# Electric Company theme song **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 1999, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987 "1999-07-07T18:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/1 "1999-07-07T18:43:00Z")
Does anyone remember the old children’s TV show “Electric Company?” In New York, when I was younger, it used to be on right after Mr. Rogers. The show always started with someone shouting “Hey you guys!”, then two sung lines (quite possibly the same line twice), then the beginning of the theme song “We’re gonna turn it on…” Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does anyone know what those first sung lines said? I could never make them out. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/2 "1999-07-07T18:47:00Z")
We’re gonna turn it on. We’re gonna bring you the power. ladadadada-dah dadadada-DAH dadadada-DAAAHHH The Electric Companeee The Electric Companeee The Electric CompanEEEEEE ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/3 "1999-07-07T18:54:00Z")
Chaim, you can listen to it here! [http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/70s/childtv/childtv.html](http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/70s/childtv/childtv.html) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/4 "1999-07-07T23:07:00Z")
Thanks, **Strainger** , that was fun. I listened to it and think I have the missing two lines: “We’re gonna light up the dark of night Like the brightest day in a whole new way”. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 1999, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/5 "1999-07-07T23:21:00Z")
The channel TV Land actually showed some episodes of Electric Company a few weeks ago. I heard a new channel coming (I think it’s called Noggin, not sure) that’s going to carry it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/6 "1999-07-08T02:02:00Z")
alright that one was easy but what about 3-2-1 contact. I seem to be the only one of my friends who remeber that one. * * * no matter where you go…there you are ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/7 "1999-07-08T02:18:00Z")
Not only do I remember 3-2-1 Contact, I remember Zoom! We’re gonna Zoom, Zoom, Zoom-ah Zoom! ## I worked as an intern at CTW publishing one summer, on one of their magazines. They publish “Sesame Street Magazine”, “3-2-1 Contact Magazine” and “Kid City”. “Kid City” was the name they changed “Electric Company Magazine” to, cause the show had been off the air for so long, the name didn’t have any meaning anymore. I don’t even know if they still publish those magazines. It’s been about 10 years. The Dave-Guy “since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/8 "1999-07-08T03:42:00Z")
Yup, they still publish Sesame Street and Kid City magazine. My kid just “graduated” from the former to the latter. 🙂 I [bold]loved [/bold] The Electric Company. Rita Moreno was on it, remember? Anybody remember who played the part of “Easy Reader”? Morgan Freeman! Was it “The Electric Company” that had the cartoon “The Adventures of Letter Man”? Remember? “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a word! It’s a plan! It’s Letter Man.” And would, like, add or remove a letter from a word to save the day? (HATE became HAT and they all had a good laugh, or something like that.) Man, I loved that show. * * * ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/9 "1999-07-08T11:11:00Z")
I enjoyed The Electric Company also, as much as my children. “The Adventures of Letter Man” were narrated by Joan Rivers, IIRC. But my favorite song was “Silent E”: Who can turn a plan into a plane? Who can turn a man into a mane? It’s elementary, it’s silent E. …and so on. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/10 "1999-07-08T14:32:00Z")
aseymayo: No, that’s not it. The lines I’m referring to aren’t in the song itself, but are right before it, between “Hey You Guys” and “We’re gonna turn it on”…sort of a prelude to the song. The lines sound like “Uber alles the Jewish” or something, said in a singsong voice. But obviously, that’s nonsense, and I’m trying to get the real words of those lines. Chaim Mattis Keller ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/11 "1999-07-08T16:04:00Z")
cmk, I think you’re remembering something that wasn’t there, or maybe it was an isolated incident. The way I remember the song is just how I heard it in the recording on that web site - “Heeeyyy yoouuu guuuyyyys!!”, (intro measure), “We’re gonna turn it on…” I remember Letter Man too! Didn’t he go on to host a late night talk show? ::groan:: BTW, that web site I posted the link to also has a _lot_ of “Zoom” stuff, in case you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/12 "1999-07-09T05:39:00Z")
Sorry, Chaim, I got a little confused there. I think it was just the excitement of hearing the song again. I remembered it the way Strainger posted it - with a lot of la’s filling in for the words I didn’t know. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/13 "1999-07-09T05:48:00Z")
> [@](#): > > what about 3-2-1 contact. 3-2-1 Contact Is the feeling Is the moment When everything happens Contact Is the reason Is the … That’s all I can remember, JL. Starring Mark, Lisa and of course the hottie Trini. Alphagene ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/14 "1999-07-08T19:06:00Z")
## Hey! DO you guys remember “Picture Pages?” , Bill Cosby’s valiant battle against illiteracy?? “Picture pages, Picture pages, runa dn get your picture pages, time to grab your crayon and your pencil…” and he had a special pen that would make a funky sound whenever he’d write with it?? I’m gonna start a thread at MPSIMS about people’s favorite tv show/commercial theme songs from the past… c’mon over “I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather - not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/15 "1999-07-08T19:44:00Z")
Is the Reason Is the Motion When everything happens Contact Let’s make Contact 3 2 1 Contact ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/16 "1999-07-08T20:12:00Z")
Electric Company was my favorite!!! They were so much _cooler_ than Mr. Rogers. Okay, sure, different age bracket, but hey, ya gotta have a fave! Also liked: Scooby Doo Bugs Bunny (of course!) Didn’t like: The Flintstones Wile E. Coyote * * * …it has never been my way to bother much about things which you can’t cure. - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court-Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/17 "1999-07-08T21:30:00Z")
The Electric Company: Currently shown in reruns on the new cable network “Noggin” (joint effort of Nickelodeon and CTW). Zoom: NEW EPISODES! Still a great series. Check your local listings on your public television channel(s). 3-2-1 Contact: Also being rerun on Noggin. Go to [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0190169](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0190169) for details about the series. * * * Carpe hoc! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/18 "1999-07-09T00:46:00Z")
Cmkeller The last two years of TEC they changed the theme song a little bit. Perhaps the reason is because the original could only be sung by castrated boy sopranos (noticed how the song kept going up in pitch and children are singing in falsetto at the end?). The words you are thinking of are Moving out in a new way Moving out in a new way There is a link for a TEC web site that includes both versions in realaudio format, but I can’t remember the link. I think it the first part of it was [member.home.net/](http://member.home.net/)??? Now. Who can supply me with the words to the ZOOM song? * * * Signature?? I don’t need no stinking signature. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/19 "1999-07-09T00:48:00Z")
You guys just made my day with the Electric Company stuff. What memeories! And 3-2-1 Contact was the coolest show when I was 10. The Bloodhound Gang-WTTWTOTD. From Captain Kangaroo-“you know my name is Simon, and the things I draw come true” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987/20 "1999-07-09T01:39:00Z")
Feelgood, here’s that site you’re talking about. It’s got a lot of good memories for TEC fans. [http://members.home.net/davechad/ec.html](http://members.home.net/davechad/ec.html) * * * Carpe hoc! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-company-theme-song/1987.md?page=2)