# Free To Be...You And Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214 "2010-08-23T21:41:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/1 "2010-08-23T21:41:09Z")
The Target commercial using the title song reminded me of my (and everybody else I knew) favorite album as a child, _Free To Be…You And Me_. I bought the mp3 album on Emusic, and it’s amazing how much of it I remember. Of course, I probably listened to it a million times between the ages of 4 and 6. Holds up pretty well, and it must have been effective, as well, because I am indeed a pinko lefty. Shirley I’m not the only one who loved this album? ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/2 "2010-08-23T21:43:32Z")
I still listen to it! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/3 "2010-08-23T21:44:50Z")
I kinda knew the song, but I don’t remember the album too much. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/4 "2010-08-23T21:45:48Z")
I freakin’ loved it and don’t call me, surely. I didn’t have the album, but in school we saw the film strip. I still know all the words to “William’s Doll”. ETA: Saw the film strip a LOT. Damn. City schools gave us more film strips than math lessons, and to this day I don’t know my basic math facts. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/5 "2010-08-23T21:55:15Z")
Math doesn’t fit into the Communist ideology! Pretty awesome that there’s a story about how women don’t have to get married on there. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/6 "2010-08-23T21:56:38Z")
Augh, I’m having flashbacks to third grade and our music teacher who LOVED that album and made us sing songs from it. Over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/7 "2010-08-23T21:59:09Z")
When I was in 6th grade, I was a library helper and I knew how to run the projector. I must’ve seen the film of “Free to Be You and Me” about 20 times in 6th grade. I still enjoy it and bought it for my kids but it was lost in Katrina. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/8 "2010-08-23T22:06:22Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > When I was in 6th grade, I was a library helper and I knew how to run the projector. I call sneak-bragging. / I never got picked to help with the projector. Still bitter. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/9 "2010-08-23T22:23:33Z")
Love love love the album! What’s this about the theme song being in a COMMERCIAL?! I do not reacll giving permission for anyone to exploit my childhood in this manner. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/10 "2010-08-23T22:26:11Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Math doesn’t fit into the Communist ideology! > > Pretty awesome that there’s a story about how women don’t have to get married on there. And boys liking dolls! And crying being okay! Oh how far we’ve come… right? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/11 "2010-08-23T22:33:57Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > When I was in 6th grade, I was a library helper and I knew how to run the projector. I must’ve seen the film of “Free to Be You and Me” about 20 times in 6th grade. I still enjoy it and bought it for my kids but it was lost in Katrina. I have it on DVD, so I know it’s available. I have the soundtrack on my Zune and the sprog loves it. I’ve been known to sing along. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/12 "2010-08-23T22:35:40Z")
Had the album, it was one of my faves, until I discovered Lady Gaga. What? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/13 "2010-08-23T22:44:26Z")
My wife and I are huge nerds for this. She had the album when she was a kid and played it until it was in pieces, I saw it in grade school several times (as I recall) a year between kindergarten and 5th grade. We bought the DVD of it for our daughter a few years ago and she really loved it then. We’re going to have to find that thing and play it for the boy, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/14 "2010-08-23T23:10:14Z")
There was a film of it, too? I only ever knew the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/15 "2010-08-23T23:14:43Z")
Still have my original vinyl album. Bought it on cassette several years ago. Must get the digital form! I also have the songbook with sheet music and play the ones I like best now and then. (“Helping,” “When We Grow Up”) Oh, and my dog is a plumber. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/16 "2010-08-23T23:27:23Z")
> [@emmaliminal](#): > > Love love love the album! What’s this about the theme song being in a COMMERCIAL?! > > I do not reacll giving permission for anyone to exploit my childhood in this manner. :mad: You can watch the spot on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwy2ByNp_CE). It’s actually kind of a cute, if you can get past the corporate sponsorship. The song can be whatever it wants to be ( … for a price. I’m not sure that was on the album, but it must have been in there.) I looked this up after hearing the commercial and didn’t know that it was the New Seekers, not Marlo Thomas singing the theme. I think I never paid attention to it as a kid. I really loved the album but somewhat amusingly I had the distinct impression as a child that it was ‘something for girls’ (I’m a boy). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/17 "2010-08-23T23:27:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There was a film of it, too? I only ever knew the songs. [There was a TV special, mostly animated.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_to_Be..._You_and_Me#Television_special) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/18 "2010-08-23T23:33:02Z")
I listened to it as a kid, and loved it. I read an article awhile ago written by a woman who’d grown up listening to it and located a copy for her own young daughter. Her daughter was disinterested and when the woman eventually came to the realization that the message of FTBYAM is now pretty much a part of popular culture, and while it was important to an earlier generation, is no longer really relevant. Not really sure how if that’s true or not. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/19 "2010-08-23T23:40:38Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > I really loved the album but somewhat amusingly I had the distinct impression as a child that it was ‘something for girls’ (I’m a boy). Prolly cause it’s [hot](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/39/aa/fe28810ae7a06c7edfc80210.L.jpg) [pink](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B003PJQWBE/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books). ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214/20 "2010-08-24T00:30:25Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > ETA: Saw the film strip a LOT. Damn. City schools gave us more film strips than math lessons, and to this day I don’t know my basic math facts. Well, durrr, that’s what “Schoolhouse Rocks!” was for! I was definitely into this big-time. Why, just a quick refrain of “Glad to Have a Friend Like You” can take me back to Kansas, where I lived till I was 5 and attended a pre-school for the children of hippy-dippy professors and college students.🙂 _Bill told Jill, that it was lots of fun to cook Jill told Bill, that she could bait a real fish hook So they made ooey gooey chocolate cake, sticky-licky sugar topped And they gobbled it and giggled And they sat by the river and they fished in the water And they talked as the squirmy wormies wiggled_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-to-be-you-and-me/551214.md?page=2)