Let's be honest, everybody... we probably learned a lot more from Schoolhouse Rock than we did from our actual schools. No disrespect towards my teachers, of course, but I don't even remember anyone even saying the word "conjunction" at any point when I was in school. The only thing school taught me that Schoolhouse Rock didn't was how disturbing having to use a public bathroom was.
What's that? You've never heard of Schoolhouse Rock? Well, I suppose I could sing a catchy song to help you learn about it, but A) this is a written format so you wouldn't be able to hear it and B) I'm not much of a singer anyway. So instead, I'll just explain it to you the way I usually do: in the 1970s, advertising executive David McCall noticed that his son had difficulty learning multiplication tables but could memorize Rolling Stones songs with ease (I think we can all relate to that). So David hired musician Bob Dorough to write a song that would teach multiplication, a song that would eventually become "Three is a Magic Number". Tom Yohe, an illustrator at David's agency of McCaffrey and McCall, created visuals to accompany the song, and then television producer Radford Stone suggested that David pitch the idea to ABC as a TV series. At the time, the vice president in charge of programming at ABC was Michael Eisner, and when they pitched the idea to him he liked it - as did Chuck Jones, who Michael had brought with him to the pitch meeting. At the time, Chuck had a TV show on ABC for kids called Curiosity Shop, and so the pilot episode of that show included "Three is a Magic Number", making it the television debut of Schoolhouse Rock.
Schoolhouse Rock wasn't a series per say - it was a bunch of shorts that aired as part of ABC's children's lineup, which also included Time For Timer and The Bod Squad. In total, seven "seasons" of Schoolhouse Rock were produced - the original "Multiplication Rock" in 1973, "Grammar Rock", "America Rock", "Science Rock", "Computer Rock", "Money Rock", and the most recent one; 2009's "Earth Rock". I don't think Schoolhouse Rock was still airing on ABC when I was born, but my parents made sure I knew about its existence by buying the DVDs and at least one of the soundtrack albums. I also vaguely remember watching at least one short in school. Now, kids can discover Schoolhouse Rock for themselves by going on YouTube or Disney Plus.
Since this is a blog about animation, I think it'd be ridiculous not to do at least ONE post about such a big part of animation history. I was originally going to rank all sixty-six of the songs, but I quickly discovered that some of them I didn't have a whole lot to say about. So instead, I'm doing a top twenty list (ten seemed like too little) - with my favorite songs from the show listed in no particular order. I'm sure lots of other people online have already done that, but who cares? Let's get started!
"Fireworks"
I think the songs of Schoolhouse Rock that I'm the most familiar with are the ones from "America Rock" - my family had the soundtrack album and listened to it in the car, especially around the Fourth of July. Who doesn't love swingin' jazz music? And what is the Fourth of July without fireworks? Well, it'd probably still be the Fourth of July, but we still want to see fireworks. And we associate fireworks with Independence Day so much that it seems only natural to use 'em as a metaphor for what our ancestors did to gain freedom.
"Shot Heard Round the World"
Yeah, you can expect to see a LOT of "America Rock" songs on this list (I listened to the soundtrack album so much it's kind of jarring to hear the versions of these songs with sound effects!). Hamilton wishes it covered the Revolutionary War as well as this song does. This is also the first song on the list to feature the voice of Bob Dorough, whose folksy voice brings a lot of personality to these songs.
"I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College"
This song came out in 2002 as a response to the 2000 Election. Bob Dorough and Jack Sheldon are both featured, but it's Jack who gets the most to do as the voice of Boothy. You've gotta love the Dixieland-esque big band music, and the song takes us back to a simpler time when a new president might've actually been something to be happy about, as opposed to us being horrified by the fact that Donald Trump is in the White House AGAIN (seriously, WHY?).
"Walkin' On Wall Street"
You've heard of the Wolf of Wall Street, but do you know about the Pigeon of Wall Street? Neither do I - to be honest, until I gave this song another listen while going through songs from "Money Rock", I didn't remember watching this one at all. But I'm glad I rediscovered it! This song really nails the vibe of a trip to New York, even if you DON'T visit Wall Street. David Frishberg brings a nice amount of zest and laid-backness (that's a word, right?) to Lester the Investor. And I like how, if you remove the lyrics, the song sounds like elevator music. That's a nice touch.
"A Tiny Urban Zoo"
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6qa0yb (the video of the song, for some reason, isn't on YouTube, so I had to use a Dailymotion link)
I should admit that the main reason I'm putting this one on the list is because it was animated by Kurtz & Friends, one of my favorite animation studios. Fortunately, the song is pretty good too. If you don't recall this song, that's because it's from the 2009 Schoolhouse Rock video "Earth Rock", which my sister and I received for Easter that year. The songs featured in it aren't quite as iconic as the ones from the show's original run, but they're still worth seeking out. This is a nice little ditty shedding some light on the smaller members of the animal kingdom who we can get a glimpse of without going to a zoo (or to Africa), the ones we generally see whenever we step out the door and usually take for granted: birds and bugs (and one lizard). After listening to it, perhaps you too will be inspired to build a tiny urban zoo of your own, instead of sitting here reading my crummy blog. The fresh air would do you good.
"Rufus Xavier Sasparilla"
This is one of those songs where I remember the visuals more than the song itself. But there's a lot of things that stand out about the song: the overly-long names, the animals that could easily make for great cereal mascots, the fact that the pets of Albert and the Sasparillas are the same colors as their clothes, the characters jumping on pogo sticks, and of course, Jack Sheldon's lively performance. Much like Bob Dorough, Schoolhouse Rock just wouldn't be the same without Jack Sheldon. My only complaint is that it's a little weird having the aardvark actually be in love with Rafaella. What would the children look like?
"I'm Just a Bill"
This is one of two Schoolhouse Rock songs that I basically HAD to put on the list somewhere. There's a reason why poor Bill is for all intents and purposes the mascot of the series. Even if you've never been an avid watcher of Schoolhouse Rock, there's a very good chance you at least know about Bill, how he's just a bill, and how he's sitting there on Capital Hill waiting to become a law. Bill has been spoofed on Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and even Johnny Bravo. Because of that appealing design and (of course) Jack Sheldon's voice, we find ourselves sympathizing with Bill and hoping that he'll become a law... even if we still don't quite understand how this whole law-making thing works.
"Energy Blues"
Oh, look. That's three Jack Sheldon songs in a row.
There aren't a lot of songs from "Science Rock" on this list - to be honest, I didn't watch that one a lot. Probably because it features the song "Them Not-So-Dry Bones", the one song from Schoolhouse Rock that scared the heck out of me. This was the OTHER song I remember the most from Science Rock. The one with the exhausted-looking Earth singing about how much energy we waste. And you think YOU don't have a lot of energy in the morning. "Energy Blues" does seem to be more about the environment than science per say, so it's not surprising that they featured the song in "Earth Rock" as well (Mr. Sentient Earth also appeared alongside the four polar bear hosts in interstitials between the songs).
"My Hero Zero"
A salute to the most unsung of numbers, this song feels almost like a lullaby between Bob Dorough's soothing performance and the gentle guitar music. And you can't tell me that little boy in the superhero costume isn't really cute.
Yeah, that's the main reason why it's on the list. I think the boy is adorable. Shut up, it's MY list.
"Busy Prepositions"
This 1993 addition to Grammar Rock, featuring both Bob Dorough and Jack Sheldon, I always found pretty funny. Just the visual of these little green bugs marching around amused me, as did the "Over the raaaaaaaaaaaaaaain-booooooooooow" parts. That was enough for me to (hey, that's a preposition!) put it on (another preposition!) the list. Despite being made in the 1990s, it feels a lot like something from the 1980s. The prepositions would be right at home alongside the Smurfs or the Care Bears.
"Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here"
Three Bob Doroughs sing about a store that sells adverbs. How come real ads for stores on TV aren't as much fun as this? Even if you still aren't sure after listening to it just what adverbs are, you'll certainly remember the main chorus... or the way they sing "Indubitableeeeeeeeeeee!" at the end. It will never leave.
"Tyrannosaurus Debt"
Perhaps the only good thing to come out of America being in debt. It's kind of strange that Tyrannosaurus Debt isn't a more iconic character - he's a giant dinosaur decked out in the colors of the American flag! Who WOULDN'T want a Funko pop of that?
Well, anyway, this song somehow manages to be upbeat, comedic, and a little ominous at the same time. And it features a cameo from Bill! I always loved how it featured a cameo from Bill.
"Unpack Your Adjectives"
A girl, accompanied by a gigantic knapsack and a turtle who can walk on two legs, explain just what the words we use to really describe things are. Blossom Dearie lends her Prairie Dawn-esque pipes to this song, which I'd use the following adjectives to describe with: catchy, bouncy, gentle, funky, and charming. Never before has hearing about somebody's lousy camping trip (which involved fog, rain, and angry bears) been this much fun.
Y'know what the best thing about this song is? It has a cover performed by Kermit the Frog. Take a listen to it - heads up, though, it's Matt Vogel's Kermit, and I'm in the minority of folks who like his take but I know there's still a lot of people who don't.
"This For That"
Hey, you got your B.C. in my Schoolhouse Rock!
Much like "Walking on Wall Street", I initially didn't remember this one. But then when I actually started watching the video, I thought, "Oh yeah, I think I remember watching this before..." I think it was the design of the Neandrethals that clued me in. I don't think there are any other Schoolhouse Rock songs done in calypso (if there are, please let me know), and that helps the song stand out. It doesn't help that it's incredibly catchy!
"Mother Necessity"
Were Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, Elias Howe, and all the other famous folk mentioned in this song really inspired to invent their inventions by their mothers? We might never know. But they do say that necessity is the mother of invention. One neat thing about this song is that ALL of the usual Schoolhouse Rock singers get to contribute to it - Jack Sheldon, Bob Dorough, Blossom Dearie, and Essra Mowhawk all on the same track, a rarity for the show (although according to IMDB, they recorded their parts separately). Depicting Mother Necessity as the literal mother of all these inventors was a very clever idea, and there's a lot of great rhymes and wordplay ("Elias, how?" deserves a mention in particular) in the lyrics. I also like how the STYLE of the song keeps changing with every new inventor brought up... one minute the instrumental is a folksy banjo, then it's a bluesy piano, then it's a frantic rock song! It's like a jukebox in song form!
"Interjections"
Performed by Essra Mohawk, this song is the reason why we know what words like "Darn", "Hey", "Ouch", and "Crap" (which obviously isn't mentioned in the song) are considered. Sort of a halfway point between pop and a march, there's just something so upbeat about "Interjections" that it's hard not to like it. The song also features the voices of Tom Yohe's children Tom Yohe Jr. (as Reginald) and Lauren Yohe (the cheerleader girl), as well as Lynn Ahrens (as Geraldine and the girl who gets an A Plus) and co-producer Radford Stone (the guy who shouts "AW! You threw the wrong way!"). Neat, huh?
"Lucky Seven Sampson"
For years, even though I didn't remember how the song went, I remembered that rabbit. That happy-go-lucky rabbit, perhaps a relative of Brer Rabbit and Bugs Bunny, who helped us figure out how to multiply by seven. Bob Dorough's folksy voice really shines here (and according to a book I recently got about Schoolhouse Rock, Bob considered Lucky Seven Sampson to be sort of an animal caricature of himself). In school, we used a different song to learn about multiples of seven. We took "Happy Birthday To You" and gave it the lyrics "Seven, fourteen, twenty-one. Aren't we having fun? Twenty-eight and thirty-five, isn't it great to be alive?". With apologies to my teachers, this song is much better.
"The Rainforest"
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6qa1ci
Here's another one from "Earth Rock", and one that stands out amongst the other songs from the show. Not only does it use a slightly different art style, reminiscent of a painting, but it has a more eerie, almost tribal sound to it. And it's performed by Tituss Burgess, one of the few celebrities that have participated in a Schoolhouse Rock song. I actually find it reminiscent of the songs from Really Wild Animals.
According to Candy Kugel, the sequence's director at Buzzco Associates, "Phil Kimmelman had moved to South Florida and, coincidently, I had planned a trip to Fort Lauderdale and was able to meet with him in person. He played a demo of “The Rainforest”, a song written by the very talented Lynn Ahrens. I was immediately hooked, and I started drawing and photographing the Floridian tropical plants and trees. The Schoolhouse Rock team asked me to design something very different from the wonderfully traditional cartoony Tom Yohe design. In fact, the producers were interested in Buzzco’s independent films - specifically the neon color on black (like A Warm Reception in L.A.) and the painterly Fast Food Matador (what could be more different?). I drew a colored storyboard in time for the final recording, sung beautifully by Tituss Burgess, who was performing in The Little Mermaid on Broadway. Encouraged by the reaction from Phil Kimmelman, the Schoolhouse Rock team and ABC/Disney, we threw ourselves into production!" This song does a great job of describing the Amazon Rainforest and why it's so important. You'd think people who participate in deforestation would get the hint!
"Three is a Magic Number"
The one that started it all! Since it's the first Schoolhouse Rock song ever written, I knew I had to put it on the list. I like how the song manages to be both upbeat and soothing at the same time. It also brings up a good point - three kind of IS the perfect number, not too much and not too little. Maybe. I just like the song. And I like the visuals that go along with it (especially that freaked-out octopus).
"Conjunction Junction"
This is the OTHER one that just HAD to be on the list. We have this song to thank for us knowing what conjunctions are. Conjunction Junction is such a memorable character, with his blue clothing and his Dr. Bunsen Honeydew-esque face - not to mention the pipes of Jack Sheldon. When you hear that voice, chances are you think of either Conjunction Junction or Bill. Plus, there's something weirdly charming about the janky animation of the train cars moving around. And that swingin' music... there's nothing NOT to love about this song!
And in the words of the girl from "Interjections"... darn! That's the end. What are some of YOUR favorite Schoolhouse Rock songs?
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