Mean Mr. Mustard - Quiz
  • 1. Which band released the song 'Mean Mr. Mustard'?
A) The Rolling Stones
B) The Who
C) The Beatles
D) Led Zeppelin
  • 2. On which studio album was 'Mean Mr. Mustard' released?
A) White Album
B) Abbey Road
C) Let It Be
D) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • 3. In what year was the album Abbey Road released?
A) 1969
B) 1968
C) 1967
D) 1970
  • 4. Who wrote the song 'Mean Mr. Mustard'?
A) Paul McCartney
B) Ringo Starr
C) George Harrison
D) John Lennon
  • 5. What track number is 'Mean Mr. Mustard' on the album's climactic medley?
A) Third
B) Second
C) First
D) Fourth
  • 6. For which album was 'Mean Mr. Mustard' originally supposed to be recorded?
A) Abbey Road
B) Revolver
C) The White Album
D) Rubber Soul
  • 7. In what year was the White Album released?
A) 1967
B) 1968
C) 1969
D) 1966
  • 8. What alternative name was given to the medley on Abbey Road?
A) The Abbey Symphony
B) The Final Piece
C) The Long One
D) The Big Suite
  • 9. How did John Lennon view his contributions to the medley?
A) As his finest work
B) With indifference
C) With frigidness
D) With great pride
  • 10. What phrase did John Lennon use to describe 'Mean Mr. Mustard' and another medley piece?
A) Bits of crap I wrote in India
B) Unfinished masterpieces of rock
C) Pure pop symphonies
D) The best songs of my career
  • 11. When did the band record 'Mean Mr. Mustard'?
A) Late December 1968
B) Early February 1968
C) Mid September 1969
D) Late July 1969
  • 12. Which song comes directly before 'Mean Mr. Mustard' in the Long One?
A) Sun King
B) Maxwell's Silver Hammer
C) Her Majesty
D) Polythene Pam
  • 13. In which town was 'Mean Mr. Mustard' written?
A) New Delhi
B) Rishikesh
C) Liverpool
D) London
  • 14. What is Rishikesh known as for Hindus?
A) A coastal resort
B) A pilgrimage town
C) A capital city
D) An industrial hub
  • 15. Why did the Beatles travel to Rishikesh in February 1968?
A) To practice Transcendental Meditation
B) To shoot a film
C) To record an album
D) To go on a vacation
  • 16. Whose monastery did the Beatles stay at in Rishikesh?
A) Swami Vivekananda's
B) Maharashi Mahesh Yogi's
C) Mahatma Gandhi's
D) The Dalai Lama's
  • 17. What inspired John Lennon to write 'Mean Mr. Mustard'?
A) A dream he had in India
B) A book about a sailor
C) A childhood memory in Liverpool
D) A newspaper story about a miser
  • 18. What was the headline of the newspaper article from the Daily Record on 7 June 1967?
A) Hiding Cash in London
B) The Miser of Enfield
C) The Man with the 10-Shilling Note
D) A Mean Husband Shaved in the Dark
  • 19. What was the name of the man featured in the Daily Record article?
A) John Mustard
B) William Mustard
C) Arthur Mustard
D) Mean Mr. Mustard
  • 20. Where did the man featured in the newspaper article live?
A) Liverpool, England
B) Enfield, London
C) Rishikesh, India
D) Manchester, England
  • 21. In what interview did Lennon discuss hiding £5 notes?
A) 1974 NME interview
B) 1971 Melody Maker interview
C) 1980 Playboy interview
D) 1969 Rolling Stone interview
  • 22. What substance did Lennon clarify the song had nothing to do with?
A) LSD
B) Cocaine
C) Heroin
D) Marijuana
  • 23. What was the companion song to 'Mean Mr. Mustard' mentioned by Lennon?
A) Sun King
B) Polythene Pam
C) Maxwell's Silver Hammer
D) Golden Slumbers
  • 24. How did Lennon introduce 'Mean Mr. Mustard' in the Playboy interview?
A) As a piece of garbage
B) As a brilliant rock song
C) As a pop masterpiece
D) As an unfinished joke
  • 25. What did Paul McCartney want Abbey Road to be?
A) A collection of folk tunes
B) A pure rock and roll album
C) A pop symphony/opera
D) A live concert recording
  • 26. How was the Abbey Road album split?
A) It was not split
B) Three ways
C) Two ways
D) Four ways
  • 27. What did the first side of Abbey Road contain?
A) A sixteen-minute medley
B) Individual songs
C) Only acoustic tracks
D) Live recordings
  • 28. What did most of the second side of Abbey Road contain?
A) A sixteen-minute medley
B) Individual pop hits
C) Instrumental jams
D) A continuous acoustic set
  • 29. Whose idea was the medley on Abbey Road?
A) Harrison's
B) Lennon's
C) George Martin's
D) McCartney's
  • 30. Who claimed a share of credit in the creation of the medley wanting the group to think symphonically?
A) George Martin
B) Hunter Davies
C) Chris Ingham
D) Neil Aspinall
  • 31. What did George Martin advise the group to do musically?
A) Play faster rock
B) Focus on acoustic guitars
C) Keep it simple
D) Think symphonically
  • 32. How are the medley's short songs connected?
A) By thematic or tonal coherence
B) By being recorded live together
C) By random chance
D) By spoken word introductions
  • 33. How does Beatles biographer Hunter Davies coldly describe the medley?
A) As a brilliant symphonic masterpiece
B) As the finest work of the 1960s
C) As a revolutionary rock opera
D) As a long string of unfinished scraps
  • 34. What did Neil Aspinall suggest that prompted Lennon to snap back?
A) An acoustic version of Mustard
B) A reprise of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
C) A world tour after the album
D) A longer medley on Abbey Road
  • 35. What was Lennon's response to Neil Aspinall's suggestion about Sgt. Pepper?
A) No one likes a smart-arse, Neil
B) Ask Paul instead
C) Let us do it tomorrow
D) That is a brilliant idea
  • 36. How did Lennon describe how his three contributions to the medley were arranged?
A) Juggled about until it made vague sense
B) Arranged by George Martin in a studio
C) Carefully planned out over months
D) Played in exact chronological order
  • 37. What did author Chris Ingham say Lennon would have considered his three medley contributions?
A) Masterpieces
B) Pop classics
C) Deep poetry
D) Garbage
  • 38. What do some critics hold about the three Lennon numbers in the medley?
A) They ruined the entire record
B) They are the medley's weakest patch
C) They should have been released as singles
D) They are the best songs on the album
  • 39. Despite some criticisms, what does Chris Ingham think of the Lennon numbers?
A) They are too experimental
B) They are boring and repetitive
C) They are hugely entertaining musically
D) They lack any character
  • 40. Which author praises Polythene Pam's wicked humor?
A) Nicholas Schaffner
B) Ian Womack
C) Hunter Davies
D) Mark Hertsgaard
  • 41. Which publication agrees that Lennon contributed some of the medley's most eccentric parts?
A) Playboy
B) Melody Maker
C) Daily Record
D) Rolling Stone
  • 42. Who is the author that writes about the large cast of whimsical characters on Abbey Road?
A) Mark Hertsgaard
B) Nicholas Schaffner
C) Chris Ingham
D) Hunter Davies
  • 43. According to Nicholas Schaffner, what does Mean Mr. Mustard scream obscenities at?
A) A police officer
B) Her Majesty
C) His sister Pam
D) The Maharishi
  • 44. How is Mean Mr. Mustard described regarding a note in the song's lyrics according to Schaffner?
A) With a £5 note in his pocket
B) With a magic hammer in his hand
C) With the 10-shilling note up his nose
D) With a newspaper under his arm
  • 45. How is Mustard's sister Pam described by Schaffner?
A) As a transvestite resplendent in a polythene bag
B) As a queen living in London
C) As a monk meditating in India
D) As a wealthy miser hiding cash
  • 46. What was Mustard's sister named in a May 1968 demo?
A) Daisy
B) Pam
C) Shirley
D) Mary
  • 47. Why did Lennon change Mustard's sister's name from Shirley to Pam?
A) At the request of Paul McCartney
B) Because he preferred the name Pam
C) To make it sound like it had something to do with Polythene Pam
D) Based on a real person in India
  • 48. How did Lennon want to record his medley songs?
A) At one go, without interruption
B) Separately as individual singles
C) Over several months in different studios
D) Acoustically with a live audience
  • 49. Who writes that recording the medley songs at one go served the purposes of the musical suite and unfolding character studies?
A) Womack
B) Davies
C) Schaffner
D) Ingham
  • 50. Who told sound engineer John Kurlander to scrap 'Her Majesty'?
A) John Lennon
B) Paul McCartney
C) George Harrison
D) Ringo Starr
  • 51. What chord does 'Pam' open with that is also common to 'Mustard'?
A) A C major chord
B) An E major chord
C) A D major chord
D) A G major chord
  • 52. What key is 'Mustard' written in?
A) A major
B) G major
C) E major
D) D major
  • 53. What time signature is 'Mustard' in throughout?
A) 34 time
B) 44 time
C) 128 time
D) 68 time
  • 54. What does 'Pam' rely on to form a cadence?
A) The tonic
B) The subdominant
C) A flat seventh chord
D) The dominant
  • 55. How many days after the UK release was 'Mustard' released in the US?
A) Ten days later
B) Two weeks later
C) Five days later
D) One month later
  • 56. What did The Age review call 'Mustard' a month after its release?
A) An incredible reinvention
B) A derisive ditty
C) A mid-tempo beater
D) A courageous masterpiece
  • 57. Who described 'Mustard' as 'a mid-tempo beater with more in the words than in the music'?
A) John Kurlander
B) Booker T. Jones
C) Alan Smith
D) Paul McGuinness
  • 58. Which band covered 'Mean Mr. Mustard' on their 1970 album McLemore Avenue?
A) Booker T. & the M.G.'s
B) Cornershop
C) The Who
D) The Rolling Stones
  • 59. Who conceived the mostly instrumental reinvention of Abbey Road on McLemore Avenue?
A) Booker T. Jones
B) Paul McGuinness
C) John Kurlander
D) Alan Smith
  • 60. Which indie rock band featured 'Mustard' in a medley with 'Polythene Pam' on Abbey Road Now!?
A) The Beatles
B) The Kinfauns
C) Cornershop
D) Booker T. & the M.G.'s
  • 61. Who chose Cornershop's recording as the best cover of both 'Mustard' and 'Pam'?
A) Booker T. Jones
B) Alan Smith
C) Paul McGuinness
D) John Kurlander
  • 62. Which instruments did Ringo Starr play on the track according to the personnel list?
A) Rhythm guitar and piano
B) Lead guitar and tambourine
C) Drums, tambourine, and maracas
D) Fuzz bass and harmony vocals
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