Tag: Blind Melon

A Schoolhouse Rock Lesson for Hank Williams Jr.

Hank Williams Jr Yesterday on Fox News, Hank Williams Jr. got in some trouble for apparently comparing Pres. Barack Obama to Hitler, resulting in ESPN pulling his opening montage for Monday Night Football (“Are You Ready for Some Football!?”). To be fair, he actually said that Pres. Obama and House Speaker John Boehner getting together would be “like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu.” So even though he showed great disdain for the president in the rest of the conversation, his controversial comment was more about the divide between the Democrats and Republicans. Still, he should have known that comparisons to Hitler are likely to cause problems. I cannot wait to see the “Downfall” video someone makes from this event.

Williams’s comment that provoked the most humor, though, is when he called the president and the vice-president “The Three Stooges.” So, to help Mr. Williams out with his math, today we present “3 is a Magic Number” from Schoolhouse Rock:

Schoolhouse Rock was a series of short animated musical segments that gave me a short burst of education on Saturday mornings when I was a kid. The series originally ran from 1973-1985, but the series was revived in the 1990s. The ABC series covered a range of categories, including Grammar Rock, Multiplication Rock, History Rock, and Science Rock. Several specific videos are forever etched in my memory, including “Conjunction Junction” and “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” But perhaps the one song that has had a significant life of its own among rock artists is “3 is a Magic Number.”

Schoolhouse Rock Several of the songs have been recorded by rock artists, including on this compilation CD. But “3 is a Magic Number” seems to be the one that works best outside the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons, perhaps because it is a great song and it works as an independent song about family and love. On the other hand, “Conjunction Junction” cannot be about anything besides conjunctions. “3 is a Magic Number” has been performed by Jeff Buckley, Blind Melon, the Jonas Brothers, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Jack Johnson, and De La Soul.

Now if we could just add Hank Williams Jr. to the list. “Are you ready for some math?”

What is your favorite Schoolhouse Rock song? Who would you like to hear sing it?

[Oct. 6, 2011 Update: Today ESPN announced that Hank Williams Jr. will no longer appear on Monday Night Football. Williams claims that he was the one who decided to part ways.]

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    Shannon Hoon & Blind Melon

    Blind Melon Bee Girl Shannon Hoon, the former lead singer of Blind Melon was born on September 26, 1967. Hoon was a great talent, but he was haunted by drug problems throughout his life.

    Unfortunately, he died at the young age of 28 on October 21, 1995, unable to defeat his addiction, dying of a drug overdose. He was found dead on the tour bus when a roadie went to wake him for a sound check for a performance at Tipitina’s in New Orleans.

    Most of us remember Hoon fondly, partly because of his great and unique voice. But I think we connect to him in a special way because we associate him with the themes of the video for his band’s biggest hit, “No Rain,” off the band’s 1992 self-titled debut CD.

    That video features “the Bee Girl,” who is an outcast struggling in a world where she does not fit in, and then she eventually finds a welcoming crowd where she fits. The story is so sweet, we cannot help but love the hippie-looking guy with the odd voice singing the song. Of course, the band and Hoon were much more than this song and video, but it reminds us that it is too bad that he did not get to make a lot more music.

    Heather DeLoach appeared as the “Bee Girl” in the above Blind Melon music video for “No Rain.” She became an actress but does not hide from her early fame as the “Bee Girl,” even having a Facebook page devoted to the striped little girl.

    The album cover, however, features someone who is not DeLoach. The girl on the album cover is Georgia Graham, the sister of Blind Melon drummer Glen Graham. In 2006, Blind Melon reformed with a new lead singer, Travis Warren.

    Be sure to celebrate Hoon’s birthday by being kind to all the Bee Girls and Bee Boys out there. Of course, that includes you too.

    What are your memories of Blind Melon and “No Rain”? Leave a comment.


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