Last night Michael and his sister S decided upon watching an old episode of Scooby Doo while waiting for dinner to be ready. She was glad to see it was an original episode from 1970, and not one of the “cheap imitations they make now.” It makes me proud to know she appreciates the classics.
As is inevitable in every Scooby Doo episode, time came for the Pop Music Backed Chase Scene, in which Shaggy and Scooby run from the ghost/ghoul/monster/creep with much hilarity, while accompanied by such marvelous pop tunes as “Daydreamin’” and “Tell Me, Tell Me”.
During this particular episode, the gang was being chased by a very dapper but nonetheless headless man, to the strains of “Seven Days a Week.”
Sister S spoke up: “Why do they use so many Beatles songs in these shows?”
“That’s not a Beatles song. It just sounds like it,” I said.
“It’s not? It really sounds like the Beatles,” she said.
“It’s supposed to. That was the popular sound for that time. A lot of pop groups sounded like that then. They were still riding the tail end of the British Invasion, which was ushered in by the Beatles primarily,” I said.
The discussion ended at that point. I served dinner up and we all sat down to eat.
Eventually Sister S and Michael were excused from the table while my wife and I finished up our salads.
“So, why were we at war with the French?” Sister S said out of nowhere.
“What?” I asked.
“You said it was the French War.”
“I don’t remember saying that,” I said, trying hard to recall what phrase or phonemes I might have uttered that came out sounding like “French War”.
“Yeah,” she insisted, “you said Scooby Doo was made during the War with the French or something.”
It suddenly dawned upon my wife where the misunderstanding was.
“That’s not what he said. He said it was during the British Invasion.”
Silence.
“Oh.”
French, British, whatever. It’s some other country over there.
And this is why we love her so much. LOL!
(Hubby) …because she provides such great material!
Any war with the French wouldn’t last long enough to be remembered anyway. We are on a serious Scooby Doo kick lately but it is whatever we can find on TV regardless of when it was made. I saw one yesterday where they took a picture with a camera phone. Yet they were still dressed and talking like it was the 70′s. I was not a fan of that at all.
(MD) Yeah, they’ve breathed new life into the franchise, even calling back a few of the original voice actors (Casey Kasem has done a few go-arounds as Shaggy, Frank Welker is and always was Freddy, and even Nicole Jaffe pops up as Velma occasionally)… but even with the same outfits, it’s not the same show. They’ll never recapture the original spark of life they had in 1969/1970.
Are you sure it was Seven Days a Week? Could it have been Eight Days A Week? We contacted an expert (Alene) and asked her. If the latter it is a Beatles song.
(MD) Nope, definitely “seven days a week.” I’m up on my Beatles as well. That and it’s a totally different tune.
Well, you know, those countries are WAY OVER THERE. . . . .
LOVE the old 1970s Scooby Doo cartoons! I can still watch them. However, I’m not a fan of the new ones. It just isn’t the same.
(MD) No, they’re really not. I miss the laugh track and the two-dimensional set drawings.