The Age Old Question: A Podcast for Music Fans · Rich Price and Clint Bierman

What Is The Greatest Song That Asks A Question?

December 13, 2024·53 min·5 clips

A question about questions fits this show almost too well. Rich Price and Clint Beerman treat it like a classic Age Old Question puzzle, with Ryan Alfiero getting credit for the spark. The category opens up fast. Titles start flying before the rules have really settled, and "Who Wrote the Book of Love?" becomes the first clean example. That snap answer tells them the field is huge. Then things get weird for a minute. A Michael Bolton title catches them off guard because it says the quiet part so plainly that the question-song idea turns into a joke. Motown gives the debate more weight. Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" show how a question can carry heartbreak with almost no setup. Marvin Gaye changes the room. "What's Going On" comes up as one of the great question titles, but the hosts do not simply rerun their protest-song conversation. They point back to the April 19, 2021 episode instead, especially because "What's Going On" and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Ohio" share a release day. Then the show gets into the band. The strongest stretch follows Motown's house players and the way the track's feeling comes from small parts stacked with care. J.J. Blair guides the listening. Isolated drums, bongos, rhythm guitar, and keys show how Hitsville Room A, leakage, and plainspoken playing make the record breathe. Nothing flashy, right? Jack Ashford, Eddie Bongo Brown, Robert White, Joe Messina, and Marvin's piano part all become pieces of the answer. The episode stays loose even when the listening gets detailed. It feels like two friends chasing a title game until it turns into performance anatomy. That is the sweet spot: a playful prompt that ends up showing how a musical question can be catchy, funny, political, wounded, or baked into the groove.

As heard by us

A question-title debate that moves from listener picks to Motown and isolated tracks.

Question-title songs are mostly the hook, but the stronger pull is hearing Rich Price and Clint Beerman turn a listener-suggested prompt into a loose, lively music debate.

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Need a music-nerd debate about the best song that asks a question in the title?

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