Look at my pinwheel and see what I've found
July 24, 2010 11:58 AM Subscribe
Perhaps, if you are in your 30s, you have remembered a tiny catchy tune all your life, but can't put your finger on what exactly it was. Perhaps it is the theme to the adventures of two French toddlers left alone with a superbly jazzy little soundtrack in a surreal stop-motion land of Mondrian: Chapi Chapo.
Avec un tresor! Une perruque! Un Martien! Et un tribute album! And many more!
[MLYT, sweet]
[MLYT, sweet]
It's not entirely dissimilar to something my three-year-old watches now: Mio Mao. The theme tune is similarly earwormy.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 12:09 PM on July 24, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 12:09 PM on July 24, 2010 [2 favorites]
Huh. I do remember that, and the tune, from Pinwheel on Nick way back when. What I find interesting is the way my memory twists and distorts music. I remember it as being faster and having a somewhat different sound.
Thanks your ladyship.
posted by sotonohito at 12:20 PM on July 24, 2010
Thanks your ladyship.
posted by sotonohito at 12:20 PM on July 24, 2010
I also remembered that tune from Nickolodeon (before it was called just Nick) and had often wondered what the hell the little show had been.
posted by dilettante at 12:24 PM on July 24, 2010
posted by dilettante at 12:24 PM on July 24, 2010
It's like that theme song opened up a dusty, forgotten room in my brain. The final phrase has been drifting up from the back of my mind for decades, but hearing the whole thing gave me this brief, intense flashback to 8-year-old me watching Pinwheel in front of our giant, boxy, ancient television on a summer morning before my mom chased us outside to play. Weird.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:28 PM on July 24, 2010
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:28 PM on July 24, 2010
I started hearing this in my head even before I read the lyrics or clicked on the links.
And did any of you ever marvel at how long Pinwheel was?
posted by clarknova at 12:42 PM on July 24, 2010 [2 favorites]
And did any of you ever marvel at how long Pinwheel was?
posted by clarknova at 12:42 PM on July 24, 2010 [2 favorites]
Pinwheel was long but nothing compared to the goddamn 5-hour death march that was the USA Cartoon Express.
There's a track on this free album that samples the Chapi Chapo song and is the JAM.
posted by jtron at 12:56 PM on July 24, 2010
There's a track on this free album that samples the Chapi Chapo song and is the JAM.
posted by jtron at 12:56 PM on July 24, 2010
OMG, yes! I loved this show when I was little. If this came out on R1 DVD, I'd actually buy it.
Why yes, my age is showing....
posted by Anima Mundi at 1:12 PM on July 24, 2010
Why yes, my age is showing....
posted by Anima Mundi at 1:12 PM on July 24, 2010
you have remembered a tiny catchy tune all your life
The torture we put kids through...
posted by crunchland at 1:13 PM on July 24, 2010
The torture we put kids through...
posted by crunchland at 1:13 PM on July 24, 2010
I was just thinking of that tune the other day. Thank you for finally giving me some evidence it actually existed.
posted by Epenthesis at 1:37 PM on July 24, 2010
posted by Epenthesis at 1:37 PM on July 24, 2010
I knew EXACTLY what this was before clicking any links. Thanks!
Now if someone could find the opening credit sequence to href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCdqRTUR1FY" Villa Alegre...
posted by sourwookie at 1:46 PM on July 24, 2010
Now if someone could find the opening credit sequence to href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCdqRTUR1FY" Villa Alegre...
posted by sourwookie at 1:46 PM on July 24, 2010
For some reason the Fruity Oaty Bar jingke would make me have flashbacks to this little thing from my childhood... then I'd come to, and find myself surrounded by battered corpses...
posted by The otter lady at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The otter lady at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
It's like that theme song opened up a dusty, forgotten room in my brain.
Yeah, here's another brain-opener, and another.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:00 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, here's another brain-opener, and another.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:00 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh man! Yeah, this tune has been knocking around in my head for nigh on 25 (!?!?!!!) years now. I had completely forgotten (until now) where the hell it came from.
posted by medeine at 5:48 PM on July 24, 2010
posted by medeine at 5:48 PM on July 24, 2010
Oh my, this is lovely! Thank you for posting.
..You know, sometimes I have this feeling that we never really come down from our first acid trip.
posted by applemeat at 7:00 PM on July 24, 2010
..You know, sometimes I have this feeling that we never really come down from our first acid trip.
posted by applemeat at 7:00 PM on July 24, 2010
I sing that Simon song to my cat Simon all the time. I found the opening for the Tomorrow People on YouTube the other day, which only makes me want to watch it again to see how it holds up.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:09 PM on July 24, 2010
posted by fiercekitten at 8:09 PM on July 24, 2010
I think part of the reason some of us remember the song differently is because Nickelodeon may have edited the beginning.
posted by bugmuncher at 8:26 PM on July 24, 2010
posted by bugmuncher at 8:26 PM on July 24, 2010
I remember watching this on Pinwheel as a young sprout in the early 80s.
I remember loathing them. I loathed them unlike anything else on TV, with the exception of the time when the President's address pre-empted Angie. This wasn't the way a five-year-old should feel about two animated kids with big hats.
But it was just something about their relentless cheerfulness and those echoing electronic sounds and that giggling. Lord, that giggling. I think that's what did it. If they started giggling on Pinwheel, I'd run up to the television as fast as I could and press buttons on the cable box until they were gone from my screen. Begone, foul giggling demons, ye who have tapped into a primal childhood rage. You shall be exorcised and replaced by whatever is on Channel 3.
posted by Spatch at 9:30 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
I remember loathing them. I loathed them unlike anything else on TV, with the exception of the time when the President's address pre-empted Angie. This wasn't the way a five-year-old should feel about two animated kids with big hats.
But it was just something about their relentless cheerfulness and those echoing electronic sounds and that giggling. Lord, that giggling. I think that's what did it. If they started giggling on Pinwheel, I'd run up to the television as fast as I could and press buttons on the cable box until they were gone from my screen. Begone, foul giggling demons, ye who have tapped into a primal childhood rage. You shall be exorcised and replaced by whatever is on Channel 3.
posted by Spatch at 9:30 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Man, Pinwheel in general was such a weird show. I'm glad you posted this because I was beginning to think I hallucinated the whole thing...I always seem to be the only one among my friends who remembers it.
Was Pinwheel French Canadian? It seems like almost all of the old Nickelodeon shows were Canadian. We grew up in Ohio but my little brother had a Canadian accent for some reason. I used to tease him for saying "aboot". I think it came from him watching so much Nickelodeon.
posted by Jess the Mess at 8:20 AM on July 25, 2010
Was Pinwheel French Canadian? It seems like almost all of the old Nickelodeon shows were Canadian. We grew up in Ohio but my little brother had a Canadian accent for some reason. I used to tease him for saying "aboot". I think it came from him watching so much Nickelodeon.
posted by Jess the Mess at 8:20 AM on July 25, 2010
Wow, I was glued to Pinwheel for most of my early childhood, but had completely forgotten about this!
...I always seem to be the only one among my friends who remembers it.
Me too! I wonder why that is?
Anyone else remember Mysterious Cities of Gold? Another Nickelodeon show I loved, and none of my friends remember it. I love the distinctly-eighties world-beat/synthpop-influenced theme song.
posted by lunasol at 1:48 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
...I always seem to be the only one among my friends who remembers it.
Me too! I wonder why that is?
Anyone else remember Mysterious Cities of Gold? Another Nickelodeon show I loved, and none of my friends remember it. I love the distinctly-eighties world-beat/synthpop-influenced theme song.
posted by lunasol at 1:48 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
man.
several months ago now, i got to thinking about this show and the infectious little jingle that's been stuck in my head for 25+ years. i googled high and low before finally finding it and scratching the itch of memory that i always half suspected i had made up. i only watched pinwheel when i was home sick and the hours it spanned seemed endless and bizarre, like something that happened in a feverish dream. it's interesting how other folks seem to have remembered it in a similar haze.
since finding the episodes online of chapi chapo, i've tormented my dear partner with the song. he hates it, but can't stop singing it once he hears it. ha!
great thread.
posted by hollisimo at 3:43 PM on July 25, 2010
several months ago now, i got to thinking about this show and the infectious little jingle that's been stuck in my head for 25+ years. i googled high and low before finally finding it and scratching the itch of memory that i always half suspected i had made up. i only watched pinwheel when i was home sick and the hours it spanned seemed endless and bizarre, like something that happened in a feverish dream. it's interesting how other folks seem to have remembered it in a similar haze.
since finding the episodes online of chapi chapo, i've tormented my dear partner with the song. he hates it, but can't stop singing it once he hears it. ha!
great thread.
posted by hollisimo at 3:43 PM on July 25, 2010
Was Pinwheel French Canadian? It seems like almost all of the old Nickelodeon shows were Canadian.
Incidentally, Mysterious City of Gold was French-Japanese, as were Belle and Sebastien and The Little Prince, all shown on Nickelodeon. Wonder what that connection was?
posted by lunasol at 6:47 PM on July 25, 2010
Incidentally, Mysterious City of Gold was French-Japanese, as were Belle and Sebastien and The Little Prince, all shown on Nickelodeon. Wonder what that connection was?
posted by lunasol at 6:47 PM on July 25, 2010
lunasol, I don't know how it happened; all I know is that I was obsessed with Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (Les Mondes Engloutis). I remember being seven or so and looking under rocks for a way to Arkadia. (It was remarkably literate and historical for such a show. Unfortunately, there is not enough English-language material for a good FPP, or probably French either.) I don't think I realized it was French. I did vaguely know that all the cartoons I loved on Nick were from Europe or Canada, but since I also loved brick-stupid American toy-merchandising cartoons, I didn't make the connection of quality till I was older. You Can't Do That On Television; Turkey TV . . . yep, that's Canadian. And then I saw SCTV aired for the first and only time on Nick at Nite, too.
Possibly Pinwheel was so long because it was reformatted chunks of the original cable channel concept, which was called the Pinwheel Channel. I would watch it as long as I could, except that I would get bored and wander away from the TV when the pseudo-Muppet segments came on.
Spatch, I can understand, because that is how I felt about the Smurfs. They frightened me at a deep level reserved only for clowns.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:03 PM on July 25, 2010
Possibly Pinwheel was so long because it was reformatted chunks of the original cable channel concept, which was called the Pinwheel Channel. I would watch it as long as I could, except that I would get bored and wander away from the TV when the pseudo-Muppet segments came on.
Spatch, I can understand, because that is how I felt about the Smurfs. They frightened me at a deep level reserved only for clowns.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:03 PM on July 25, 2010
I didn't make the connection of quality till I was older. You Can't Do That On Television; Turkey TV . . . yep, that's Canadian.
If anyone knows where I could get episodes of either of these, especially Turkey TV, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know.
posted by jtron at 7:26 AM on July 26, 2010
If anyone knows where I could get episodes of either of these, especially Turkey TV, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know.
posted by jtron at 7:26 AM on July 26, 2010
Lunasol: I watched Mysterious Cities of Gold religiously. Loved that show. Thanks for posting that YT link. i wonder if the whole thing is on DVD anywhere? It always seemed like I was the only person who'd ever heard of it.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 10:12 PM on July 26, 2010
posted by Hal Mumkin at 10:12 PM on July 26, 2010
Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea
Ooooh, you know what? I loved that show too, but I think I actually had it conflated in my mind with Mysterious Cities of Gold - I remembered them as being the same show. I loved Spartakus so much! Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately, there is not enough English-language material for a good FPP
That sounds like a challenge. :)
posted by lunasol at 7:44 AM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
Ooooh, you know what? I loved that show too, but I think I actually had it conflated in my mind with Mysterious Cities of Gold - I remembered them as being the same show. I loved Spartakus so much! Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately, there is not enough English-language material for a good FPP
That sounds like a challenge. :)
posted by lunasol at 7:44 AM on July 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
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posted by furtive at 12:06 PM on July 24, 2010