Take Five Trivia Questions

The title comes from the time signature—5/4 time—and a pun on 'take a break.' The quartet only had four members: Brubeck, Desmond, Wright, and Morello.

Dave Brubeck himself played piano on the track. The entire Dave Brubeck Quartet—Brubeck, Desmond, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello—recorded it, with no outside session players.

Brubeck didn't dream it; he was inspired by seeing dancers in Turkey struggling with a 9/8 rhythm, which led him to experiment with unusual time signatures. 'Take Five' was written by saxophonist Paul Desmond.

The Grammys didn't have a Record of the Year category for instrumentals at the time. 'Take Five' never won a Grammy; it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

It was the B-side to 'Blue Rondo à la Turk' on the 1959 album 'Time Out.' Radio DJs flipped it over, and it became the first jazz single to sell over a million copies.

Desmond, known for his lyrical style, improvised the solo on the spot. Brubeck later said it was so perfect they never attempted another take, though they did record a few alternate versions.

No such BBC ban existed. The song was widely played on British radio. This myth may stem from confusion with other jazz tracks or urban legends about hypnotic music bans.

The original take had a drum solo lasting over two minutes, but Brubeck trimmed it to about 90 seconds for the single. The full version appears on some later album releases.