelson, got its pianist the Peanuts specials?

Mendelson was looking for music for a documentary about Charles Schulz in 1963.

Under what title was the melody of "Turkey in the Straw" first published around 1834?

The minstrel-show origin is why the tune, long used by ice cream trucks, became controversial.

Whose recording of "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" is the best known?

He recorded it twice, in 1954 and again in stereo in 1959, both with Mitchell Ayres' orchestra.

Who wrote the music for "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays"?

Al Stillman wrote the lyrics, and the Carpenters' 1984 version is the most famous cover.

"Turkey Lurkey Time" is a dance number from which Burt Bacharach and Hal David musical?

Michael Bennett choreographed it for three secretaries at an office Christmas party in the 1968 show.

Which TV series mashed up "Turkey Lurkey Time" with "Let's Have a Kiki" in a 2012 Thanksgiving episode?

Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Colfer and Lea Michele performed it.

The Shaker song "Simple Gifts" became famous after Aaron Copland used it in which 1944 ballet score?

Elder Joseph Brackett is credited with writing it in 1848 in Maine.

The gospel hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves" was inspired by which chapter of the Book of Psalms?

Knowles Shaw wrote the words in 1874, but they are usually sung to George Minor's 1880 tune.

In what year was Folliott Pierpoint's hymn 'For the Beauty of the Earth' first published?

He was 29 and mesmerised by the countryside around Bath when he wrote it as a Eucharistic hymn.

Irving Berlin's "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)" was written for which 1954 film?

Berlin said the idea came from his doctor's advice for dealing with insomnia.

Which Bing Crosby film features 'I've Got Plenty to Be Thankful For' and a confused animated calendar bird?

The bird hopping between two Thursdays mocked the 1939 "Franksgiving" date controversy.

Which musician led the first celebrity performance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1958?

Marching bands had been part of the parade since 1924, but celebrity acts were a late addition.

In what year did the Macy's parade begin transitioning to lip-synced performances?

Live music on moving stages had proved technically difficult, though marching bands still play live in front of the store.

Which precision drill team from Kilgore, Texas, is a fixture of the Macy's parade broadcast?

They are billed as the world's first precision drill team.

Which charity has held a halftime concert at the Cowboys' Thanksgiving game since 1997?

The Detroit game's halftime show traditionally supports the United Way's Live United campaign instead.

The Cranberries, whose name matches a Thanksgiving side dish, formed in 1989 in which Irish city?

They were originally called The Cranberry Saw Us before Dolores O'Riordan joined.

Which band's 1969 gratitude anthem 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' topped the Hot 100 in 1970?

Bassist Larry Graham is widely credited with introducing slap bass on the track; the title spells out 'for letting me be myself again'.

Who wrote and first recorded 'Thank You for Being a Friend', later the Golden Girls theme?

Gold called it 'just this little throwaway thing' that took about an hour to write; Cindy Fee sang the sitcom version.

Which ABBA member sang lead vocals on 'Thank You for the Music'?

Recorded for 1977's The Album, it was released as a double A-side with 'Eagle' and later recorded in Spanish as 'Gracias por la Música'.

Which Eminem single sampled the opening verse of Dido's 'Thank You'?

Eminem heard the song on the Sliding Doors soundtrack; 'Thank You' then reached number three on the Hot 100, Dido's only US top ten.

Ariana Grande's 'Thank U, Next' debuted at number one on the Hot 100 after how many days of tracking?

It was her first US number one, and the video referencing Mean Girls and Legally Blonde set a 24-hour YouTube record of 55.4 million views.

On which 1969 album does the Plant-Page ballad 'Thank You', with its false organ ending, appear?

John Paul Jones played the Hammond organ and Jimmy Page used a Vox Phantom XII 12-string on the recording.

Kelly Clarkson's debut album Thankful opened at number one in 2003 with how many first-week sales?

Its lead single 'Miss Independent' earned the first-season American Idol winner her first Grammy nomination.

Natalie Merchant's grateful 1998 hit 'Kind & Generous' was the first single from which album?

It topped the Billboard Triple-A chart, and its video cast Merchant as part of a travelling circus.