The human brain is an amazing thing. As aging boomers now know, you can walk into a room and forget why you went there, yet a flash of an image, sound or smell can trigger vivid memories decades old, and it’s yesterday once more (as the Carpenters once sang). Along those lines, it’s been Mister Boomer’s experience that fellow boomers can recall — at a moment’s notice — the lyrics from songs that they may not have heard since way back when. What’s more, the detailing of these lyrics are not dependent on whether the boomer liked the song or not.
So, in a thoroughly unscientific manner, let’s conduct an experiment to test Mister B’s hypothesis. Click the link below to view/print/download a PDF document that is Mister Boomer’s Lyrics Memory Quiz. Take the quiz and see if you agree that you can recall a bunch of these songs immediately.
Speaking of memory, we can’t forget about our fellow boomers who have been isolated — many for months, now — during these uncertain times. Mister Boomer personally knows several vulnerable boomers who have remained inside their living quarters, venturing out only for doctor visits. You may want to introduce the quiz to them over a video call as a way of increasing interaction in those on-screen visits. It can get them thinking and remembering, and maybe inject a little fun into your next internet social meeting, too.
A note about the song choices
Mister Boomer has selected the songs in this 24-question quiz partially by what has appeared randomly in his brain under his “Morning Jukebox Syndrome” affliction. That’s a circumstance where Mister B wakes up with a song playing in his head, lyrics and music included. Since first writing about it, he has heard from several other boomers who say they, too, possess this morning oddity. Otherwise, he tried to mix up the choices to span the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s to include as many boomers as possible. As a mid-generational boomer himself, Mister B has a real affinity for songs from the ’60s, as regular readers of this blog will know. Late-era boomers may have been born too late to know some of the songs from the 1950s, though they were repeatedly played as oldies for the past 50 years. No matter, it’s not a competition and won’t appear on your permanent record!
Some song lyrics will pop into your head immediately (I can name that tune in three notes!). Others may take a few minutes while your internal search engine sends out its bots to look for the file. Some only need a few words to be identifiable, while others may require a little more set-up to jog your memory. Some of these lyrics start the songs, and some lead into the chorus, while others are pivotal moments within. Each set of lyrics comes with a built-in clue by the indication of the number of words that are in the next line. Mister Boomer suggests singing the lyric to yourself (or to your video chat buddy), and you may find the next line flows effortlessly. Give yourself extra points if you know the name of the song and the band or person who recorded it. Add a thousand more if you can recall the year it was released.
We all need a little fun these days, and Mister Boomer hopes you can have some fun with this. Once you finish your quiz (Mister B recommends printing it to physically fill it out), then click on the answers link below to see how close you came. Mister B is betting you’ll remember more than you thought you might.
You’ll need a PDF Reader:
Click to view/print/download Mister Boomer’s Lyrics Memory Quiz
Click to view/print/download Answers to Mister Boomer’s Lyrics Memory Quiz
One legal note to relay: Please do not repost the downloaded PDFs or attach them in emails to friends and family. Rather, please respect Mister Boomer’s copyright and send a link to this page instead, so your recipients can experience them for themselves at the source. Thank you!