Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)

Subject: Chicken Fat record in Phys Ed class
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Feb 16 - 03:07 PM

Just looking at the closed thread about the Song that You Had to Sing in School. And I am amazed that there is no mention of a ten-minute vinyl record with Robert Preston, of which copies were distributed to every public school in the United States thanks to the President's Council, I think it was, on Physical Fitness. That would be JFK.

Not that we had to Sing It In School, no, we had to exercise to it in Phys Ed class. The reason Robert Preston was on this awful thing, which I did not know as a kid, was that the song was the work of Meredith Willson who wrote The Music Man.

The exercises I recall include touching your toes, push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, pogo springs, twisting at the waist, backwards circles with your arms, and something called the Tortoise and the Hare.

I see in my Internet searches that JFK responded, when asked, that he was pleased with this outreach campaign, only since the song was called Chicken Fat he was continually reminded of Chicken Shit.

Am I the only mudcat member who remembers this God-Help-Me recording?

Subject: RE: Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 22 Feb 16 - 03:13 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFofqe26t-4

Here ya go.

Subject: RE: Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Feb 16 - 03:15 PM

ahh, but you didn't say you grew up with it... am I still all alone out here?

Subject: RE: Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Feb 16 - 06:43 PM

transcript from National Public Radio. Dated Tuesday, July 24, 2014

Robin Young, co-host for Here and Now (WBUR): So there are sit-ups, push-ups, and as the song says, "Girls, you're in this too." This was at a time when it was thought that girls' lady parts would just fall on the floor if you did anything strenuous....And Jeremy, in watching the ad (Apple's I-Phone), I think how far we have come since people thought exercise would make lady parts fall off.

Jeremy Hobson, co-host for Here and Now (WBUR): Are we allowed to say that on the radio?

Young: We just did. Here And Now is a production of NPR and WBUR Boston in association with the BBC World News Service. I'm Robin Young.

Hobson: I'm Jeremy Hobson. This is Here And Now.

Subject: RE: Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 22 Feb 16 - 09:27 PM

If you are attempting to make a post ... regarding:
MUSIC
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
THE USA PRESIDENTIAL FITNESS AWARD
J.F.. KENNEDY

Please regroup your thoughts into a statement or hypothermia...

Please be clear...personal experience is VERY valid.....however, approximate location and date will help to refine your request.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Movement and muse are clearly defined within the study of exercise physiology...this ain't the world of your grandma's menstrsal period "excuse note."

Subject: Chicken Fat record in Phys Ed class
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Feb 16 - 12:54 PM

Oh, great. That's my cue for a witty come-back....and I haven't got one. Regrets.

Subject: RE: Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Feb 16 - 07:13 PM

Just listened, again, to the first two minutes.

It's funny to listen to the hapless Robert Preston trying to retain a shred of dignity while this song barrels down the highway. You can hear a few little imperfections in the singing, suggesting that it was recorded in the fewest possible takes.

But the orchestra (everything but the kitchen sink) and that chorus of youthful voices were all recorded separateley, then the tracks put together, according to the webpage for the...shoot, I forget which webpage said that...

Subject: RE: Touch down every morning (Ten Times!)
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 23 Feb 16 - 08:34 PM

I also remember that the flip side was a version of the song edited to 2:30 or something like that, so it could be played on the radio, and it was. We were delighted to exercise to it, in great measure because we were allowed to listen to an actual Top Ten Hit in school! Those were different times.