Thank you so much, Fenris, now I’ve got those “Free to Be” things running through my head too. We must be contemporaries.
I’ll just do what I’ve done before, and you might want to do the same–think of Bart and Lisa Simpson going through that ride at Duff Gardens. Remember the song?
Duff Beer for me,
Duff Beer for you.
I’ll have a Duff,
You have one too!
Ahhh, that’s better! Maybe there’s a commercial in there somewhere: “Duff Beer–Wipes out memories of That Girl in seconds!”
Seriously, count me in as another fan of The Point. “A point in every direction is the same as no point at all.” Somewhere in my vinyl collection is the soundtrack, and I’d love to see the film again–is it available on video, do you know?
It was, but for some reason they redubbed the video so that Dustin Hoffman’s voice is replaced by Ringo Starr?! (I love the Beatles, Ringo was an exceptionally talented performer, but boy is he distracting. You keep thinking “Why is Ringo Starr this kid’s father?”)
And Spoons? The Duff Beer song didn’t work. It remorphed back into “Free to be”
Duff Beer for me,
Duff Beer for you.
I’ll have a Duff,
You have one too!
Duff Beer for me
Duff Beer is free
Drink Duff Beer, it tastes like pee
For you and meeeeeeeeeeee
<horrible plunky banjos>
For Duff Beer
Where the drinking is free
For Duff Beer
Made in the green coun-try
For Duff Beer
Made with malt, hops, water, barley
and you and me
are free to drink
And then we’ll pee…
:eek:
It’s the proteus song: Anything you sing will turn into “Free to be!”
Just as an aside to Abe and Cal: I hadn’t heard of that Twain story (but when I get home, I’ll see if it’s available on Project Gutenberg.
From Abe’s description, it sounds like it was swiped for a series of early '70s Archie stories. Jughead would wake up with the obsession to talk and respond in rhymes. The obsession didn’t go away until the obsession was passed on, so they had to send Jughead out of town.
wow… definite flashbacks of kindergarten. I went to kindergarten in the early 1980s, to a great place, run by some really great, well, maybe not quite ex-hippie types, but close to that.
Anyways, I probably haven’t even thought of those songs since elementary school, but I totally remember them. Definite flashback. Fortunately for me, I’ve just got the Duff beer song stuck in my head on repeat.
Aaaaaaaghh! This whole thread is doing my head in! All the annoyingly catchy songs in the world are merging into one giant medley…
*It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears
It’s a world of hope and a world of fears
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware
I’ll have a Duff, you have one too!
Who can make the sunrise?
Sprinkle it with dew?
Thunderbolts and lightning
Very very fright –
Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
Don’t tell my heart, my achy breaky heart,
Comin’ home from our house Christmas Eve,
If there’s an audience to be found, he’ll come streaking a-round,
And I’m hungry like the wolf!
Can you hear the drums, Fernando,
And I’m Rosie real,
You light up my life
And I know that my heart will go on.
[uptempo Weird Al accordion solo]
Whatsamatta you? (Hey!)
Why you look-a so sad?
Over the horizon, what can it be?
Looks like it’s gonna be
in a land
where the rivers run free
in a land
with a green coun-try
in a land
with a shining sea
in a land
where the children are free
and you and me
are free to be
you and meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! *
[sub]jr8 crawls off into a corner and curls up, whimpering and faintly muttering “A, alligators all around…”[/sub]
Well now I need to know. “Free to be” ran on TV Land last month, but we didn’t have expanded cable then, so I didn’t get to see it. Which version did they use. I Must know!
Thank you again, Fenris. Now I’ve got Duff Beer and Free to Be stuff all rolling through my head together. Just had to make my day a little more surreal, eh?
And jr8? My monitor thanks you–as a result of your catchy song mixups, it is now wearing the coffee I was trying to drink. No real harm done though–thanks for the laughs!
Gah, I must at least try to get some work done now…
Sorry, I have nothing but fond memories of all of those. Maybe it’s because I’m a chick. Maybe it’s because my sister and I almost never got to watch TV, but we could listen to all of the audio we wanted.
Every night I put on “The Point” for my kids so they can fall asleep to it. The audio-only is sung AND narrated by Nilsson…when I finally saw the cartoon, it looked and sounded all wrong. My kids love it. Got me wondering if “The Phantom Tollbooth” is available on audio anywhere.
And maybe I’ll find some “Free to be…” songs on Morpheus and burn them for the kids…and every time I put it on for them I promise to think of you.
'74? I thought it was '72?! And I only saw the original too. Thankfully I missed the TVLand rebroadcast. I was in college in the early '80’s too, so we’re from the same era.
The Man Who: Free to Be did not have Ringo Starr. There was only the one version. The Point DID have a version with Ringo Starr (which was bizarre beyond words), as well as a version with Dustin Hoffman (who was wonderful) and a version with Alan Thicke (who wouldn’t be bad, actually).
Hamadryad, I don’t think the Chuck Jones version of The Phantom Tollbooth is available on audio, sadly. But it’s got some catchy songs: Henceforth, and forthwith
Let it be known by all men
That Rhyme and Reason reign once more
or Time is a gift
Given to you
Given to give you
The time you need
The time you need
To have the time of your life
jr8: You missed one. Somewhere in that mix you needed to toss a Sid and Marty Krofft themesong. Something like:
*Whatsamatta you? (Hey!)
Why you look-a so sad?
Over the horizon, what can it be?
**It’s Sigmund the Sea-Monster
And Johnny and Scott are friends.
The finest friends that ever could be
On the Land or
on the shining sea **
in a land
where the children are free
and you and me
are free to be
you and meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
*
Nope, couldn’t. With various tunes from Free to Be, Duff Beer, Small World, Bohemian Rhapsody, and The Point all rolling through my head, I couldn’t concentrate on the task at hand.
So instead, I came up with this:
*
Me and my Arrow,
Straight up and narrow
As long as we’re here
We’ll drink some Duff Beer
Just me and my Arrow.
Me and my Arrow
Taking the high road
To the big shining sea
Where we’ll drink Duff barley
And dance the fandango.
And living in a free country
Even though it’s a small world after all
There’s Duff Beer for me and Duff Beer for you
And thunderbolts and lightning on call.
Me and my Arrow
With a wheelbarrow
Taking puppets of Small World
And Duff Beer and That Girl
To the dumpster-i-no!
*
Try “Istanbul” by They Might Be Giants, Fenris. It always works for me. It leaves “Istanbul” stuck in your head, of course, but how can that be a bad thing?
For some reason, for years now I’ve been conflating the songs “Nature’s Mosquito” by Jonathon Richman and “Game of Love” by Katrina and the Waves:
“Bite bite bitey-why…teachin’ the game of love.”
I had a huge crush on Marlo Thomas when I was a wee tad. My mom had an issue of McCall’s that had a long fashion feature about Marlo, and I used to steal the magazine and gaze at the pictures for hours. This was before I knew about masturbation, so all I did was stare…
[Fixed the coding. -JMCJ]
[Edited by John Corrado on 10-04-2001 at 01:20 PM]
“Why they changed it, I can’t say
People just liked it better that waaaaaayy…”
Gee, thanks, Fiver.
And Fenris? I just have this to say:
One banana, two banana, three banana, four
He’s your friend when things get rough
The Bugaloos, the Bugaloos,
They’re in the air and in a land
where the rivers run free
in a land…
Ha! I remembered the Twain song, and actually found a copy.
Conductor, when you receive a fare, Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight cent fare, A buff trip slip for a six cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three cent fare, Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
Punch! Brothers, punch! Punch, punch with care,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare.
Punch, Brothers, punch! Punch, punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
I read a “tell-all” book about Marlo Thomas written by her chief servant and let me tell you this woman’s narcissism would make Barbra Streisand blush.
