How Many Angels Can Dance on a Sesame Seed Bun?

I wonder what percentage of Americans would fail to provide the next line of the following:

"Bye-bye miss american pie..."

"You ain't nothin but a hound dog..."

Or how many American Catholics would fail:

"One bread, one body..."

"And He will raise you up on eagles' wings..."

Protestants:

"I come to the garden alone..."

Anybody:

"O beautiful for spacious skies..."

On the other hand, fewer than half of surveyed Americans can name the commandment "Thou shalt not kill." In general, Americans were able to name many more of the ingredients of the Big Mac than Commandments.

What's interesting about the songs, though, is:

--"For amber waves of grain" is not a normal English phrase. In this case, it's not part of a normal English sentence, and the exclamatory phrase of which it is part is not of a kind that is in current usage. Yet we remember it and think it somehow normal, because we sing it in a song. The word "amber" is likely not in the working vocabulary of many of the people who use this expression without a second thought.

--Neither is "levy."

--Moreover, music acts as a mnemonic device, not just for remembering text, but for remembering mood and community.

When I was a little girl we learned a very dumb song about the ten commandments. It's dumb in part because it's not always possible to tell what the commandment is from the song--the 5th commandment, Thou shalt not kill, is presented as "be kind and true." (What people do to kids. Never mind.) But I still remember it and in a pinch would have it to fall back on if I had to take a quiz.