As someone who grew up with the iconic Schoolhouse Rock! videos of the 1970s, I’m saddened to hear the last creator has died after living a long full life.
Ars Technica: Schoolhouse Rock! inspired generations of kids. Its last creator just died
Newall was a creative director at McCaffrey and McCall advertising agency in the early 1970s. One day, agency President David McCall bemoaned the fact that his young sons couldn't multiply, yet somehow they remembered all the lyrics to hit songs by the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. He asked Newall if it was possible to set the multiplication tables to music. Newall happened to know a musician named Ben Tucker who played bass at a venue Newall frequented and mentioned the challenge to him. Tucker said his friend Bob Dorough could "put anything to music"—in fact, he'd once written a song about the mattress tag admonishing new owners not to remove it under penalty of law.
Let’s celebrate this amazing project that made America a bit greater, starting with the one that is probably most dear to our topic, I’m Just A Bill:
And I love how the lyrics of Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla, about pronouns, have held up so nicely:
Whew! Because of pronouns I can say, in this way: "WE found THEM and THEY found US, and now THEY are OURS and WE're so happy." Thank you pronoun!
Music is such a great way to learn. What other Schoolhouse Rock entries stuck in your memories?