Music in Kids' Shows

[velvetpage]

I was watching the Backyardigans with Elizabeth just now. It's a Treehouse show with cute CG animals who imagine their backyard to be all kinds of different places. I think it's where she learned the word "pirate". Anyway, these characters were singing a song about how it was raining. Elizabeth started singing along by the second verse - she knows about rhyming now, she realized that every line was going to end in "ain". The melody they were using seemed very familiar to me, so I started sorting through my musical memory to place it. I went through every kids' song - no match. Then I went through common melodies that everyone seems to know. Still no match. Then I moved to musicals. And that's when it hit me.

A kids' show had taken the music from H.M.S. Pinafore and changed the words. They were singing, "I'm Called Little Buttercup".

I like the quality of Treehouse programming, overall. I always appreciate shows that bring non-kids' music into play on a regular basis. When I was little, it was the Smurfs. I still equate the third movement of the Pathetique Sonata with Gargamel's chase music, and "Morning" from the Pier Gynt Suite always conjures up images of Smurf Village for me. I'm very glad to see the new generation of children's programming does this, too.

Comments

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

To quote from "Dick Deadeye, or, Duty Done" (1975) (art by Ronald Searle)
"I'm called Little Buttercup, Dear Little Buttercup
Which I would much rather not;
But Ma called me Buttercup, Pa called me Buttercup,
Parents like that should be shot..."

I think Miriam Karlin provided the voice but I wonder ....*checks http://www.imdb.com *
YES it was. I bet you've never seen her in "the Rag Trade"
*PWEEEP* - EVERYBODY OUT!!!!