The President's Council on Physical Fitness came up with this song in 1961 to encourage children to do their exercises and become physically fit. I started school a few years later, and I don't recall ever hearing this recording before. But I will never forget how our gym teacher sang it and had us sing along. (via Boing Boing)
Robert Preston! "Friends, either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are unaware of the /caliber of disaster/ indicated by the presence of a /pool table/ in your community."
ReplyDeleteOMG. Am I that old? I remember this song from elementary school.
ReplyDeleteI was in either first or second grade in 1961, depending on whether or not this was released in the spring or the fall, and I don't recall ever hearing it. However, I attended a parochial school, and we had 'recess' outdoors instead of a regimented phy-ed class. In addition, our teachers were pretty much all nuns who probably had first-hand memories of when Roosevelt (Teddy, that is – not Franklin D.) was president – and there was no way in hell they were going to be leading calisthenics in habits, starched collar, and full veil and wimple.
ReplyDeleteAnd just to nit-pick, the video listed Meredith Willson's last name wrong (two 'L's is the correct spelling).
-"BB"-