It was on this day in 1891 that the amazing Carl Stalling was born. You may not know him by name, but I guarantee you know his work!
Carl is probably best known for arranging and composing music for cartoons and animated films. If you have ever watched a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon, you have heard his music. While at Warner Brothers, he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years!
As a young man, he played organ accompaniment to silent films. It was about this time he met Walt Disney. Walt had him arrange some music for a few of the early shirts. He even had Carl do the voice of Mickey Mouse in 1929’s The Karnival Kid. He worked with Disney for two years.
In 1936, he began working on music for Warner Brothers. From 1936 onwards, Stalling was the film score composer for almost every theatrical animated short released by the company until he retired.
Director Chuck Jones was asked about Stalling:
A few years back, Carl’s music was released on an album called The Carl Stalling Project. A year or so later, they released a second volume. It is actually very cool to listen to!
You can listen to the amazing soundtrack on YouTube! Some of the cuts have studio chatter, which I always love listening to. Here is a link to the albums:
Back in 1969, a childhood staple premiered on National Educational Television, a precursor of PBS. 55 years later, Sesame Street continues to entertain and teach children everywhere!
I grew up watching the show. I always got a kick out of Ernie and Bert. I even had an Ernie hand puppet.
Kermit the Frog was the newsman I trusted most as a kid. I loved watching Grover mess up that one guy’s order at the restaurant. I remember that artist who painted the number of the day on whatever he could find. Guy Smiley seemed to host whatever show was happening and Cookie Monster couldn’t get enough cookies! I loved Count Von Count and the fact that there was always a thunder clap and lightning when he laughed!
They were my first TV friends. Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, the Martians, the Twiddle Bugs, Mr. Hooper, Susan, Bob, Gordon, Maria, and Luis kept me company and helped me learn so much. I remember having the Sesame Street Little People, too!
We played, we learned, and we sang songs! Who can forget the Pinball Song? The Lady Bugs Picnic? “C” is for Cookie? I Love Trash? The People In Your Neighborhood? Sing? The Alligator King? It Ain’t Easy Being Green? I Don’t Want To Live On The Moon? Rubber Duckie? I had Rubber Duckie on a 45 and played it on my portable record player!
The format has changed a lot and so has the cast. Additional Muppets have been added, and some new humans have replaced old ones. The show has been shortened to 30 minutes, and it is mostly Elmo now. The number and letter of the day are just throwaways now and only get a brief mention. It lacks so much of what it had, but it is still going!
I could always count on Sesame Street to do exactly what its theme song said it would do – chase “the clouds away!” Great memories for sure!
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year. In the final year of the 70’s, I turned 9 years old.
1979 is a year where I was surprised to find many of the songs that wound up on my mom’s ballad 8-track tape. I could easily have posted all of those songs in this blog, but then you would fall asleep listening to them, just like my brother and I did on our way up north. Instead, I will list them at the end of this blog, and if you wish, you can search them on YouTube.
So let’s begin with the first of two “out of place” or “odd” songs….
The first song is part of the soundtrack of my summer of 1979. The song seemed to be playing in a very hot rotation and was always on the radio when we were up at my grandparents place.
Frank Mills wrote and recorded “Music Box Dancer” in 1974, but it did not become a Canadian single until December 1978. By Christmas of that year, it was in the top ten of many European and Asian pop music charts. It was released as a single in the United States in January 1979 and got up to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
In 1974, Mills released an album that featured the song, but it was not initially a hit. When he re-signed with Polydor Records Canada in 1978, the label released a new song as a single, with “Music Box Dancer” on the B-side. Because of a mistake, a single of “Music Box Dancer” found its way into the hands of a pop station in Ottawa – the single was only supposed to go out to adult contemporary stations. The station’s program director listened to the A-side and wondered why it was sent to him. He played the B-side and liked what he heard anyway and began airing it in rotation. Next thing you know, the album’s gone gold in Canada.
Music Box Dancer
The next song makes the list because it was on the iPod of my ex. My oldest son used to take it and listen to it all the time and I can still hear him in his toddler voice singing the chorus of this one.
Hot Stuff is a single that was on Donna Summer’s 7th studio album, Bad Girls. The song is unique in that while many consider it disco, many others consider it rock. As a matter of fact, when the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category was added at the Grammy Awards in 1980, Donna Summer won for “Hot Stuff.”
The song has ties to other music as well. It was written by Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey. Bellotte co-wrote a few other hits for Summer, including “Love To Love You Baby” and ” Heaven Knows.” Faltermeyer had a solo hit in 1984 with the theme from Beverly Hills Cop, “Axel F” and Forsey’s credits include “Don’t You Forget About Me” for Simple Minds and “Shakedown” for Bob Seger.
This was Summer’s second #1 hit on the Hot 100; her first was her disco cover of “MacArthur Park.”
Hot Stuff
Here is a song that is missing one of the things the band is known for. Don’t Bring Me Down was the first ELO song that did not use strings. According to Songfacts, after recording it, they fired their string section, leaving four members in the band.
ELO leader Jeff Lynne wrote this song late in the sessions for the “Discovery” album. He came up with the track by looping the drums from a song he recorded earlier in the session, then coming up with more music on the piano. The words came last, as Lynne put together some lyrics about a girl who thinks she’s too good for the guy she’s with.
Here’s a fun fact: Wanna know why Jeff Lynne repeatedly sings the word “groose” after the song’s title line? Apparently it was a made-up place-keeper word to fill a gap in the vocals when he was improvising the lyrics. When the German engineer Reinhold Mack heard the ELO frontman’s demo, he asked Lynne how he knew “gruss” means “greetings” in his country’s language. Upon learning the German meaning, Lynne decided to leave it in.
Don’t Bring Me Down
“Hey Ringo, play something hot!”
Those are the words that Rodney Dangerfield’s character in Caddyshack says to the band at the snobbish country club as he throws money at them. As the money falls, the band plays the opening 5 note stings from Boogie Wonderland from Earth Wind and Fire (With the Emotions). I’ve always loved that song because of the movie connection.
The song, while it is upbeat and happy sounding, it really isn’t. Songfacts calls it one of the more complex and misinterpreted songs of the disco era. Written by Jon Lind and Allee Willis, it was inspired by the movie Looking For Mr. Goodbar, which stars Diane Keaton as a lost soul who goes to clubs every night to dance away her misery.
Willis says, “When I saw Mr. Goodbar, I got kind of fascinated with people who did go to clubs every night, whose life was kind of falling apart, but they lived for the night life, though it didn’t seem to be advancing them as humans in the end. So if you really look at the lyrics of ‘Boogie Wonderland,’ unlike ‘September,’ it’s not a happy song at all. It’s really about someone on the brink of self destruction who goes to these clubs to try and find more, but is at least aware of the fact that if there’s something like true love, that is something that could kind of drag them out of the abyss. So ‘Boogie Wonderland’ for us was this state of mind that you entered when you were around music and when you danced, but hopefully it was an aware enough state of mind that you would want to feel as good during the day as you did at night.”
Boogie Wonderland
The second “out of place” or “odd” song is also a movie song. It may seem like a very simple kid song, but if you listen to what the songwriter says about it, the song is deeper than you can imagine.
This was written by songwriters Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher for The Muppet Movie, which came out in 1979. In the film, it is sung by Kermit The Frog as the Muppets set out to find adventure. In a interview Williams said: “Rainbow Connection was the first number in The Muppet Movie. It’s the one that establishes the lead character. We find Kermit sitting in the middle of the swamp. Kenny Ascher and I sat down to write these songs, and we thought… Kermit, he’s like ‘every frog.’ He’s the Jimmy Stewart of frogs. So how do we show that he’s a thinking frog, and that he has an introspective soul, and all that good stuff? We looked at his environment, and his environment is water and air – and light. And it just seemed like it would be a place where he would see a rainbow. But we also wanted to show that he would be on this spiritual path, examining life, and the meaning of life.
It tells you that he’s been exposed to culture: ‘Why are there so many songs about rainbows?’ Which means, obviously, he’s heard a lot of songs. This is a frog that’s been exposed to culture, whether it’s movies, or records, or whatever. And I also like the fact that it starts out with the negative: ‘Rainbows are only illusions, rainbows have nothing to hide.’ So the song actually starts out as if he’s going to pooh-pooh the whole idea, and then it turns: ‘So we’ve been told, and some choose to believe it. I know they’re wrong, wait and see.’ And again, he doesn’t have the answer: ‘Someday we’ll find it.'”
Now, with that in mind, give this masterpiece a listen!
Rainbow Connection
Next is my “go-to” Karaoke song. I’ve always loved the line, “You had me down 21 to zip, the smile of Judas on your lip.” What a great line. Bad Case of Loving you was written by Moon Martin who released the original version on his 1978 album Shots From a Cold Nightmare. Martin is a singer/guitarist/songwriter with his band Southwind. When the group broke up in 1971, he took on studio work. He paired up with Linda Ronstadt, and played on her self-titled album. He nearly joined some of Ronstadt’s other backing musicians in a little band called the Eagles, but ended up a solo artist and signed a deal with Capitol Records.
Martin’s album got some good reviews but went nowhere on the charts. A song called “Hot Nite In Dallas” was chosen as a single, but “Bad Case Of Loving You” was only given limited release in Europe. Enter Robert Palmer. He heard the song when he was being driven to one of his shows by a rep from his label, who played it for him. Palmer included it in his set and got a great response, so he recorded it for his Secrets album.
Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
In 1989, Palmer released a remix of this song for his Addictions: Volume 1 greatest hits album. “Looking back at the 1978 original the performance was there but someone was asleep at the mixing desk,” he wrote in the liner notes. “The original mix in comparison sounded like a band rehearsing in a garage and this sounds like the finished song.” I can’t listen to the original cut much anymore. The remix is SO MUCH better!
I LOVE good harmonies. This song kicks right off with a cold open and the amazing a cappella harmony of The Little River Band. Most of the band’s hits were written by founding members Graham Goble, Beeb Birtles or Glenn Shorrock, but “Lonesome Loser” was written by guitarist David Briggs, who joined in 1976 after the band’s second album.
The lyric uses a lot of gambling imagery to tell the story of the lonesome loser, who staked his heart and lost. His adversary is the “Queen of Hearts,” who will always win this game of love. The same year this song was released (1979), Dave Edmunds had a UK hit with a song called “Queen of Hearts” that used the same metaphor. That song, of course, became an American hit when Juice Newton covered it in 1981.
Lonesome Loser
Speaking of great harmonies and the Eagles, the next song features both. Heartache Tonight was written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey with Bob Seger and J.D. Souther. Songfacts says: When Frey was a 19-year-old in Detroit, Seger took him under his wing and got his music career started. Souther, who is sometimes considered an “Unofficial Eagle,” was the first person Frey met when he moved to Los Angeles in the late-’60s. J.D. Souther, told us how this song started: “Glenn Frey and I had been listening to Sam Cooke records at my house. So we were just walking around clapping our hands and snapping fingers and singing the verses to those songs. The melody sounds very much like those Sam Cooke shuffles. There’s not much to it. I mean, it’s really just two long verses. But it felt really good.”
Bob Seger’s contribution to this song was the chorus. JD Souther says, “We didn’t get to a chorus that we liked within the first few days, and I think Glenn was on the phone with Seger, and he said, ‘I wanna run something by you,’ and sang it to him, and Seger just came right in with the chorus, just sang it and it was so good. Glen called me and said, ‘Is four writers okay on this?’ And I said, ‘Sure, if it’s good.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, it’s great. Seger just sang this to me,’ and he sang it to me and I said, ‘That’s fantastic.'”
According to Seger, he was in the room with Glenn Frey when he came up with the chorus. He told Entertainment Weekly: “Glenn had the verse: ‘Somebody’s gonna hurt someone before the night is through.’ We hadn’t been sitting down for more that five minutes and I just blurted out, ‘There’s gonna be a heartache tonight!’ His eyes lit up huge.”
Heartache Tonight
The next song is one that I used to hear on the way home from elementary school. I had a buddy who got a ride home every day and his mom would often give me a lift, too. Keep in mind the ride home was 5 to 7 minutes tops, but it always seemed to be on the radio when we were in the car.
Freddie Mercury wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love while Queen was recording The Game in Germany. He wrote it while taking a bubble bath in his room at the Munich Hilton. Peter Hince, the head of Queen’s road crew, recalled to Mojo magazine September 2009: “The idea for the song came to him while he was in the bath. He emerged, wrapped in a towel, I handed him the guitar and he worked out the chords there and then. Fred had this knack of knowing a great pop song.”
Freddie acknowledged that perhaps his limited talent on the guitar helped shape the song:
On stage, this was an important part of the show. Brian May often used three different guitars during the song: the first verse was played by Freddie alone with his guitar, then Brian joined with another Ovation Acoustic; before the third verse he had already switched to a Telecaster on which he performed the solo. During the singalong part (famous for its “ready Freddie” line) Brian again changed instruments to his homemade Red Special. From 1984 onwards Mercury replaced the acoustic with another Telecaster.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
The final selection comes from a band who was formed on Valentines Day of 1977 in Detroit. That is what inspired their name – the Romantics.
Believe it or not, the band have only two US Top 40 hits, and “What I Like About You,” now their best-known song, isn’t one of them. ( Their two Top 40 hits were “Talking In Your Sleep” and “One In A Million”). It attracted little attention and was only a minor hit when first released in 1980 on their debut album. This song’s resurgence had a lot to do with MTV. The band made a simple performance video for the song that MTV put in rotation when they launched in 1981. It fit the criteria the network was looking for: American band, rock, catchy song, acceptable production quality. Since few American artists made videos at the time, MTV made do with lots of European imports when they started.
Since then the song has also become a fixture at sporting events, bars and nightclubs, and parties and celebrations of all kinds, and has taken its place as one of the most popular rock anthems of all time. It’s nice to wrap up the last year of the decade with an uptempo, fun song!
What I Like About You
I’m sure I have missed a few favorites, and the more I look ahead, the more I wonder if I need to expand to more than ten songs. I’ll tackle that issue if I have to later on.
Next week, we ring in a new decade – 1980! The 80’s sound certainly can be heard in some of these late 70’s songs and from here on out, the sound progresses quickly!
“Someday we’ll find it – the rainbow connection – the lovers, the dreamers and me” – Kermit the Frog
When I woke up this afternoon, I went out and sat with the kids. Ella has this otter which has buttons on it with the letters of the alphabet.
It sings the alphabet song and quizzes her with “Find the letter ____.”
Anyway, she was sitting next to me while I held AJ and hit the letter R. If you look at the photo above, you will see the R has a rainbow on it. Earlier in the day, I woke up from a dream where I was walking with someone and there in front of me was a beautiful, vibrant rainbow. I forgot about it until the otter said “rainbow.”
I’ve said it before, I don’t really put much into dreams or what they are supposed to mean, but it is sometimes interesting to do a search just to see what the “experts” seem to think they mean. Today’s search led to a few different sites offering up very similar meanings.
The first site said: “Dreaming of rainbows typically signifies a positive perspective on life. They are seen as a favorable light and a symbol of hope. No matter the type of rainbow you dream about, it depicts a turning point in your life or a new beginning.“
The next one said: “Since rainbows are unpredictable in nature, they can mean something unexpected is about to happen, possibly something that evokes a sense of magic or spirituality. In short, things are about to shift course, so be prepared for some changes!The rainbow possibly symbolizes a turning point in your life or a new beginning.”
Another stated: “To dream of a rainbow in the sky is a symbol that a wonderful event will happen soon, after which life will change radically for the better. The difficult period is over, and fate has prepared a long and extremely successful life path for you.” (i.e – turning point/something new)
I looked at one more before deciding to write this down before work. It was a little more specific in WHO dreamt the dream: “For a man a dream about rainbow is a prediction of wealth, exceptional luck in business, excellent business prospects, and authoritative support.”
So just what in the world does that mean?? Just what kind of “turning point” awaits me? What “new beginning” does the dream suggest? What sort of business could I possibly have “exceptional luck” with? I am stumped.
In truth, the dream probably means nothing in regards to my future. The rainbow, however, will always mean something to God and man:
From Genesis 9:
8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Today’s blog comes from a “Daily Writing Prompt”. The prompt reads: “Do you remember your favorite book from your childhood?” This prompt comes after I stumbled on a set of books that I had as a kid in a used book store.
The Charlie Brown Dictionary was a set of 8 books that had definitions of words. I remember my parents ordered these from somewhere and every month a new volume would arrive. I loved when a new volume would arrive. They had the entire set at this book store for the bargain price of $2! How can I pass that up?!
The writing prompt also comes a week or so after the baby shower. One of the things we want for our baby is a good library of books to read. We did receive some books at the shower, some of which I recognized, and some that I didn’t. Some of the books we received were books that I had read to my boys, and I am excited to share them with our daughter, too!
As I thought about the prompt, I don’t know that I can actually recall my “favorite” book as a kid. There are, however, many that I do remember vividly. I thought it might be fun to sit and off the top of my head, write about some of the ones I remember. I am sitting down to write this blog knowing that it will be incomplete. It will be incomplete, because I know I am going to probably miss a lot of them. Here goes:
The Poky Little Puppy
When I was growing up I think I had every one of the “Little Golden Books”. Of all of them, this is the one that immediately comes to mind when I think about my childhood. I remember buying it when my oldest was a baby and reading it to him. I really didn’t remember the story up until that point, but for me to remember it for so long, I am just guessing it was a favorite. I remember there being many Disney stories that were in the Little Golden Book collection.
Another Little Golden Book that I had, and eventually shared with my sons was a Sesame Street book.
The Monster at the End of This Book
As a child of the 70’s, I watched a lot of PBS. Sesame Street was a show I watched faithfully. Mr. Hooper was still alive when I was watching Sesame Street! The adventures of Ernie and Bert, The Count, Big Bird, Grover, and Kermit helped me learn letters and numbers. I mentioned in a previous blog that I had an Ernie hand puppet. I also had a stuffed Grover. I liked him cause he was always so silly. Grover is the star of this book. It is such a fun book to read and I am sure that it made me laugh as a kid, as much as it made my boys laugh! I can’t wait to share this one with Ella.
Dr. Seuss Books
I probably had every single Dr. Seuss book ever written! They were very popular with my generation. I have found that people either love or hate his books. I had a friend who just loathed when her son would pick Green Eggs and Ham to read. I could never figure out why.
I remember I was doing mornings on B95 and it was Dr. Seuss’ birthday. We had one of the contestants from American Idol (Phil Stacey) in town to do a show for us. We were talking about Dr. Seuss books with our newsman, Hal Maas earlier in the show, and he couldn’t remember half of them (which we razzed him about often). We actually had Phil Stacey read “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” on the air! The book has all kinds of silly noises, and Phil played it up on the air! It was so silly to hear him reading this, but he told us how much fun it was!
I am sure I will be reading Ella many of his books.
Three Little Kittens
This was one of Dante’s favorite books. I think he loved it because of the cat noises I used to make while reading it to him. I am almost positive that this was another book my mom read to me. This is a must for me to read to Ella, especially since we have two cats at home.
Like I said, I KNOW I am forgetting others that were probably read to me as a child. I am hoping that those of you who are close to my age will offer us some of YOUR favorites. By doing that, maybe you’ll refresh my memory about other books from my childhood.
Books I Read to the Boys
The books above were books I loved growing up, and read to my boys. The following books are some of my favorites that I remember reading to them at bedtime. These will all be in Ella’s library, because I love them all!
Goodnight Moon
This book is so simple. I loved saying goodnight to all of the objects and having the kids point to them. Dante’ would always make a “Squeak” noise when we said good night to the mouse.
This book came in very handy when trying to teach about sharing and being selfish. The moral of the story and showing how sharing with others can make everyone happy is a great lesson that even adults need to remember.
The Kissing Hand
This one was voted one of the Teacher’s Top 100 Picture Books for Children. I read this to both boys especially as it got closer to when they were going to preschool. It’s really a great book to help children deal with the “separation” issue of going to school. Our book came with all these little red heart stickers and I think Dante’ used to put them on his backpack or pencil box.
The Going To Bed Book
Sandra Boynton has so many great books for kids! I loved reading this one every night. It was so fun and her characters are just so cute! This is just one of MANY of her books that I loved.
I’m Thankful Each Day
Probably one of my top 5 books to read! One of my favorite bible verses is I Thessalonians 5:18 which reads: “In every thing give thanks”. Raising children, we want them to be thankful! We tell them to say “please” and “thank you”. What I love about this book is that you see this little boy who is full of gratitude. He is thankful for big things in his life, as well as the small things. He is so grateful – and happy! It is a must for Ella’s bookshelf!
Snowmen At Night
I love this book for so many reasons. Remember when you were a kid and you’d make your snowman? Then the next day you’d come out and he’d look a little different? It always made me wonder what he’s been up to! That’s exactly what this book is about. What do snowmen do at night?! This book is just so much fun to read and the illustrations are a hoot, too!
This book was a favorite of both my sons! Caralyn Buehner wrote a few sequels to this too (Snowmen At Christmas, Snowmen At Play, Snowmen At Work, Snowmen All Year)! My goal is to have all of these in Ella’s library.
Reading Dads Rock!
Reading is SO important! The great stories that are found in books will fuel a child’s imagination for years and years! A parent reading to their child is one of the greatest things in the world. It is quality time together. It is bonding time. It is something that I cannot wait to do with our daughter. Bring on the bedtime stories!!
November 10, 1969 – a wonderful little show debuted on PBS for kids called Sesame Street. It helped children learn letters, numbers, and over the years has tackled subjects like death, divorce, hurricanes, and autism. With human and Muppet residents, and many guest stars, the show has been an incredible educational program.
I grew up with Sesame Street. I remember the songs “The Ladybug Picnic”, “The Alligator King”, “The Pinball Number Count”, “Sing (Sing a Song)”, “The People in Your Neighborhood”, “Rubber Duckie”, “C is for Cookie”, and, of course, “Ma Nah Ma Nah”. I remember when Hooper’s Store was still run by Mr. Hooper!
When my boys were growing up, I sat down with them and watched the show of my youth. Elmo had pretty much become the face of the show, as the last 20 minutes of it was dedicated to Elmo’s World. Some of my favorites were still around, though. Ernie and Bert were still talking about pigeons, bottle caps, and Rubber Duckie. Oscar was still grouchy. Big Bird and Snuffy were still best friends (I remember when nobody but Big Bird could see Snuffy!). Cookie Monster was still crazy for cookies. Count Von Count still told you the number of the day, and Grover was still Super Grover (and still occasionally drove that one blue Muppet guy crazy in the restaurant).
Some new Muppets have surfaced over the years and some have gone away. I read an article about Sesame Street that estimates that there were over 1000 characters on the show in 50 years. Here are some characters that were on when I watched, but are no longer. Some you may remember, some you may not.
Kermit the Frog
Kermit, of course, went on to great success as the host of The Muppet Show, but he was your on the street reporter on Sesame Street. He often drew numbers and letters and taught us about them. He also would often be found interviewing another “missing” Muppet….
Don Music
Don Music was voiced by the late Richard Hunt. Don was a musician, lyricist, and pianist who would write songs. These songs were often close to real songs, and Kermit would often steer Don to the real lyric. Up until Kermit, Mary didn’t have a little lamb, she had a bicycle!
Don would struggle to write his songs and would often get frustrated and band his head on the piano (or wall, or whatever) and yell, “I’ll never get it!” The word is that kids at home laughed at this and would often imitate Don’s actions. I’m guessing banging your head on a piano in real life probably hurts more than it hurt Don. Sadly, his character was retired.
Roosevelt Franklin
I guess Roosevelt Franklin is probably the most famous of the “retired” Muppets. Matt Robinson, who also was the first Gordon on Sesame Street, provided the voice for him. He has his own school – Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School. Why was he retired? One article I read said this:
“Parents wrote to the Children’s Television Workshop to complain that Roosevelt was a negative stereotype of African-American children, citing his rowdy nature and the fact that his classes closely resembled after-school detention. Roosevelt only lasted from 1970-1975, but he has appeared in many Sesame Street books.”
It’s been a long time since I have seen a clip of him, so it’s hard for me to remember just how “stereotypical” he was.
Professor Hastings
This guy was a professor. In high school (and in college), there is nothing worse than a teacher or professor who is just plain boring. What was funny about him was that he was SO boring, he’d put himself to sleep while lecturing on letters or numbers. He wasn’t on the show too long. Guess he was REALLY boring!
Herbert Birdsfoot
Seen here with Grover (who was often his assistant), Herbert stepped in when Kermit the Frog was phased out. He began to teach numbers and letters with Grover’s help. Kermit, however, did return to Sesame Street on occasion over the years, and Herbert was eventually retired by the sixth season of the show.
Bruno, the Trashman
Bruno was created by Caroll Spinney (the voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch). During the first few years of the show, Oscar couldn’t really move around. If he wanted to move, a cast member had to carry his trash can somewhere, or they showed the can moving with two feet under it. Spinney saw a puppeteer on the Gong Show and it inspired Bruno. With Bruno, he could walk with Oscar’s trash can, and operate him while doing so thanks to a hole in the stomach. Bruno never spoke. He appeared in the Sesame Street movie Follow That Bird and then spent many years in storage. While in storage, Bruno deteriorated and the decision was made to not rebuild him.
Sherlock Hemlock
I always loved this guy! He was voiced by the great Jerry Nelson. He was “the world’s greatest detective”, and obviously a rip off of Sherlock Holmes. I remember him yelling, “Egads!” anytime he “discovered something. He was a very prominent character in the 70’s and 80’s, but was phased out as newer characters were introduced. He is still a very popular character in the German version of Sesame Street.
The Amazing Mumford
Mumford is another Muppet voiced by Jerry Nelson. Remember his magic words? “Ala Peanut Butter sandwiches!” I believe the picture above is from a show where he cannot make the cookie (with the letter of the day) disappear. Cookie Monster, of course, finds a way to make it disappear – he eats it.
Guy Smiley
Guy Smiley was the “perfect host”. He hosted quiz shows, contests, and other things that needed “a host”. I always loved his name! When I was a kid, Guy was on almost every show, but you’re lucky if he shows up today. That’s a shame. His name alone should make you smile!
Happy 50th Birthday!
It is just amazing that this show continues to be a wonderful source of learning for children. Television is not such a friendly place for kids today. Even some of the cartoons made for kids, tend to cross a line. The songs and characters of Sesame Street will continue to help kids learn the alphabet and numbers for years to come, as well as tackle some tough life issues.
Thanks for the memories! Happy Birthday, Sesame Street!
40 years ago this week, The Muppet Movie hit theaters. My brother and I always made it a point to watch the Muppet Show on TV. It was always fun to see the famous guest stars interact with Kermit and the gang. If I am being honest, I am still upset that the final 2 seasons of The Muppet Show has yet to come out on DVD!
The movie itself was the 10th highest grossing film of 1979 and was loaded with cameos from celebrities like Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Milton Berle, Dom Deluise, Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Mel Brooks, Telly Savalas, and so many more. The cameo by Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy is especially special, because Bergen passed away shortly after he shot his scene in 1978. Bergen was a hero of Muppet creator Jim Henson, and the movie is dedicated to his memory.
The movie itself is a masterpiece. It remains, in my opinion, the best of all the Muppet films. Jim Henson did things in this movie that had never been done before – we saw Muppets walking, and Kermit riding a bike!!!!
The movie had a great story and thanks to the writing of Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher, some really amazing music! The soundtrack includes “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” (which would be performed at Jim Henson’s funeral), “Never Before, Never Again”, and the bluesy, “I Hope That Something Better Comes Along”. All of these are great songs in their own right, but for Tune Tuesday, and in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of The Muppet Movie, here are MY favorite songs from the film.
Can You Picture That?
I have always loved Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem! First of all, what a great name for a band! Second, Dr. Teeth was always so “hip.” Floyd and Janice were “like totally far out!” Animal was one hell of a drummer and I Zoot could really nail a sax solo! I always loved how they could take a standard song like “Tenderly” and rock it out! Check out this groovy track!
Oh yeah, whoo
Everybody’s lover, everybody’s brother, I wanna be your lifetime friend
Crazy as a rocket, nothin’ in my pocket, I keep it at the rainbow’s end
I never think of money, I think of milk ‘n honey, grinnin’ like a Cheshire cat
I focus on the pleasure, somethin’ I can treasure, can you picture that?
Can you picture that?
Hey Floyd, take a verse
Let me take your picture, add it to the mixture, there it is I got you now
Really nothin’ to it, anyone can do it, it’s easy and we all know how
Now begins the changin’, mental rearrangin’, nothing’s really where it’s at
Now the Eiffel Tower’s holdin up a flower
I gave it to a Texas cat
Fact is there’s nothin’ out there you can’t do
Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you
Beat down the walls, begin, believe, behold, begat
Be a better drummer, be an up and comer Can you picture that?
Can you picture that
All of us are winnin, pickin and a-grinnin, Lordy but I love to jam
Jelly-belly gigglin’, dancin’ and a-wigglin’, honey that’s the way I am
Lost my heart in Texas, Northern lights affect us
I keep it underneath my hat
Aurora Borealis, shining down on Dallas, can you picture that?
Can you picture that?
Can you picture? You gotta see it in your mind
Can you picture? You know it’s quick and easy to find
Can you picture? You don’t have to buy a frame
Can you picture? Can you picture that?
Can you picture that?
Use it if you need it
Don’t forget to feed it
Can you picture that?
Movie Fact: The Studebaker in the movie is currently housed at The Studebaker Museum in Indiana.
Movin’ Right Along
There is just so much to love about this song! Kermit and Fozzie are traveling the open road in the Studebaker mentioned above. It’s really the perfect song to kick off any road trip. It’s just a fun song. As I watch this scene now, I think about how many times my buddies and I would hop in my Caprice Classic in high school, pop in a “driving mix” tape and sing along to songs as we drove around wasting gas. We were so much like Kermit and Fozzie!
Movin’ right along in search of good times and good news,
With good friends you can’t lose,
This could become a habit!
Opportunity knocks once let’s reach out and grab it (yeah!),
Together we’ll nab it,
We’ll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it!
(Cab it?)
Movin’ right along.
Footloose and fancy-free.
Getting there is half the fun; come share it with me.
Moving right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
We’ll learn to share the load.
We don’t need a map to keep this show on the road.
(Hey, that song is sounding better Fozzie.)
Movin’ right along,
We’ve found a life on the highway.
And your way is my way,
So trust my navigation.
California here we come, the pie-in-the-sky-land.
Palm trees, and warm sand.
Though sadly we just left Rhode Island.
(We did what?!)
(Just forget it.)
Movin’ right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
Hey LA, where’ve you gone?
Send someone to fetch us, were in Saskatchewan!
Movin’ right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
You take it, you know best.
Hey, I’ve never seen the sun come up in the West?
Movin’ right along.
We’re truly birds of a feather,
We’re in this together and we know where we’re going.
Movie stars with flashy cars and life with the top down.
We’re storming the big town,
(Yeah, Storm is right should it be snowing?)
(Uh, no I don’t think so…)
Movin’ right along,
Do I see signs of men?
Yeah, “welcome” on the same post that says “come back again.”
Moving right along, nice town!
Footloose and fancy-free,
You’re ready for the big time…
Is it ready for me?
Movin’ right along,
Movin’ right along,
Movin’ right along,
Movin’ right along
The Rainbow Connection
What an amazing song this is! It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (it lost to a song no one remembers), it was a Top 40 hit (reaching #25 on the charts), and has been covered by artists like The Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, Kenny Loggins, Jason Mraz, Gwen Stefani, and The Carpenters (just to name a few!). The American Film Institute named the song one of the top 100 songs in their AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Songs list (it came in at #74).
Jim Henson told the song writers that the opening song would be Kermit in a swamp singing with a banjo. According to Paul Williams, he and Kenny Ascher wrote most of the song fairly quickly at Williams’ house, but got stuck trying to think of appropriate words for the part in the chorus that eventually became the phrase “the rainbow connection”; they were looking for a way to tie in the chorus to the song’s theme of rainbows. As they sat down for dinner with Williams’ then-wife, Kate Clinton, they explained to her their predicament of looking for a phrase that would provide “a rainbow connection”, then realized, in the course of explaining the problem to her, that the phrase “the rainbow connection” would itself be a good fit.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Paul Williams explained how the song was recorded. He said that when the song was being recorded in the studio, Jim Henson started by simply performing the song himself in Kermit’s voice. However, there was a feeling that something was missing. Williams said that somebody, he doesn’t recall who, suggested that Kermit should give the song a try. Henson then took the Kermit the Frog puppet into the recording booth with him and performed the song with the world’s most famous piece of green felt. He says that “Kermit sang it brilliantly! One can only imagine what this looked like to the people working on recording the song. Kermit the Frog himself, with Jim Henson standing behind him, really did sing “Rainbow Connection.” Clearly, this was the thing that was missing. The recording would then be perfect, and would go on to inspire millions in The Muppet Movie.
Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what’s on the other side
Rainbows are visions
But only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
So we’ve been told
And some choose to believe it
I know they’re wrong, wait and see
Some day we’ll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
Who said that every wish
Would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star
Somebody thought of that
And someone believed it
And look what it’s done so far
What’s so amazing
That keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see
Someday we’ll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
All of us under its spell, we know that it’s probably magic
Have you been half asleep?
And have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name
Is this the sweet sound
That called the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same
I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it
It’s something that I’m supposed to be
Someday we’ll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
La da da di da da dum da duh da da dum di da ohhh
Happy Anniversary!
40 years later, and this movie still amazes me. It never gets old. I still enjoy watching it and I still tear up during the finale. 40 years later and I agree with the Swedish Chef – “Der Flim is Okie Dokie”!
I’m sure if I asked you about your childhood friends, you could easily spout off many of them by name. Me too! As a matter of fact, I am lucky enough to still see and talk regularly with my best friend from elementary school. Yesterday’s blog about Mr. Rogers got me to thinking on my way home from work about some of the other friends I had growing up. These aren’t friends that I met personally, mind you, these are the TV friends who helped me learn my letters, numbers, parts of speech, and right from wrong. Some of them were there to take me on adventures against bad guys. From various kid shows, there were plenty of friends to keep me company on days when we were snowed in, days it was raining, or on days when you were home sick from school.
Sesame Street
“Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street”? I spent many mornings with the gang from Sesame Street! There were so many characters on that show. Many are still there, while some are long gone. The first “muppet” to appear on the show is still there – Big Bird. Early on, he would talk about his invisible friend “Snuffy” Snuffalupogus. We could see him, Big Bird could see him, but none of the humans on the show could. Now, everyone can see him.
Kermit the Frog, long before he starred on and hosted The Muppet Show”, was a regular on Sesame Street. He often showed up in a trenchcoat and reported the “news”. He also popped in on music composer Don Music, who was often having trouble writing a song. Word is Don was cut from the show cause he always banged his head on the piano.
Remember Grover? He was voiced by Frank Oz … who literally used the same voice for Yoda in the Star Wars films! Grover would crack me up as the waiter who always seemed to annoy that one guy who was always trying to order something at the restaurant.
Ernie and Bert were pals. They were much like my friends and me. They could annoy each other, and at they same time, they liked each other. They fished together, they built snowmen together, they each had their own interests and yet, they still got along. Ernie was the trickster and Bert was usually the target.
Count Von Count was probably my favorite. He was obsessed with numbers and counting. He lived in a castle and his thoughts were often accented by thunder cracks and lightning! He loved counting so much, he often laughed afterward. “Two knocks on the door…..ha ha ha (thunderclap)!”
Speaking of counting, anyone who watched Sesame Street remembers the pinball count. It was your typical jazzy, funky music where an animated pinball rolled around in the machine counting to 12. You can sing it right now, right? So many great other songs were on this show: I Don’t Want To Live On the Moon, The Alligator King, The Ladybug Picnic, Rubber Duckie, It Ain’t Easy Being Green, C is For Cookie, and of course, Mahna Mahna!
I also remember Sherlock Hemlock (who solved mysteries like Sherlock Holmes), Roosevelt Franklin (an African American Muppet who was cut from the show because they felt it was too stereotypical), The Twiddlebugs (who lived outside in Ernie’s window box), and Guy Smiley! There’s a name! Guy Smiley!
The Electric Company
“Hey, you guys!” was often heard shouted by the great Rita Moreno in the opening theme. This was just a “cool” way to learn! While there are many different segments aimed at teaching kids things some of them stand out far more than others. For example, the Soft Shoe Sillhouette, as they were called, featured two people in silhouette pronouncing a word. The first would say “Sh” and the other would say “ip”. They would say it over and over until eventually, they would say “Ship”. I remember how much that helped me learn to read by sounding out words.
As far as my friends from the show, well I have to start off with Easy Reader. He was played by none other than Morgan Freeman! He was so cool and he thought reading was cool. If reading was cool enough for Easy Reader – it was cool enough for me!
Another character who helped me learn to read was Otto the Director, played by Rita Moreno. She would try so hard to get the actors to remember their lines. They would always forget the one word they had on the cue card.
Then there was Spiderman! Yes, Spiderman was on the Electric Company! Spidey’s Super Stories featured Spidey on an adventure and he never spoke, well, audibly anyway. He “spoke” in balloons, like in the comic books. The audience had to read what he was saying. Eventually a comic book called Spidey’s Super Stories was produced by Marvel comics.
Captain Kangaroo
“Good Morning, Captain”. The show would begin with a montage of celebrities and non-celebrities saying “Good Morning, Captain” and eventually, there he was – Captain Kangaroo – saying “Good morning” to you. In an interview once, Bob Keeshan said the show was kind of like a “nice visit to your grandparents house”.
Some of the friends on this show included the farmer. “Mr. Green Jeans”, “Mr. Bunny Rabbit”, and “Mr. Moose”. Mr. Moose was my favorite. He always seemed to tell some kind of knock knock joke which led to a bunch of ping pong balls falling on the Captain.
One thing I remember about this show was the cartoon Simon. It was a British cartoon about a kid who had a magic piece of chalk. With that chalk he could create all kinds of things for some sort of adventure. What I remember about it was the theme: “Well you know my name is Simon, and the things I draw come true…” Mike Meyers did a sketch on SNL based on this with Danny DeVito…a must see if you remember Simon.
The Kroft Super Show
So this show was one that I had kind of forgot about. I was reminded of it after discussing some of the other shows with a friend. I don’t recall what network it was on, but I seem to remember it being on before or after Land of the Lost.
Do you remember Dr. Shrinker? Cheesy 70’s programming at it’s best! Dr. Shrinker is some sort of mad scientist who shrinks a bunch of teenagers and they spend the entire episode running away from him and trying not to get caught by him or his henchman, Hugo. Hugo was played wonderfully by the great Billy Barty! What I remember most about this was how they had these huge oversized props behind the actors to show how “tiny” they were.
You thought Batman 66 was cheesy?? This show introduced us to Electra Woman and Dyna Girl! Electra Woman was played by Deidre Hall and Dyna Girl was Judy Strangis. There were two crime fighters who posed as news reporters when not fighting crime. They wore these huge things called ElectraComs on their wrists that allowed them to speak to each other and it also served as a gadget that got them out of pretty much any situation (just like Batman’s utility belt). Dyna Girl was basically a female Robin and instead of yelling “Holy (fill in the blank)”, she would yell “Electra Wow!” LOL!
A highlight of this cheesy show was their scientist friend, Frank Heflin. He helped them by staying at the Electra Base (like the Bat Cave) and operated the CrimeScope (like the Bat Computer). He was played by the great character actor Norman Alden. He was in many movies, and provided the voice for Aquaman and Green Arrow on the Super Friends cartoon. He also was the café owner in the café where Marty McFly meets his father at in the 1950’s in the classic film Back to the Future.
Next time … The Parts of Speech, History, and Musical Math …
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 