Laughter in the Waterloo Sunset

Yikes. Yesterday I was absent-mindedly humming "Waterloo Sunset" to myself, and my friend wanted to know why I was humming Neil Sedaka. She thought it was "Laughter in the Rain."

I'm forced to admit there's a resemblance. This upsets me.

Once when I was in a car with some friends, Van Halen's "Best of Both Worlds" came on the radio. The guys in front whooped and cranked it up ... and in the midst of it all, the guitar riff struck me. And I started singing along: "Ce-le-brate, good times, come on!"

Most of the folks in the car thought it was funny, and started singing that line too. At least one guy wanted to throw me out of the car, though, for daring to compare (let alone conflate) Kool & the Gang with the mighty Van Halen.

the first time i heard phil collins's sussudio i thought it was a 1999 remix by prince!

I was walking past a co-workers desk and heard her humming a tune. I stopped surprised: "The Banana Splits Theme"?!? She looked at me confused: "Bob Marley - 'Buffalo Soldier." We both stared at each for a moment 'til it dawned on us.

I remember the first time I heard "Buffalo Soldier" and wondering why the heck Marley was ripping off the Banana Splits.

Isn't there a cartoon reggae band called The Banana Spliffs?

"I remember the first time I heard "Buffalo Soldier" and wondering why the heck Marley was ripping off the Banana Splits."


Me too. I thought that was the reason he never released it.

I downloaded the Sedaka tune, and my wife asked me why I had bought an Anne Murray song...

And, no, you cannot download the original "Waterloo Sunset" off of iTunes. They still have much work to do.

Sometime in the last year, I could swear I heard a news account (on NPR?) about the Marley/Banana Splits thing wherein it was stated that Marley had seen the show in Jamaica and had freely admitted pilfering the melody. A quick web search turned up nothing beyond speculation, however, so maybe I imagined the whole goddamn thing.

Maybe Marley himself imagined the Banana Splits, while in the throes of some really killer ganja.

Somebody must've been smoking something when they created the Banana Splits. The early 70s were such a weird time to be a kid - all the programming directed at you was very clearly LSD influenced, and I don't care what Sid & Marty Kroft say to the contrary - those guys were not in a clear state of mind when they created HR Puffinstuff.

Hell - the name even spells it out - Puffin' stuff. (Actually, HR Puffin' Stuff was probably an accurate description of the Bad Brains' entire career...)

Plus, in addition to the drug references, HR Puffinstuff had the freaky perverse sexual overtones of the adolescent boy constantly being hunted by the shrewish older woman trying to get her hands on his magic flute. Very creepy.

The "HR" in HR Pufnstuf allegedly stands for "hand rolled."

"HR Puffin' Stuff was probably an accurate description of the Bad Brains' entire career..."

Heh, had me spitting out my fruit juice there.

Well, Peter Paul and Mary still deny that the saga of Puff The Magic Dragon and little Johnny Papers was drug-related, as does McCartney and "Lucy In The Sky (With Diamonds)."

I've often thought the creators of Teletubbies must've been dropping acid.

Just look at the show! The landscape is more vividly colored than real life. The sun has a baby's face on it. The characters speak in this weird pre-verbal language, and have TV screens built into their bodies. And a vacuum cleaner chases them around, with no one pushing it. Man, if all that doesn't sound like stuff you'd see on a good acid trip, I don't know what would!