SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK - "Them Not-So-Dry Bones" (1979)

 

We've got some fun stuff lined up for this years "Countdown To Halloween," so let's not just sit around talking about it. This Weird Wednesday edition was an episode of the famed cartoon learning series from 1979 called "Schoolhouse Rock."

This song which is intended to teach about the skeletal system is sung here by super cool jazz trumpeter Jack Sheldon. Jack was so good he played with solid jazz players like Sonny Stitt, Herbie Mann, and Stan Kenton, and he also was on a Monkees LP, and a couple of albums of Tom Waits.

Jack was also an actor and a bandleader. Sadly, he passed away just last year at the age of 88.

 

The original version of "Dem Bones" was written by African-American composer James Weldon Johnson, and was first recorded by the Famous Myers Jubilee Singers in 1928. The lyrics are taken from the Bible, Ezekial 37:1-14, where the Prophet Ezekial visits the Valley of Dry Bones and prophesies that the dead will one day rise again at the command of the Lord.

Here's a very cool version by The Delta Rhythm Boys! 

 

 "Bones are heard of, but seldom scene, 'cept each year 'round Halloween."

"But I've got a shockaroo...................

..........Right now there's a skeleton locked up inside of you!"

"Minus bones, you're just a blob."

"Your heart and lungs are tucked in there behind your ribs, your bones have been protecting them since we were little kids"

"Shinbone connected to the knee bone!"

"So please remember, you got to do it while you're young!"

 

"Feed your bones some good old calcium!"

 

 

See for yourself!