I watched the U.S. version of The Office since it first premiered (after loving the British version), and I was sad to see the series end. Finishing a good book or ending a long-running TV series can do something that movies cannot accomplish by making you feel like you are losing a life-long friend.
There will be plenty of articles critiquing The Office finale and comparing it to other series’ final episodes. I might think about those questions at some point, but as the series ended I just enjoyed seeing the characters one last time. I discovered one thing, though, that I had missed as I watched the series all these years. I did not know that the character Creed Bratton, played by Creed Bratton, had been in the Grass Roots. How did I miss that?
The final episode noted that the character Creed had been in the Grass Roots. And then when he sang at the end while playing guitar, it made me realize that they were not joking.
After searching for the lyrics (along the lines of “I saw a friend today . . . we forgot each other’s names” and “all the faces that I know have that same familiar glow”), I found that it is indeed a Creed Bratton song, “All the Faces.”
Here is a live version of the real Creed singing the song he sang on The Office finale. Nice.
The Grass Roots & Creed Bratton
The Grass Roots were a popular rock band in the 1960s and 1970s, with a number of hits. Creed Bratton joined the Grass Roots in 1967 and played guitar for the band. He played on songs like the classic, “Let’s Live for Today.”
Creed is the guy in this video in the striped shirt on your left.
Bratton quit the band two years later. Creed more recently explained that he left the band when he objected to the use of studio musicians for its albums. The band had begun to use studio musicians with the album Lovin’ Things because they were busy on tour.
Creed on The Office
After leaving the band, Creed’s life did not go so well for awhile. By the nineties he was doing catering jobs. But then he got a big break when he got a job in 2005 on The Office playing someone with the same name as him.
Initially, Creed had a non-speaking role in the series. But in the second season, he got a speaking role in a Halloween episode where Michael Scott was struggling to fire him. Because of his performance, he was promoted to a guest star, then a recurring role, and eventually as a regular character.
During the run of the series, the real-life Bratton continued to work on his music. On The Office, viewers were mostly kept in the dark about the character’s musical past.
But until the final episode, there were hints of Creed’s career — as well as at least a couple of almost reveals early in his time on the series. For example, during the Season 3 episode, A Benihana Christmas, Creed sang a karaoke rendition of his song “Spinnin’ N Reelin’.” In perhaps a nod to his music career, in the fourth season episode Money, Creed claimed “he never goes bankrupt” because all his debt “is always transferred to William Charles Schneider” (Creed’s birth name).
Further, his Grass Roots career was revealed in at least two scenes that were deleted before broadcast. In a deleted scene from the season two Booze Cruise episode, he played guitar and revealed his Grass Roots past. Also, in a deleted scene from Product Recall (Season 3, episode 21), a reporter from the Scranton Times recognized him as being from the band the Grass Roots.
But it seems the producers ultimately decided not to reveal the Grass Roots past . . . at least until the final episode. I am not sure why they saved the reveal about his past for so long. Viewers would have assumed it was a joke, but it did make a beautiful touch to the final episode.
Creed is releasing new music with Tell Me About It, a three-part “audio biography.” Check out “Faded Spats.”
Two members of the Grass Roots — Rob Grill and Ricky Coonce — have passed away. In addition to Creed, Warren Entner is still alive. The two are still good friends.
In the final episode of The Office, near the end, the character Creed talks about how life is “arbitrary” in the way things happen in one’s life. But, he explains, no matter where one ends up, “human beings have this miraculous gift” to make a place their home.
With a life of ups and downs, the real Creed Bratton found a home on The Office and continues his creative journey. Although he will always be that odd guy on The Office to me, he is of course much more than that. It looks like we haven’t heard the last of Creed Bratton.
What is your favorite Creed moment on The Office? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)