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You think you don’t know the brilliant jazz musician, pianist and songwriter, Bob Dorough, but you’re wrong. Remember all those funky School House Rock songs? Well guess who wrote about 50 of them?
Born in Cherry Hill, Arkansas, Bob was a product of the G.I. Bill and wound up in NYC taking classes at Columbia and soaking in the jazz scene. Eventually he was approached by School House creator David B. McCall, who came up with the idea for the TV show when he noted that his son couldn’t grasp multiplication tables but had memorized Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix lyrics.
Being a word-nut, “Conjunction Junction” has always been my fav. (Though, my hero is still Zero, naturally.)
You guys have a favorite School House song/memory? Is there one in particular that you still find yourself singing in the shower when you’re alone and feeling nostalgic?
Listen to an excerpt of “Conjunction Junction” here
Comments (27)
Comment
Yes! Lolly-lolly-lolly get yer adverbs here!!!
His jazz music is great, too: lots of bouncy, catchy tunes.
posted by Angie on 7-25-2007 at 8:11 am
I’m just a Bill. Bill sits on my desk (from a kids meal at Fazoli’s a few years back)
posted by Mark on 7-25-2007 at 8:14 am
I’ve found the Preamble to be the most useful song ever written.
posted by DW on 7-25-2007 at 8:15 am
Three Is a Magic Number. It’s so flower-child.
I have a CD that features all the SHR songs done by pop and rock artists. I love it. I play it a lot when I miss childhood, along with my CD of alt rockers co vering cartoon theme songs.
posted by Allison on 7-25-2007 at 8:31 am
Three Is a Magic Number. It’s so flower-child.
I have a CD that features all the SHR songs done by pop and rock artists. I love it. I play it a lot when I miss childhood, along with my CD of alt rockers co vering cartoon theme songs.
posted by Allison on 7-25-2007 at 8:31 am
I’ve got to agree with DW here–I’ve used the Preamble more times than I can count. It’s so catchy, too!
posted by Jacqui on 7-25-2007 at 9:13 am
I also prefer 3 is a magic number. I had that CD too, and Blind Melon was perfect for that song.
posted by Johnny Cat on 7-25-2007 at 9:14 am
The Preamble, being sung by almost 100 17-year-olds while prepping for the US Constitution test. The whole class thought watching Schoolhouse Rock was dumb as teenagers, until we had to take the test. You could hear people singing it under their breath during test time.
posted by audrey on 7-25-2007 at 9:17 am
He’s a lot more than just Schoolhouse Rock; check his website and dig his classic jazz albums. He did great stuff with Blossom Dearie. And he and Stu Scharf produced the classic “Spanky and Our Gang” albums in the late sixties, blend of folk, rock, jazz, baroque, and humor. A great musician.
posted by Phil Glatz on 7-25-2007 at 9:22 am
The Preamble song is forever (happily) burned into my brain, but I love the one about nouns too.
posted by Keeker on 7-25-2007 at 10:01 am
Interjections!
posted by Jen on 7-25-2007 at 11:05 am
Lets just say I’m livin on capitol hill
posted by Alex Kies on 7-25-2007 at 11:10 am
Lets just say I’m livin on capitol hill
posted by Alex Kies on 7-25-2007 at 11:10 am
My buddy and I use the “Interjection!” song every fall when we watch football: Interception!
But I loved all these, these came out on DVD a few years back, and bring back such great memories of my sisters and I watching Saturday morning cartoons. I only wish there was something for kids now that was as educational.
posted by Scott on 7-25-2007 at 11:47 am
My daughter is 5. She and I just watched the DVD 2 weeks ago and she enjoyed it as much as any other show. Anyone out there with kids who haven’t seen it should give it a try. Pronouns and Figure 8 were the big hits.
posted by DW on 7-25-2007 at 12:23 pm
“I’m Just A Bill”. For some reason that was the only one that stuck with me when I was a kid.
posted by jill on 7-25-2007 at 2:04 pm
In 4th grade one of the nuns showed us “Lolly lolly lolly get your adverbs here” and I used it in my english exam this year.
posted by Rachel* on 7-25-2007 at 2:32 pm
What? No love for the science wing of School House Rock?
E-lec-tricity, EEEEEE-lec-Tricity!
Inter-planet Janet and her comet team (Of coarse Pluto was included)
Dem bones, Dem bones, Dem dry bones…
Gravity - “Galileo, Galileo, Galilei…”
And more.
30 years on and my kids love them as much as I did.
posted by n2y2 on 7-25-2007 at 2:56 pm
While we are the topic of PSA cartoons. Let’s not leave out healthy-eating series “Time for Timer”. (Put the phrase into YouTube and the collection will show up.) He brought us classics like:
You are what you eat
Hanker for a hunk of cheese
You’re the only you you’ve got
Sunshine on a stick
It wasn’t a ‘Timer’ production, but there was also “Don’t drown your food” (also on YouTube) to discourage kids from using excessive condiments. It didn’t work on me; I still used a bunch of catsup on everything.
posted by n2y2 on 7-25-2007 at 3:11 pm
In 5th grade my teacher had us watch the one about the revolutionary war and “the shot hear ’round the world” and then in 8th grade my history teacher showed it as a joke. 90% of the class (strangely most of the kids had been in my 5th grade class too) could sign along. My teacher’s comment was “What type of sick soul would make you watch this enough to memorize it?” Soooo good.
posted by Amy on 7-25-2007 at 5:10 pm
Hey Little Twelve Toes (especially the Schoolhouse Rock Rocks version.) It’s still kind of pleasantly creepy.
posted by frumpiefox on 7-25-2007 at 6:22 pm
Inter planet Janet is a glaxay girl…Every Janet I meet gets to hear it.
posted by Julianna on 7-25-2007 at 6:24 pm
Ah, the brings back memories. In choir senior year, we watched the conjunction song for kicks and giggles on a free day and half the class was singing along, including me!
I’m going to have to go out and buy the dvd to see how many I remember.
posted by heather on 7-25-2007 at 11:36 pm
I remember in grade school when the teacher started talking about the Constitution, we said we know the Preamble already, and then the whole class sang it to her. It was classic.
Still have to get the DVD…
posted by Greg A. on 7-26-2007 at 5:24 am
The Preamble song helped me a lot in U.S. History in my junior year of High School, but I’ve always been rather a fan of I’m Just A Bill.
posted by Alice on 7-27-2007 at 4:05 pm
Hah, I am such a sucker for the preamble song. It caught on rather quickly when everyone found out that they had to learn the preamble of the constitution in one night. It got modified for the first few lines in the Declaration as well.
posted by l a r i s s a on 8-8-2007 at 9:06 pm
My favorites were definitely I’m Just a Bill and the Unpack Your Adjectives one. Not only did I watch the show every Saturday morning until I was 12, but last year in my English class my teacher showed all the Grammar Rock ones just for fun. The English ones are definitely my favorites, and they are so useful!
posted by Bethany on 1-17-2008 at 3:49 pm