365 DAYS PROJECT

2003   AUGUST 9   #221

Let's Go To The Zoo

This "Playtime" Record was discovered in a local thrift store, and though the record is in rough shape, with the cover taped together, I was immediately drawn to it because of the drawing on the cover. With old kid's records you never know what you are in for, and this was no disappointment, and was worth every penny of the quarter I spent on it.

The first song on the LP, "Let's Go To The Zoo," is actually an infectious medley of short songs about "Bobby, a boy just about your age," and his father who are "off to the zoo," where they watch the "clowns of the zoo" in the monkey house, and encounter an elephant who goes "thumpity thump," and even a teddy bear. Then there is a kind reminder not to feed the animals. They also visit the lion house and ask the catchy musical question "Howdyado Mr. Lion, Howdyado?" This is followed by a rather odd hectic rap-like discussion of which animals you could take home with you, and which you couldn't. The song ends with Bobby and his father happily planning their next trip to the zoo with a recap of the "off to the zoo" theme.

All in all I think that this song is very charming and quirky with musical hooks that get caught in your brain and never leave.

- Jef Stevens & Karl Hoffman

TT-6:01 / 8.3MB / 192kbps 44.1khz
Playtime Records PT-118


(Image courtesy of Jef Stevens & Karl Hoffman)

Tom Turrittin writes:
This one reminded me of an old CD-Rom I have. Okay, so 1990 isn't really old, but it's "old" by CD-Rom standards. I don't think CD drives were were too common in computers back then. "Mammals: a multimedia encyclopedia", co-produced by National Geographic and IBM. What makes this disc interesting is that while you're browsing the encyclopedia, you can click on icons to either hear how the animal's name is pronounced, or to hear what the animal itself sounds like. The sounds are stored on audio tracks - and to save space, they recorded them in mono, and then stuck each mono track in one of the two stereo channels. So there's one 3:17 track with the narrator going through all the animal names more or less alphabetically (saying "marsupials" on one side and "monotremes" on the other), and then a 16:39 track of creepy animal noises coming out of each speaker. I ended up using a bit of the narrator at the tail end of one of my answering machine messages. Great project - what wonderful things! :)