So I Saw This Commercial...

[Lord Jim]

And just about as soon as I'd finally gotten the Underdog Theme Song out of my head, Apple started running this one...(the relationship between this and Apple is not immediately apparent...)

(Yeah, I could just describe it rather than post it, but I believe in sharing :



Interesting back-story to this one...

The first time I saw this commercial, I immediately recognized Robert Preston, and his distinctive baritone voice...(I'd never heard the song before)

And I started thinking; okay, I know this isn't from The Music Man....

Did Robert Preston play a football coach in an obscure musical that has been forgotten?

Then after a bit of Googling, I discovered that yes, it was in fact Robert Preston, but not from a musical...

In 1961, in response to a personal request from Jack Kennedy, he recorded this:

Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President's Council on Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. The song, "Chicken Fat", which was written and composed by Meredith Willson and performed by Preston with full orchestral accompaniment, was distributed to schools across the nation and played for students in calisthenics every morning.

So a little bit before my time, (kinda like "duck and cover" ) school children were all doing jumping jacks to Robert Preston's enthusiastic exhortations...

Is there anyone here who remembers being a party to this?

If Dale checks in, I'll bet he remembers...

[Guinevere]

Love this ad - but well before my time!

Looking forward to the app and associated devices. All the tracking stuff out there and I'm still lacking something decent for the pool.

[BoSoxGal]

I'm gonna download that one to my workout playlist!

[TPFKA@W]

Oh Holy crap LJ you just took me back to a dark and ugly place. Two years of morning high school PE. Every fricking morning she played this. EVERY. FRICKING. MORNING.

I hate you now.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Yeah LJ - adding to @W's post, my wife says 'thanks for the memory! (Not)'

I never heard of it in the UK for some reason..... exercise I mean.

[Lord Jim]

I had a feeling we might have some folks around here with less than pleasant memories of this...

[TPFKA@W]

I had a feeling we might have some folks around here with less than pleasant memories of this...

If only I had had telekinetic powers.....

[Crackpot]

this'll work just as well @w.

[Long Run]

Never heard it before and the schools I went to had PE. Must have been a limited time period, thank goodness.

[Econoline]

I would've been just starting Catholic HS right around then, and that would account for the fact that I've no recollection whatsoever of that song. (There was plenty of sadism but certainly no music at all, ever, in our PE classes!)

[Joe Guy]

I've never heard the song until now and it makes me want to smash my iMac and kill anyone who owns an iPhone.

[Daisy]

They're showing a UK variation of '"go you chicken fat" iPhone advert here.

Awful ear worm.

[Lord Jim]

Awful ear worm.

Yes, it does have that affect...

But I can only imagine how much worse it would be to hear it after all these years if I had begun every school day (like @W and Mrs. Meade) having to listen to it while doing early morning PE exercises...

If I'd had that experience, even the sound of Preston's voice singing 76 Trombones would probably send a chill up my spine...

this'll work just as well @w.

Good choice CP...

The first time I heard that extraordinarily insipid piece was in the late 70's, when I was in high school...

I thought it was a parody on sappy "Flower-child" "60s" music done either by the folks at The National Lampoon Radio Hour or Firesign Theater...

The lyrics were just so over the top...

"Save up all your bread, and fly Trans-Love Airways..."

"Come on, really? That has to be a put on; even in the hippie times they couldn't be that wet..."

Imagine my surprise....

and kill anyone who owns an iPhone.

Oh come on Joe, who do you think you're kidding?

You've wanted to do that all along...

[TPFKA@W]

I got no sound on that video CP, was I supposed to?

[Lord Jim]

That's funny, I never clicked on the video CP posted until now, because I knew what to expect...I'm not getting any sound either...(Maybe he was being kind... )

Here it is in all it's uh, glory:

[Crackpot]

I was just demonstrating the songs "psychic" abilities on you.

Seriously after the atrocious intro I quite like the song. Though I suppose it could be operating on some pain/pleasure principal.

[Lord Jim]

Cop's face is filled with hate,
Heavens above he's on a street called love

No, not Eric's best work I'm afraid...

[TPFKA@W]

I was just demonstrating the songs "psychic" abilities on you.

Seriously after the atrocious intro I quite like the song. Though I suppose it could be operating on some pain/pleasure principal.

After listening I am just confused.

[Joe Guy]

Cop's face is filled with hate,
Heavens above he's on a street called love

No, not Eric's best work I'm afraid...

Since the first time I heard that song I thought the line should be rewritten -

Cop knows it's the summer of love
Heavens above he's on a street called Haight.

When will they ever learn?....