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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the Prologue, why are Harmonica Frank and Robert Johnson included in Mystery Train?

2. How did Harmonica Frank get his name?

3. Who wrote the song entitled "Layla"?

4. What type of music did Robert Johnson sing?

5. Who said "I learned the words to Little Richard's songs the best I could and what I couldn't figure out didn't matter"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Marcus' audience for Mystery Train and how do you know?

2. How does Greil Marcus define "artist" in the prologue?

3. In "Robert Johnson -1938," what common theme does Robert Johnson's music have with music by Eric Clapton?

4. Why might "The Band" be subtitled "Pilgrim's Progress"?

5. Describe Harmonica Frank. What did he do? What did he look like? What made him unique?

6. In "The Band," why do the other members of the Band become known as Robbie Robertson's foil?

7. In "Harmonica Frank - 1951," what exactly is the American spirit that Marcus believes Harmonica Frank brought to rock n' roll?

8. In the section entitled "The Weight" in "The Band," what does Dominique Robertson have to say about living in Woodstock? What does this say about community?

9. Just before "The Righteous Land," Marcus quotes from "We Can Talk About It Now." The storyteller in the song tells "there's no need to slave. The whip . . . is in the grave" (53). What type of imagery does this line have and what does it mean?

10. Marcus analyzes Robert Johnson's "Stones in My Passway" in "Robert Johnson -1938." What is the song about and what are the tools that Johnson uses to create the mood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Greil Marcus discusses The Band, Sly Stone, Randy Newman, and Elvis as the inheritors of Harmonica Frank's and Robert Johnson's music. In an essay identify how Harmonica Frank and Robert Johnson are ancestors.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing the images used in one or two of Robert Johnson's songs. What emotions do they convey? What meaning can be derived from his choice of words?

Essay Topic 3

In an essay explore the reasons that Greil Marcus would discuss, in the same section, the dark and funny music of Randy Newman, the light music of the Beach Boys, and the stark imagery of Raymond Chandler. What do they have in common? What makes them different? How does Randy Newman fit into the world of the Beach Boys and of Raymond Chandler?

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