Episode 4: Songs Based on Fictional Childhood Characters

Spotify playlist: Fictional Childhood Characters

In this week's episode, I wanted to make a list of songs that were based on fictional childhood characters.  

Transcript

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Welcome to Mixtapes of Today, Episode 3, and I'm your host, Suze Jones. This week we are going to discuss rock songs that were based on fictional childhood characters. There are a lot of songs out there about fictional characters. They could be based on new characters created just for the song, or characters that have already been created. A lot of songs about characters from our childhood, more specifically, become theme songs for their show or movie. But this short list that I came up with this week is where the song either came first, where the show or movie was based on that song, or the other way around, the song was based on a character. But not necessarily were they affiliated with the creation or marketing. A few even caused some legal troubles for the artist that wanted to use the characters in their song. Here are eight songs about very popular fictional characters that you might find familiar based on comic books, cartoons, or movies. I know there are plenty of others out there that we could add to this list, but these were standout ones for my childhood, and so this mixtape is going to be based on that, and I hope you can relate and enjoy. The lyrics for Puff the Magic Dragon are based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, who then was a 19-year-old Cornell University student, and the song tells the story of an immortal dragon named Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper as they embark on adventures in the fictional place of Honolulu. As time passes, Jackie matures and abandons his childhood games, leaving Puff sad and alone. In 1978, CBS aired a 30-minute animated television special based on the song, which I remember well. The show was produced by Fred Wolf Films and featured Burgess Meredith as the voice of the title character. I remember when it was first aired, I was about six years old, back when the major TV networks would show these special presentations. In September of 1979, a picture book adaptation of the special was published by Avon Books and was dedicated to Peter, Paul, and Mary. If you haven't seen the special about Honale, Flying Ships, and the Living Sneezes, you can find the full episode streaming on YouTube, and I recommend looking it up. The Royal Guardsmen were an American rock band originally known as the Posemans and renamed during the British invasion. In 1962, the song began simply as The Red Baron. But no one wanted to put it out, so it just sat on a shelf. Four years later, producer Phil Gernhard saw that the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schultz was featuring a recurring storyline of Snoopy imagining himself in the role of a World War I airman and his doghouse fighter plane, and they were fighting the Red Baron. Gernhard wrote two new verses to the song, adding the character Snoopy, and gave it to the Royal Guardsmen to sing. Now, they did not ask for permission to record the song based on the comic strip character, and Schultz and the United Features Syndicate sued the Royal Guardsman for using the name Snoopy without permission or an advertising license. Eventually, Schultz gave his okay and published a book in 1966 named Snoopy and the Red Baron, and it became a best-selling cartoon book. Snoopy from the Peanuts Comic Strip has become a most beloved character and household name. He is in almost every comic strip and animated TV special presentation that has aired featuring the Peanuts game. And since the networks no longer really play these specials like when I was a kid, and they're now owned by Apple TV, I personally have bought all the DVD collections, especially the holiday specials. Now, um, it's the great pumpkin. Charlie Brown actually features Snoopy fighting the Red Baron in one of his fantasies during Halloween. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs were a 60s Tex-Mex rock and roll band. The group was formed by lead singer Domingo Samudio in 1961 in Dallas, Texas. Little Red Riding Hood is a 1966 song that reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of that year. The lyrics are written in the perspective of the Big Bad Wolf, who sees Little Red Riding Hood walking in the woods and tries to convince her to let him walk with her to her grandmother's house while he wears a sheep suit. Now the original Little Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale that can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folktales. In the 19th century, two separate German versions were retold to Jacob Grimm and his younger brother Wilhelm Grimm, known as the Brothers Grimm. The first was by Jeanette Hassenfluch, and the second was by Marie Hassenfluch. And the brothers turned the first version to the main body of the story, and the second into a sequel of it as part of children's and household tales in 1812. It has been turned into many films and shows. The two main points that stay the same are those of a girl in Red Hood and a wolf. There are at least 400 versions of Little Red Riding Hood. These include TV and movies, literature and novels, and kids' books. My first memory of the story of Little Red Riding Hood was from a childhood book published as a little golden book. Now the Little Golden Books were popular books that released a series of children's stories since 1942, and they're still popular today. Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. White Rabbit is a song written by Grace Slick and recorded by Jefferson Airplane for their 1967 album, Surrealistic Pillow. Slick wrote and performed the song while she was still with her previous band, The Great Society, but Slick then left them to join Jefferson Airplane to replace their departing female singer. The song draws an imagery from Lewis Carroll's 1865 book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and its 1871 sequel, Through the Looking Glass. Slick reportedly wrote the song after an acid trip. For Slick, White Rabbit is about following your curiosity. Characters Slick referenced include Alice, the White Rabbit, the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar, The White Knight, The Red Queen, and the Dormouse. Alice's adventure in Wonderland is about a girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of unusual characters. It's known for its literary nonsense, wordplay, and iconic characters like the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat. There have been cartoons and movies created based on those books. The most recent would be the movies starring Johnny Depp back in 2010. I actually had both books, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and they were my favorites as a child. Loggins and Messina was an American pop rock duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved major chart success during the early to mid-1970s. House at Pooh Corner is a song written by Kenny Loggins, and it's based on the children's book of the same name. It was first performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970. The song was later recorded by Loggins and Messina themselves on their debut album Sittin' In, released in November of 1971. It is told from the perspective of both Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, and serves as an allegory for loss of innocence and nostalgia for childhood. Loggins was actually 17 years old and he was a senior in high school when he wrote the song. Now originally Disney would not allow Loggins to record the song, claiming copyright infringement. Loggins then discovered his girlfriend's father was the president of Disney. She helped him secure permission to release the song. The House at Pooh Corner is the second book of Winnie the Pooh story by A.A. Milne, featuring classic characters like Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin, and also introducing the bouncy ticker. The character Winnie the Pooh is inspired by a stuffed toy that Milne had bought for his son, Christopher Robin, in Herod's department store. And a bear named Winnie they had viewed at London Zoo. The book is known for its heartwarming adventures and timeless exploration of a childhood's imagination. Different chapters of the book were also adapted as animated features by Disney and aired on television and in theaters. The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages and are loved around the world.

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Chase all the clouds from the skies back to the track six.

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Tin Man by America. America is a British American rock band formed in 1970 by Dewey Bennell, Dan Peake, and Jerry Beckley. The trio met as sons of U.S. Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Tin Man is a 1974 song that was written by band member Bennell and produced by George Martin, who also plays the piano part on the recorded version. The song was included on the band's 1974 album, Holiday. It became the band's fourth top ten hit in the US, spending three weeks at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 1974. The song reached number one on the billboard, and it was the easy listening chart in October of that year. The song's title and some of its lyrics refer to the Ten Woodsmen from The Wizard of Oz. Bennell stated it was his favorite movie and it was sort of a poetic license. The movie he is referring to, The Wizard of Oz, is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro Goldenmeyer, starring Judy Garland and based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The film is celebrated for its use of three-strip technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters. The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on CBS reintroduced it to the public. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in cinematic history. I remember it aired every year when I was a kid, and it was always a family event. Now the Flying Monkeys totally freaked me out, and I could have done without that back then, but I still love the movie. The most recent adaptation with a different twist on the story is Wicked, the Broadway musical, and then of course the movies that followed, which have introduced a whole new audience in the story and the characters. The band's original lineup included guitarist Alex Lifeson, drummer John Rudzi, and bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones, whom Getty Lee replaced shortly after its formation. Rush went through a few lineup changes over the next six years before arriving at his clastic power trio lineup with the addition of Neil Purt in July 1974. The band's style changed over the years from a blues-inspired hard rock beginning, later moving into progressive rock, then a period in the 1980s marked by heavy use of synthesizers, before returning to guitar-driven rock in the remainder of their career. Tom Sawyer was originally released on their 1981 album Moving Pictures as its opener. Tom Sawyer came about during a summer rehearsal vacation that Rush spent at a farm outside Toronto. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern-day rebel, a free-spirited individual striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. Lee and Lyson then helped set the poem to music. The character of Tom Sawyer was from a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876, about a boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. Sawyer has several adventures, often with his friend Huckleberry Finn. Originally a commercial failure, the book ended up being the bestseller of Twain's works during his lifetime. The book has been adapted many times in movies and cartoons worldwide. Neil Leslie Diamond, born in 1941, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He wrote songs for Sonny and Cher, The Ronettes, Jay and the Americans, and The Monkeys. He began singing his own songs in 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he had written 14 hit songs and sold more than 12 million records. For a while, he was the most highly paid performer in the world. 38 songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, including Sweet Caroline. Heart Light is a song written by Neil Diamond, Carol Bayer-Sager, and her then-husband Bert Backerak, and they were recorded by Diamond in 1982. It is the first track on Diamond's 1982 album, also titled Heart Light, and it reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was inspired by the 1982 film E.T. The Extraterrestrial. It became an ode to the character, and Diamond allegedly settled with MCA Universal for $25,000 due to its supposedly drawing on the material of the film. Along with his friends and family, Elliot must find a way to help E.T. find his way home. E.T. was known for his truncated alien body, unusual shaped head, glowing fingers, and glowing chest, which is uh where we would assume was his heart lighting up. It was a good heartwarming movie, and the and the song really does fit the the emotion of that. This concludes this episode of Mixtapes of Today. Hope you enjoyed the list this week. Just eight tracks that spotlighted rock songs based on fictional childhood characters. Please check out the Spotify playlist link in the description. Thanks for listening to Mixtapes of Today. We will be back next week. Talk to you soon.