Monday, July 20, 2009

In Observation of the Fortieth Anniversary of Apollo 11

If you can remember this jingle...






...you may remember what it was like to watch Bob McAllister's Wonderama on a lazy summer morning in 1969 when flying cars and jet-packs and Star Trek were just around the corner -- we'd probably have 'em by the time I was my forties. Stanley Kubrick said so, dammit. And we'd always have fantastic bubblegum jingles behind our ads.

True story: On a trip through Bolivia and Peru in about 1977, a street vendor with whom I'd struck up a conversation asked me how many times I'd been to the moon. Well, you know -- since the Americans had gone to the moon, all Americans traveled there regularly. Stands to reason.

I told him I'd been there three times. No sense in crushing his illusion of Yankee greatness.

9 comments:

bobby lightfoot said...

Vendedor: Cuantas vezes as ido a la luna?

Ned: Deme mas coca y te lo digo, juevon.

Neddie said...

Not entirely inaccurate, Bobby....

Deedledeedee said...

Love that.

Wren said...

Oh, dear. I remember that one. I also remember begging my Mom to buy some Tang. I wasn't into the Archies, though. Heh.

Bobby Lightfoot said...

I have something so funny to say about buying tang.

blue girl said...

Do tell, Bobby. Do tell.

Or, now that I think about it...maybe not!

Homefront Radio said...

Knowing Bobby he Bang-Shang-A-Lang'ed some 'tang.

Speaking of bubblegum, this is interesting. It seems to have two middle eights. Maybe the structure is confused from possible editing. Hell of a classy middle eight though, especially the turnaround back into the verse.

apophasis said...

That is interesting, Homefront.

Just as interesting to me, however, is that Bone Thugs' Crossroads is listed as a related video.

HomefrontRadio said...

Actually, this one is even better, even if it's probably SFW kitty porn for furries. Still, how did that get on the air?

The best bubblegum seem to only use I IV and V, and to lay on the smutty double entendres whilst sounding like butter wouldn't melt in your mouth.

Neddie, what *on earth* treatment did they use on the lead guitar to make it sound like a cat being rubbed against polystyrene? Any suggestions on what amp /effects chain i could try to reproduce it?