Terry Gross spoke to Bob Dorough in 1996 when a roster of artists who grew up singing his songs, including the Lemonheads and Blind Melon, recorded a tribute album called "Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks." She asked Bob Dorough how the original animated series came about.ĭOROUGH: Well, let's see. He co-wrote with Ben Tucker the much covered song "Comin' Home, Baby," and collaborated with everyone from Hoagy Carmichael and the Fugs to Art Garfunkel and Nellie McKay. He recorded a Christmas album with Miles Davis, providing vocals as well as lyrics. At one point in his musical career, he played piano between comedy sets by Lenny Bruce. All eyes open - here I come.īIANCULLI: Bob Dorough, who died in 2018 at age 94, had a life and credits far beyond a Saturday morning children's show. A bushel of wheat and a bushel of rye - who's not hid? Holler I. Apple, peaches, pumpkin pie - who's not ready? Holler I. I'm going to close my eyes and hide my face and count to 100 by fives. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!")īOB DOROUGH: Now, everybody try to find a good hiding place. Other times when life is easy - oh - I rest, I sleep, I sit, I lie.īIANCULLI: Today on FRESH AIR, we salute the 50th anniversary of "Schoolhouse Rock!" - that's five times 10 - by revisiting an interview with Bob Dorough, the composer who wrote and sang that original tryout song for "Schoolhouse Rock!" "Three Is A Magic Number." Dorough was hired immediately as music director for the series and wrote all the songs for the initial short cartoons presented as "Multiplication Rock." Here's a taste of one written and sung by him about the number five. When I'm feeling really active - verb - I run, I ride, I swim, I fly. Turning in towards creation - verb - I make, I write, I dance, I sing. When I use my imagination - verb - I think, I plot, I plan, I dream. That's where I find satisfaction, yeah - yeah - to search, to find, to have, to hold. I put my heart in action - verb - to run, to go, to get, to give - verb. NE-YO: (Singing) I get my thing in action - verb - to be, to sing, to feel, to live - verb. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VERB: THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING") Here's the rapper Ne-Yo on that new special, singing his version of "Verb: That's What's Happening." Last week, ABC presented a primetime special, "Schoolhouse Rock! 50th Anniversary Singalong," with guest stars singing new renditions of old favorites. "Schoolhouse Rock!" won four Emmys, and some of its songs have persisted in pop culture. At the time, network TV was under increased scrutiny by politicians and watchdog groups, and the head of ABC children's programming eagerly made room for "Schoolhouse Rock!" That young ABC executive, by the way, was Michael Eisner, who later became CEO of the Walt Disney Company, which now owns ABC. The subject of the first series of cartoons was "Multiplication Rock," followed by "Grammar Rock," "America Rock," "Science Rock," "Money Rock" and "Earth Rock." The songs in those series included a number of informative earworms that educated young viewers in the 1970s and beyond - songs such as "I'm Just A Bill" and "Conjunction Junction."Īn advertising agency, McCaffrey and McCall, came up with the idea, commissioned a composer to write a song featuring multiplication tables, then took the song and animation storyboards to ABC. Each "Schoolhouse Rock!" segment was a three-minute interstitial cartoon inserted between ABC's other shows on Saturday morning. If you don't know how many years ago that was, you may not have watched enough "Schoolhouse Rock!" Like "Sesame Street," which had premiered on public television four years earlier, "Schoolhouse Rock!" set out to use catchy music and friendly visuals to teach kids about things, like whether the word thing was a noun or a verb. Last month was the golden anniversary of "Schoolhouse Rock!" the series of animated musical shorts that aired on ABC from 1973 to 1984. I'm TV critic David Bianculli, sitting in for Terry Gross.
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