Hipsters and Squares
Part 5: Call of the Wild
Of course, hipsters didn’t just teach elementary school all day — they also had their own rock bands! Little Jerry and the Monotones was one of the great Sesame bands, making sure that preschoolers of the 70’s didn’t have to listen to “One of these things is not like the others” all day. The lineup included dynamic frontman Little Jerry (the green one), and backup vocalists Rockin’ Richard (the purple one), Chrissy (the orange one), and Big Jeffy (the blue one). In this clip, we see a rare instance of the squares getting one up on the hipsters…
Voice cast: Jerry Nelson (Little Jerry), Richard Hunt (Operator, Rockin’ Richard), Chris Cerf (Chrissy), Jeff Moss (Big Jeffy).
| Jerry
|
Hey — there’s a telephone booth! I know, because that word up there is TELEPHONE! |
| (Little Jerry enters the phone booth, and dials.) | |
| Operator
|
Number, please. |
| Jerry
|
I say, hey, operator, please give us a handYou’ve gotta help us out, cause we’re the telephone band
We’re calling all people that are sitting at home Put some rockin’ and rollin’ on the telephone Yeah, yeah! |
| Jeffy
|
Yeah… |
| Richard
|
Yeah… |
| Chrissy
|
Yeah! |
| Jerry
|
WOWWWW! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock — rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
Everybody sing, now! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock — rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
It’s the latest thing, yeah! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
And don’t you hear that ring, now! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock!The Telephone Rock… |
| (An operator appears at a switchboard.) | |
| Operator
|
Hello? Who is this? What do you mean by calling me up and bothering me like this? |
| Jerry
|
Please, operator, please give us a chanceThe people are waiting, so please dial us this dance
They want to hear our music, yeah, They want us to sing So operator, please, make their telephone ring! Yeah, yeah! |
| Jeffy
|
Yeah… |
| Richard
|
Yeah… |
| Chrissy
|
Yeah! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock — rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
You know, you can’t go wrong! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock — rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
Come on and dial that phone! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
We’ll hold on all night long! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock!The Telephone Rock… |
| Operator
|
Listen, if you young scallywags don’t stop bothering me like this, I’m going to call the POLICE! |
| Jerry
|
I say, hey everybody, all across the land,We’re here to entertain you, we’re the telephone band!
So take off your shoes, Start shakng your feet, And dance like crazy to our telephone beat! Yeah, yeah! |
| Jeffy
|
Yeah… |
| Richard
|
Yeah… |
| Chrissy
|
Yeah! |
| (As they sing, the telephone booth shakes back and forth.) | |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock — rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
People, don’t you hear that tone! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock — rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
Come on, baby, hold the phone, now! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
Let’s hear it one more time! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
You know, it only costs a dime, now! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock!The Telephone Rock… |
| (The operator brings a police officer to the telephone booth.) | |
| Operator
|
There they are, officer! There’s the whippersnappers that have been calling me up! |
| (The police officer picks up the telephone booth, and carries it away, with the band still singing inside it.) | |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
I’m really hung up on you, baby! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
You’re gonna be the receiver of all my love! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock! Rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
We got a good connection, baby! |
| All
|
Rock, rock, rock!The Telephone Rock! |
| Jerry
|
Hey, put that booth down! Where are you going with this telephone booth? Come on, you can’t do this! We’re too heavy! We’re a heavy group! Come on, put us down, you can’t do this to us… |
by Danny Horn
