Super Tune Top Ten

It’s been awhile since I posted a musical blog, so in a way this is overdue. In a way, it is also sort of a twist on a combination of older blogs.

What Prompted This Blog?

While I wouldn’t consider my daughter a “TV Head,” PBS Kids or Disney Channel is usually on in the background while Sam and I play with her. Sam has the PBS Kids app on her phone and every once in a while, she will watch a show on there. She knows that every time she presses a new character, the new show will play.

There are three shows on the app that are Super Hero oriented: Hero Elementary, Super Why!, and Word Girl. As Ella presses the buttons, she usually listens to the theme songs and then moves to another show. For whatever it is worth, she must have played the theme song to Word Girl about 6 times in a row the other day. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a pretty cool theme song. I love the driving bass line and horns in it! Give it a listen:

Kudos to the gal singing that! Those are some pretty difficult lyrics to sing that fast.

Anyway, that song got me to thinking about how most super heroes have cool theme songs. So I thought I would present my Top 10 Super Hero Theme Songs. I’m sure yours may differ from mine. Feel free to comment with your favorites, your top 10, or ones you feel I missed….

10. The Greatest American Hero

Probably the wimpiest Super Hero ever, I agree! However, the song went all the way up to #2 on the charts for Joey Scarbury. It also was so popular that George Constanza created his answering machine message to the tune of it…

Fun Fact – William Katt is the son of actress Barbara Hale, who played Della Street on Perry Mason.

9. Batman Movie Theme (1989)

This ominous theme song by Danny Elfman set the tone for the Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Obviously, this is MUCH darker and more serious than the 1966 incarnation.

The Elfman score got it’s entire album. Some of the music went on to be a part of Batman: The Animated Series, and can be heard in many video games, too.

8. The Super Friends

Ok, maybe this is cheating a bit. This show contains many super heroes who will appear on this list separately with there own theme. However, this was the show that introduced me to many of them. From 1973-1986, there were 7 different versions of the Super Friends. The great Ted Knight (of Caddyshack and Too Close For Comfort fame) did the narration until 1977, when Bill Woodson took over.

As a bonus – here are all 7 intros to the show….

I never understood why the first series had Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog. They were more annoying than anything. I was never really fond of Aquaman, either, but thought Norman Alden (who voiced him) was a great actor.

7. Underdog

I saw this in reruns/syndication. It originally ran from 1964 to 1967, and again in syndication until 1973. The theme song may have been one of the first songs I learned how to sing. I loved Underdog as a kid, but never realized he spoke in rhyme until much later.

George S. Irving (the voice of Heat Miser in the Year Without a Santa Claus) was the narrator and Wally Cox voiced Underdog. Fun Fact: TV Guide ranked Underdog as number 23 on its “50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time” list

6. Superman

I remember seeing this in the theater. I was probably not in band yet, but I remember the trumpet fanfare opening of this song and it really caught my attention. I will forever think of this song when I think of Superman.

This is just one of MANY great movie themes written by the great John Williams (Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc…)

5. Wonder Woman

Let me be clear – the TV show Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter was one of my first celebrity crushes. She was (and still is) one of the most beautiful women. The theme for the show is just “funky.” “In your satin tights, fighting for your rights, and the ole red white and blue….” The running bass line throughout the song and 70’s “gospel-ish” singers singing her name – what’s not to love?

Fun fact: Lyle Waggoner, who plays Steve Trevor, once did a screen test to play TV’s Batman!

4. The Incredibles

Yes, the entire family has a theme song – and it is awesome! The film score was composed by Michael Giacchino. The film’s director, Brad Bird, was looking for a specific sound as inspired by the film’s design — the future as seen from the 1960s. It truly is a musical masterpiece.

Full Credits Score is here – The horns in this are just amazing!!

3. Hong Kong Phooey

How can a theme song sung by the legendary Scatman Crothers not make the list? Ok, to be fair, I might be a little biased. This show only aired in 1974 (and in syndication until 1976), and it is technically only 40 seconds long, but it’s cool! It’s “groovy!” The “number one super guy” had to be on my list ….

Fun Fact: The band Subline covered this song in 1995.

2. Batman (1966)

In 1966, the campiness of Batman took the TV world by storm! Adam West was Batman, Burt Ward was Robin and the celebrity villains were larger than life. The theme song for Batman was created by Neal Hefti. The guitar riff is instantly recognizable. The song was a top 20 hit for him, despite the fact that the lyrics consisted of repeating “Batman” over and over and over….

Here is the “hit” version:

The TV version:

The Marketts also scored a top 20 hit with their version:

Fun Fact: Give the Beatles “Taxman” a listen and see if you can hear a Batman influence. George Harrison based the music for that song on the Batman theme. He was a big fan of the show.

and…..

#1 Spiderman

No surprise to anyone who knows me. This is one of the “baddest” and “coolest” theme songs. While I think there are other super heroes who are cooler than Spidey, he certainly has my favorite theme song! “Is he strong, listen bud, he’s got radioactive blood” – what a great line!!!

The original theme is cool, and then Michael Buble’ comes along and throws an amazing Big Band arrangement of it….. I absolutely love this! I wish I had the sheet music for this. Check out his cover:

Fun fact: The Ramones covered this, too, in 1995.

Ok, so what ones did I miss?

I Wanna Be Like Bandit!

I realize that the title of this blog (and the picture above) may be misleading, because it is not about Burt Reynolds. In my defense, they say that having a good blog title will make people want to read it – and here you are! So just what is this blog about? A cartoon role model.

Never Heard of It

The age difference between my oldest boy and my daughter is 18 years. The difference between my youngest son and my daughter is 13 years. Kids shows are constantly changing. Sure, some of the same shows my oldest watched were still on when my youngest was born. However, it seems that outside of Sesame Street, there are always new shows on. PBS is barely recognizable now outside of Sesame Street and Curious George (to me anyway).

Let me say before I go on that the TV is usually background noise. I do not plant my daughter in front of it and use it as a babysitter. In fact, the things she likes most are the theme songs. Once they are over, she’s off playing with her toys or bringing me books to read. The only show that she really watches is Bubble Guppies. I think she likes it because of the bright colors and the fact that there is a lot of music in the show.

When Ella gets up in the morning, I usually give her a sippy cup of milk and turn on the TV. Most mornings I turn on Disney Channel. There is a show on there about a family of Australian dogs. It’s called Bluey. I had never heard of this show until recently. If I had to compare it to another show, I would say it is kind of like Peppa Pig, but better. So why I am writing about this silly little cartoon? And who could possibly be a role model on the show??

The Show

The show revolves around the Heeler Family – Dad (Bandit), Mum (Chilli) and the kids (Bingo and Bluey). The show was created by Joe Blumm, who based much of the show on raising his two daughters. He said that many of the story ideas were directly based on watching his daughters play. The program’s scripts show how children can use gameplay to learn lessons and integrate the world of adults into their own; Brumm noticed how his children would recreate interactions such as visits to the doctor, through roleplay. On the show, he wanted to portray the importance of imaginative play. His creative aims were to make children laugh, and show parents what children can learn while engaged in play.

The Role Model

Bluey’s Dad, Bandit, is a true role model for fathers. He is “all-in” as a dad. The reason I chose to write about him was that I noticed just what a fantastic dad he is! He doesn’t have his head in the newspaper, or his phone in his face while his kids are playing – he gets right in there with them. When the kids tell him what character he is – he becomes that character. Maybe he is a baby in the supermarket, or getting a shot at the doctor. Maybe he is a crazy robot or a garden gnome, whatever the role, he embraces it and plays the part like he is working toward an Academy Award!

Through it all, there are lessons to be learned as well. In one episode, Bluey finds a bird that is injured. She tells her dad who, rather than blowing it off or telling her to go talk with mommy, takes the bird to the vet. They wait for news at the vet, and find out that the bird died. He is there for her as she processes the new concept of death. There’s nothing funny about this, and there is no punch line (as you might see in a sitcom with your stereotypical sitcom dad). Bandit is a truly wonderful dad.

One thing parents tend to forget is that your time becomes your kid’s time. What do I mean by that? Simply this – if I want to sit down and watch a Detroit Tigers game on TV and Ella wants to play “Tea Party,” then I need to play with Ella! That’s that! Bandit is that way! If he is in the middle of mowing the grass and Bluey wants to play, the grass can wait! The kids are the priority! They get his full attention!

Looking back, I feel bad. I know there were many times that my boys asked me to do something and I was in the middle of something else. I found myself putting them on “hold.” The problem with that is – they keep growing and growing fast! By putting them on hold, you miss out on bonding and moments you will never get again. That being said, I turn to Bandit as my role model!! Maybe I need to ask myself in those instances “What Would Bandit Do?”

Do yourself a favor, especially if you are a parent – watch the episode of Bluey called “Take Away”. After watching it, you will see how wonderfully this cartoon shows the joys of parenthood and the occasional chaos that goes with it. If you don’t learn something from how Bandit handles the frustrations of the situation from this short cartoon, you missed something!

Almost every TV show today shows the dad as a goofball. Oh sure, they have their “moments” where they have the heart to heart talk with their kids and the lesson is taught, but most of the time TV dad’s are comic relief. Bandit is the dad that most of us dad’s should strive to be like.

Weekend Wrap Up

I am not working my normal schedule at work, so my days are a bit messed up. The weekend for me, basically consisted of half a Saturday and today. I work Friday overnight and get home Saturday morning about 8am. I slept till about 2pm and Sam woke me up so we could enjoy some family time together.

We’re not to keen on actually going out to dinner, but we ordered out and got food from one of our favorite restaurants. I’m not going to lie – it was nice to sit back and enjoy a great steak at home and be with Sam and the baby for the day (even if it was short).

Sunny Sunday Morning

Sam works tonight, so it was Ella and me today. She was up at 7:30, and after she ate, we went out for a walk in the neighborhood. There were a surprising amount of people up that early. We saw people walking their dogs, people taking out the trash, people riding their bikes, and people just enjoying the sunshine out on their porch reading the paper.

It got pretty hot today, but it was cool when we walked. I figured we should probably get the walk in before it got too hot. Ella just loves to be outside, so when we got home, we sat out on the front porch step and watched cars go by. She gets so excited when that happens. There is a church at the end of our street, so there were plenty of cars for her to watch this morning.

When we came inside to eat, we must have woke Sam up. Sam fed her (and let her play in the apple/strawberry/banana baby food that she didn’t eat). Naturally, she needed a bath afterward! She was obviously tired, and Sam was going back to bed to try to sleep, so she took Ella in the bedroom to nap with her.

I watched a pastor friend of mine from Grand Rapids on Facebook Live teaching on a passage in the book of Colossians until Ella woke up. I usually work Sunday night, too, and sleep most of the day in preparation for being up all night. Thank God for the Internet, as I can tune into pastor friends in my hometown, across the state, out of state, and even out of the country if I want.

“I know what we’re gonna do today…”

In all the time we have had cable TV, I guess I didn’t know we had Disney Channel. That was the channel that was on when I turned the TV on today. Usually, I turn on the TV for background noise, and it is usually on PBS. Sometimes, it is on Nick Jr. because Ella loves Bubble Guppies. Anyway, it was on Disney Channel and I was happy to see that there was a marathon of Phineas and Ferb on this weekend.

I used to watch this with the boys all the time. It was so much fun. If you are not familiar with the show, the entire show happens during the 104 days of Summer Vacation. Each day brings the boys on a new adventure. They are always building something out of this world, their sister tries to get them in trouble with their mom, and their pet platypus is a secret agent who stops an evil scientist from destroying the “tri-state area.” There’s always a musical number in each episode, too. It is a blast to watch.

I’m not sure if they were running them in order, but I know the last episode they showed was the actual series finale. Ella was sleeping in my arms while the last episode (which I had never seen before) played. Call me what you will, but I was totally wrapped up in it. Kudos to Dan Provenmire and Jeff Marsh for creating such an amazing show. Sadly, the entire series is not available on DVD. If it was, I would surely buy it … for Ella to watch …. with daddy….

I never had the chance to when I was doing radio full time, but I had always hoped to get to interview Dan Provenmire (who does the voice of Dr. Doofenshmirtz). I thought it would be cool if he could do my voice mail message – hell, I still wish I could have him do it! I’d love to sit and talk with him about the show. I messaged him on Facebook once and complimented him on the music numbers and he gave me a little insight into what went into that for every episode. Those are thing things I miss about not being in radio anymore – interviewing neat people.

Almost Monday

Ella is sleeping now and the sounds of her sound machine are coming out of the baby monitor next to me. I watched a message from a pastor in Warren about the importance of the Bible and how it will be used in the last days, which was very interesting. One thing the pastor mentioned was how he tries to read through the entire Bible once a year. I really need to find a way to do that.

As I ate my dinner, I watched our cat run back and forth chasing a fly that got in the house. She finally caught it … and ate it. I’m glad I was already done eating. I’m going to take a little trip down to see my dad tomorrow. He’s recovering from knee surgery and I want to make sure he doesn’t need anything done.

One request before I close – I have something brewing that I am hoping might pan out for me. I will be looking into it further this week. If you would be so kind as to pray for me, or send positive vibes, I’d appreciate it very much.

Thanks for reading!