Rock Stars and Kid’s Stuff

Rock stars, who are known to frequently act like adolescents, have often found inspiration by remembering their younger years, with all the cartoons and comic books they loved.

As a youngster, AC/DC’s Angus Young was enamored by the cartoon Beany and Cecil.  One of the show’s characters, Dishonest John, carried a business card that read, “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Special rates for Sundays and holidays.” Cartoon John’s pitch stuck with Angus who later suggested to his brother Malcolm that a song about a geezer charging for murderous acts would be a hit.

Bo Diddley’s “Road Runner” also drew on cartoons: he had the Warner Brothers’ “beep-beep” in the chorus.  The tune, with Bo’s guitar pick sliding down a guitar fretboard, could’ve served as the soundtrack to any Road Runner cartoon. The song has been recorded by The Stones, The Who, The Animals, and The Gants who rode Bo’s tune to #46 in 1965.

Aerosmith’s 2005 version from their Waiting for Bobo album particularly stands out.  The song revs up with Steven Tyler and two guitars screaming and is filled with lascivious lyrics that differ from the original. Tyler implores his gal pal to “burn some rubber tonight” and proclaims himself to be a “Road Runner lover.”

 

Another lad who was faster than a speeding bullet was Superman, the subject of comic books, TV, movies, and a few cool songs.  REM did a cover of Clique’s “Superman,” a song that states that Superman’s X-ray vision allows the superhero to see what’s in his girlfriend’s heart: “I know you don’t love that guy ‘cause I can see right through you.”

 

The definitive Superman song is arguably the Kinks’ “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman,” a song that Ray Davies wrote to mock both disco and his record company’s founder, Clive Davis. Clive, seeing the success of the Stones’ “Miss You,” implored Davies to write a hit that could be played at clubs.  Ray, who hated disco but loved the first Superman film, recalled, “The song was kind of a joke, taking the piss out of Clive wanting us to do a club-friendly record.”  Ray even slyly plopped in three words as a shout-out to another disco single that made millions for another group: “I’m staying alive.”

 

The tune was most likely about a bloke dealing with a tough time in England: “a gas strike, oil strike, lorry strike, bread strike” and “Gas bills, rent bills, tax bills, phone bills…”  Ray wrote the hit in late 1978 noting: “It’s a very political song about people going on strike.” On the jacket of the long-play version of “Superman,” the Kinks spoofed the triangular “S” logo on Superman’s chest and replaced it with “Kinks.”

Hanna-Barbera Productions once sicced their lawyers on Owe Thörnqvist, a Swedish comedian who released a single in Sweden called “Wilma!.”  American lawyers were not amused by Owe’s portrayal of Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstones or by his starting the song with “Yabba-dabba-do!”

 

Owe, who is now 94, pleaded his case.  As his website dryly notes: “Of course, [the song was] inspired by the ‘Flinta Family.’” He was threatened with millions in damages but contacted the series’ creators (Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera) to explain that Wilma was a common Swedish girl’s name and that ‘Yabba-dabba-doo’ was a Swedish invention by Gunnar Siljablo Nilsson (a Swedish jazz musician).”

A highly amused Bill and Joe decided that Owe dropped the lawsuit and invited Owe to appear in cartoon form and sing his song (as “Ole Erockson”) on a 1962 Flintstones episode called “Swedish Visitors.”

Maybe Hanna and Barbera realized that suing for copyright infringement is a blatant case of the pot calling the kettle black, as The Flintstones was just an animated version of The Honeymooners.  Henry Corden (who took over as the voice of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died) was Jackie Gleason’s friend. He stated: “Jackie’s lawyers told him he could have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, ‘Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show that so many kids love and so many of their parents love, too?’ And Jackie thought it over and decided against it.”

-Mark Daponte

-Image of original Superman logo (public domain)