Tune Tuesday – A Birthday Song (Sort of)

Today my second oldest son, Dimitri turns 17 years old. When I saw that Tune Tuesday fell on his birthday, I wanted to feature a song that has a connection to him. The one I have selected is probably unknown to you, because it was never a radio hit (although, you can hear it on the Disney Music channel on Sirius XM now).

At first, I thought about the various songs that I used to sing to the kids at bedtime when they were babies/toddlers. Each has one specific song that was unique to them (almost all are from Dean Martin). Then I recalled a Facebook video that recently popped up in the memory feed. Dimitri is probably about 2 or 3 in the video. He is sitting in his car seat and I toss the first line of the song to him and he sings the rest of it. I love that I have this video. If I could figure out how to get it here, I would, but for now, I will let you listen to the original.

Background. Dimitri was born in 2007. That same year, a new cartoon came out on Disney Channel/Disney XD called Phineas and Ferb. It is about two boys and how they spend their summer vacation. Every day, the boys undertake the construction of a grand project, or embark on a spectacular adventure, to make the most of their time on vacation. This annoys their controlling older sister, Candace, who frequently tries to expose their schemes to her and Phineas’s mother. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur in every episode. They built a rollercoaster, traveled back in time, created a beach in their back yard, build a pirate ship, have a chariot race through their town, build a mini golf course, and even a haunted house.

The song I chose for today is from the episode entitled, “Flop Starz” in which Phineas and Ferb spend the day writing a “one hit wonder.” Their mom has explained that the one hit wonder should have nonsensical lyrics and a catchy melody. When it becomes a huge hit, the singer should throw a diva-type tantrum that will end their career. Then the song would be featured as elevator music. The singer does one more reunion tour and never sing again. (They have no idea that their mom actually did have a one hit wonder and that was the path of her career, as we see it in a flashback as she explains to them.)

The song that they write, and ultimately perform on stage at the auditions for The Next Super American Pop Teen Idol Star was called “Gitchee Gitchee Goo.” Are you still with me? The more I write, the more I am trying to “edit” this to a simple intro … and cannot. So I will just move on.

This song is what led the creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh to create an original song in each episode of the show. For the episode, the song only runs for about a minute, but there was an extended version that was included on the Soundtrack for the show. I am not embarrassed to say that I know all the words and will sing along to this. For a cartoon song, I will say it is better than some of the songs that were actual hits!

It is hard to believe that my son is 17 today! There have been a lot of changes in our lives since he was singing Gitchee Gitchee Goo in the backseat of my car! Any time I listen to this song, I picture him singing it. It always makes me smile.

Happy Birthday, Dimitri! Sit back and listen to Phineas and the Ferbtones! I love you, kiddo!

Gitchee Gitchee Goo

Ladies and gentlemen, the Ferbettes
I’m Phineas and this is Ferb
And we’re gonna sing a song

Bow chika, bow, bow
That’s what my baby says
Mow, mow, mow and my heart starts pumpin’
Chicka chicka choo wap
Never gonna stop
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you

My baby’s got her own way of talking
Whenever she says something sweet
And she knows it’s my world she’s a-rockin’
Though my vocabulary’s incomplete
And though it may sound confusing
Sometimes I wish she’d give it to me straight
But I never feel like I’m losing (losing)
When I take the time to translate
Here’s what I’m talking ’bout

Bow chicka bow wow, that’s what my baby says!
Mow, mow, mow and my heart starts pumpin’
Chicka chicka choo wap
Never gonna stop
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you

Well I don’t know what to do (I don’t know what to do)
But I think I’m getting through (I think I’m getting through)
‘Cause when I say I love you (when I say I love you)
She says “I gitchee gitchee goo you too”
Gitchee gitchee goo you too
Gitchee gitchee goo you too
Gitchee gitchee goo you too
Don’t need a dictionary!

Bow chicka, bow, wow, that’s what my baby says!
Mow mow mow and my heart starts pumpin’
Chicka chicka choo wap
Never gonna stop
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you

I said bow, chicka, bow-wow
That’s what my baby says
Mow, mow, mow
And my heart starts pumpin’
Chicka, chicka, choo wap
Never gonna stop
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
Baby, baby, baby (baby, baby, baby, baby)
Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you

It’s That Time of the Year …

Followers of this blog know that my wife can listen to Christmas music all year round. She will put her Pandora stations on shuffle when she is in the shower and Christmas music will play often. Well, this week Sirius XM launched quite a few Christmas music channels. I thought I would jot them all down for her so that she program them in her car.

Last night when I got home, I sat in the driveway and just punched from channel to channel writing down the Holiday channels. As I did this I stumbled on stations I didn’t know existed. To be fair, I have all my stations preset and have been listening to more books in the car so I haven’t really channel surfed in a while.

One of the stations I found has the potential to make car rides more pleasant. It is called Moonbug radio. It is basically nothing but toddler songs. The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Rain Rain Go Away are all songs that Ella and Andrew love to sing along with. It isn’t something that I would listen to, but if the kids are in the car – I will be putting it on!

As I continued to surf, I came across another channel that was cool. It is Disney Hits.

It plays songs from Disney movies and Disney shows. As a matter of fact, I heard a song that my older boys and I used to love from the Phineas and Ferb TV show – Gitchee Gitchee Goo. They sang that all the time when they were younger. I actually sat and listened to the whole thing and smiled as it took me back to days on the couch watching the show with them.

I may have to go back and watch those shows again. It was SO good.

Anyway, the holiday channels are programmed now and I will tune in when I am ready to get in the spirit. It’s never too early, right?

Tunes from Toons

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I spent a lot of time in the car with my sons this past weekend. My oldest son asked me if I remembered some of the shows he used to watch as a kid. We began listing the shows he and his brother watched and had many laughs as we remembered specific episodes. This led to us talking about songs from shows. With every song we recalled, the more I thought about the possibility of it being a topic for a blog.

The picture above may be a little misleading. The Beatles cartoons all featured a Beatles song. There were cartoons that were about bands like Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaw, Butch Cassidy, The Banana Splits, The Archies, and The Chipmunks. I am not talking about these cartoons. This blog is about songs that were featured in cartoons NOT about bands.

The songs I wrote down are all songs that I remember instantly when I think about these cartoons. They are NOT the theme songs to the cartoons themselves, although many of those theme songs are just awesome. Some of these songs will stem from cartoons my kids watched, while many will be from toons I watched growing up.

I also want to point out that these songs are NOT from movies. Almost every Disney film has 2-5 songs that come from them. Yes, they are animated cartoons, but I am specifically talking about non-movie songs.

Let me start with a classic. In the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Hillbilly Hare”, an innocent square dance becomes a physical brawl between two brothers (thanks to Bugs). This scene and song was something my morning show partner and I talked about on the air one day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9SrXRNPRCA

My brother grew up watching Animaniacs. We always laughed that they had a character based on Perry Como, who they called Perry Coma. Anyway, they have a few songs that stand out – one naming all the countries in the world, another naming all the presidents (up to Clinton, if I remember right), and one naming the all the states and their capitals. I wish I had this song to memorize when I was growing up.

There was a season of Scooby Doo where they would play songs during the “chase scenes”. There was always one song that stood out for me. I never knew the name of it until I found it on an album of Scooby Doo songs. It was called “Tell Me, Tell Me”. Remember this one?

My boys watched a lot of SpongeBob Squarepants. There were some episodes that were very funny, and others I found extra annoying. One song from this show that my boys just loved was “Sweet Victory”, which they performed at the “Bubble Bowl”

They weren’t all “Rock” songs, but the Flintstones certainly had a few that stick out to me. Hoagy Carmichael (one of the great songwriters of all time) appeared as himself on the show and sang “Yabba Dabba Doo”, there was the Soft Soap jingle, “Listen to the Rockin’ Bird”, and my favorite – The Bedrock Twitch, sung by Rock Roll (or in this clip, Fred).

There are some who would argue that the best song from the Flintstones came from Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, so here is that one.

There was one song from the Jetsons that I always remember. Judy loves singer Jet Screamer (played by Howie Morris). Elroy’s secret code gets sent into a song writing contest and becomes his next hit record. Remember Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah?

An earworm that drove parents everywhere crazy came from the Ren & Stimpy Show. Time to get Happy Happy with Stinky Wizzleteats…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVM1nUmDHHc

The Simpson’s has had their share of amazing music in their over 30 years on the air. There have even been albums of just music from the show. There is one little gem that I can’t get enough of – and it is only about 45 seconds long. Homer becomes a Stonecutter and they have their own song! Yes, I often hit repeat when this comes on the iPod.

Ok, technically, this entire cartoon is a song. I have to include it on my list, because, well, it’s my list and I love this! Stan Freberg tells the story of the Three Little Bops with music by Shorty Rogers!

If I had to pick one cartoon that I LOVED watching with my kids, it would be Phineas and Ferb. If you have never seen the show, its just plain fun with a new song in almost every episode. Candace is always trying to bust her brothers (Phineas and Ferb – who make the most out of every single day of summer) while Perry (their pet platypus – who is also a secret agent) tries to save the Tri-State area from the evil scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

There are many songs I could pick from (My Undead Mummy and Me, My Nemesis, My Goody Two Shoes Brother, Busted, S.I.M.P – Squirrels In My Pants, and Perry’s Theme), but I will turn to one of their early episodes for my favorite.

In one episode, Flop Starz, they decide to write a hit song. Their mom explains what a “one hit wonder” is and they are off to write it! The result – Gitchee Gitchee Goo. The song itself has been reviewed by critics who have said that the song could have easily been a hit song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi-aIvYsfHE

Your turn. What songs do YOU remember from your favorite cartoon shows?

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