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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who wrote "obviously, it is easier to kill than to create" (95)?
(a) Josef von Sternberg.
(b) Greil Marcus.
(c) Nietszche.
(d) Sly Stone.

2. Who said "This is the mystery of democracy . . . that its richest fruits spring up out of souls which no man has prepared and in circumstances where they are least expected"?
(a) Elvis Presley.
(b) Abraham Lincoln.
(c) Woodrow Wilson.
(d) Greil Marcus.

3. Who wrote "Papa Was a Rolling Stone?'
(a) Jimmy Hendrix.
(b) Bob Dylan.
(c) The Temptations.
(d) Sly Stone.

4. What was the original name of the style that Elvis sang?
(a) Rhythm and Blues.
(b) Rock 'n' Roll.
(c) Country.
(d) Rockabilly.

5. What song by Randy Newman was a satire on bigotry?
(a) "Davy the Fat Boy."
(b) "God's Song."
(c) "Suzanne."
(d) "Short People."

6. According to Marcus in "Elvis," why does Elvis NOT owe blacks anything?
(a) He made the music his own.
(b) The music was a throwaway.
(c) They did not copyright the style.
(d) They gave the style away freely.

7. What did some bullies call Elvis before he was a star and had grown side burns?
(a) Squirrel.
(b) Dog.
(c) Loser.
(d) Hippie.

8. Why does Marcus discuss many movies in "Sly Stone"?
(a) They are about black people.
(b) They are biographies for Sly Stone.
(c) Sly Stone made the soundtracks for them.
(d) They all include the Staggerlee myth.

9. In what voice does Newman sing his songs?
(a) The audience.
(b) The storyteller's.
(c) The character's.
(d) His own.

10. According to Marcus in "Sly Stone," what two words make the song "Poet" poetry?
(a) Grinnin and chasin.
(b) Begin and start.
(c) Run and stop.
(d) Devil and bullets.

11. What is the name of Elvis' mother?
(a) Lydia Preston.
(b) Gladys Presley.
(c) Helen Preston.
(d) Lisa Presley.

12. To which historical figure does Marcus compare Elvis?
(a) Richard Nixon.
(b) Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(c) Abraham Lincoln.
(d) Stevie Wonder.

13. In the introduction to "Elvis," Marcus claims that Elvis epitomizes what?
(a) The best of our culture.
(b) The chaos of Harmonica Frank.
(c) The anger of Robert Johnson.
(d) The worst of our culture.

14. According to Marcus in "Randy Newman," whose song was Randy Newman answering in his version of "Suzanne"?
(a) The Beach Boys.
(b) The Beatles.
(c) Leonard Cohen.
(d) Robert Johnson.

15. According to Marcus in "Randy Newman," why does Newman lack a large audience for most of his early carrier?
(a) Critics loved him.
(b) He does not try.
(c) He lacks talent.
(d) Critics hated him.

Short Answer Questions

1. Staggerlee and Sly Stone are both powerful, but what is different about them?

2. What car did Elvis both buy and sing about?

3. What type of Staggerlee does Sly create in Riot?

4. Marcus believes that "There's a Riot Goin' On" is an example of what?

5. In what song does Sly Stone mock his own song "Thank you falettinme be mice elf Agin"?

(see the answer keys)

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