Procol Harum

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the Pale

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Christmas Quizzes 2017–2018

Question of the Day (solved): 1 January 2017

Useful resources
 		   The Ten Commandments | Tracks on Novum | Novum song words
 
Tonight's topic is   The Ten Commandments

Here’s a list of the songs recorded by Procol Harum during the Novum sessions

A

I Told On You

B

Last Chance Motel

C

Image of the Beast

D

Soldier

E

Don't Get Caught

F

Neighbour

G

Sunday Morning

H

Businessman

I

Can't Say That

J

The Only One

K

Honour

 L

 Somewhen

And here’s a representative list of the Old Testament’s X Commandments … of which there are many slightly different versions and translations.
 

I

Thou shalt have no other gods before me

II

Thou shalt worship no false idols

III

Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain

IV

Thou shalt remember the Sabbath day

V

Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother

VI

Thou shalt not kill

VII

Thou shalt not commit adultery

VIII

Thou shalt not steal

IX

Thou shalt not bear false witness

X

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods

You’ll remember the article by Dr Lancelot Reaper at ‘Beyond the Pale’, which suggested (on pretty slim evidence, at the time) that there was a correspondence between the Novum songs and the X Commandments, before the album had even been released. This hypothesis has now been unequivocally endorsed by The Commander.

Equally, though, it’s obvious that the songs and Commandments don’t fit exactly. For one thing, there are more than X songs. For another (as Dr Reaper was so quick to point out) the songs' themes often contradict the Biblical commandments concerned.

Your task, therefore, is to choose the table of equivalence below which best suits the answer that follows. The upper row in each case indicates a commandment from the table above, and the lower row corresponds to the Novum songs nearer the top of this page.
 
The answer is  
This strikes me as the most satisfactory suggestion for correlating the Novum songs with the Biblical Commandments
 

Choose the question below that is most applicable to the answer above. Make a note of the Question Number
 

Q08a
 		  


You may feel you’re in with a chance if you select this one
 

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

K

E

I

D

H

C

G

B

F

A
'IV' and 'D' seems like a jarring mismatch


 
Q08b  


This one looks quite promising, no?

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

J

C

I

G

K

D

B

E

A

B
Hard to see how this can be the right answer when 'B' appears twice

 
Q08c  

There may be some useful ideas here

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J
A lot of mismatches here ... the letters are just in alphabetical order

 
Q08d  


It’s not impossible that this one will look somewhat persuasive

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

J

C

I

G

K

D

B

H

A

F
Nice set of matches here

 
Q08e  


Give this one some consideration
 

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

E

C

I

G

D

K

B

H

A

F
Any pairing in which 'V' doesn't go with 'K' rules itself out pretty promptly

 
Q08f  


And finally …

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

G

B

C

H

I

E

F

L

A

D
A lot of mismatches here ... the letters have simply been arranged to spell out a message about Gary Brooker


 

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