Ever since reading Brainiac, I’ve subscribed to 74-time Jeopardy! winner Ken Jenning’s weekly trivia mailer. Of the seven questions, I’ve been averaging a healthy 2.3 answers per week. I thought I’d throw this week’s Question #7 (designed to be the hardest) to our voter base.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these songs? Counting Crows’ “Mr. Jones,” Cream’s “White Room,” Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” Alanis Morrisette’s “Hand in My Pocket,” Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “America,” Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.”
Five of the eight songs were in the tournament, so let’s see if we can figure this one out.
Living the Dream 
I don’t know all of these songs off hand, but White Room, Karma Police, America and Tom’s Diner all lack a chorus.
no rhyming verses
You could argue that Jeremy has a chorus. I like the no rhyming…it works for Jeremy and Hand in My Pocket, and I believe it’s true for Mr. Jones.
hmm, interesting observation about no rhyming verses. which made me realize that it’s not that uncommon for songs to lack rhymes, so i’m not sure that would classify as an “unusual distinction”.
my theory is these songs all feature hemiolas (essentially triplets played/sung over 2/4 or 4/4 meter). i’m not certain about this, but they all have some syncopation that sounds hemiola-like.
that was one of the most random playlists i have ever put together.
do we have an answer for this yet? this has been bugging me.
Unfortunately, we won’t know until next Tuesday. I feel like Natalie’s answer is too complicated- in trivia you should be able to memorize obscure facts without any foundational knowledge, and I’ve never heard of a hemiola before. I remain intrigued as well.
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