Squirrely Dreams

I woke up this morning with thoughts of singing squirrels in my head.

I know what many are saying now: Skip, are you taking your medication? And the answer to that is a resilient YES.

So, of which singing squirrels was I dreaming? No, not those singing squirrels...not the ones fronted by Alvin. Besides, they weren't squirrels...they were chipmunks!

Having spent what seemed like eons in radio broadcasting, I fashion myself as somewhat of a Student of Discography. I hesitate saying Expert of Discography since I can be stumped by almost anyone presenting me with some eclectic song title from some one-hit-wonder. I simply possess a bit more musical trivia than the average bear. Useless Talent #37.

Soon after Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville) gave birth to Alvin and the Chipmunks around 1958...recall (now annoying) The Christmas Song in three part harmony played at double speed...another group of singing rodents made their debut and hit the Billboard charts. The song was called Uh-oh and was "sung" by The Nutty Squirrels. Uh-oh actually made it to #47 and even spawned a television cartoon show (which didn't share the same success as the Chipmunks).

The Nutty Squirrels music was more jazz and scat oriented than the pop-inspired Chipmunks tunes. But they did produce several albums and eventually collaborated with Ross Bagdasarian on some projects. That was back in the day before lawyers got a hold of the entertainment industry and folks still worked things out themselves.

That's it. Your discography lesson for the day. And, yes, you will find Uh-oh by the Nutty Squirrels on an iTunes search! I didn't need to download it, I still have the 45 somewhere.

Note to self: Call doctor to see if I need to ramp up the dosage.