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The Voices that Rocked the Schoolhouse

It is kind of a misrepresention that Schoolhouse Rock really rocked. Actually it was more the school that jazzed. For the most part, the voices that we grew up with, singing about bills and adjectives with were those of jazz musicians.

The principal music director for Schoolhouse Rock was Bob Dorough. Dorough was a very well established figure in the jazz field when he was selected as the musical director. A quick listen to any of his pre-Schoolhouse recordings will give you an instant appreciation to how perfect the selection was. His songs are three minute happy novellas that take you to a different place and tell you a story. Dorough wrote a large number of the Schoolhouse songs as well as perfoming many. To assist in the performances, he brought on board many of the friends he had made and performed with from the jazz world. The one notable exception being, Lynn Ahrens, who at the time was a secretary at the ad firm that created Schoolhouse Rock. Ahrens went on to write and perform many of the second largest volume of the Schoolhouse episodes behind Dorough. The goal of this page is not really intended to be a site for a lot of Schoolhouse Rock information, hopefully though, it will lead a few people who loved the music from the series to discover the amazingly talented artists who created the songs we all know by heart. The cast links below will give you a biography of each of the artists and for some, you can check out brief samples of their non-schoolhouse works.

The Voices

Bob Dorough Bob Dorough website
Dorough wrote and sang many of the Songs. You probably remember his voice best from "Three is a Magic Number" or "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here".
Blossom Dearie Blossom Dearie website
Best known for the haunting "Figure Eight" song but my favorite was "Unpack Your Adjectives"
Jack Sheldon - Jack Sheldon website
Sang many songs but will always be known as the voice of "Conjunction Junction"
Lynn Ahrens - Lynn Ahrens website
Lynn Ahrens wrote and sang a very large number of the Schoolhouse songs. You probably remember her voice best from "The Preamble" and the very popular "Interplanet Janet"

Instant Nostalgia Gratification

The Following links will take you to sites where you can get Schoolhouse Stuff

The Audio Cd box set (has all of the music)

Multiplication RockSchoolhouse Video. This is the group that started it all and features many tracks with Dorough singing and playing. Includes "Figure Eight", My Hero Zero and many more.

Grammar RockSchoolhouse Video. This is the one with conjunction Junction freaturing the amazing Jack Sheldon. Also has "Lolly , Lolly , Lolly" , "Unpack Your Adjectives and bunches of other great segments. Science RockSchoolhouse Video. Includes "Interplanet Janet" , "Electricity" and many others.