''Is it...silent?'' ''Well, there's a percussion track''

#991; The Chipmunks, and What Came After

  — December 23rd, 2013

[ Tags: , , , ]       Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/991/

It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I realized the Chipmunks (which I had always known as cartoon characters from my childhood) were actually, as pop-cultural entities, much older — dating back to their eponymous novelty Christmas record in 1958 or, arguably, the “Witch Doctor” song all the way back in 1952. There was a short-lived cartoon in 1961, but the Saturday-morning cartoon that I and people of my generation are most familiar with didn’t come around until more than 20 years later (1982-1990).

The audio trick that creator Ross Bagdasarian used to create the sound of the Chipmunks’ voices was so simple, and the resulting songs so popular in the late 50s and early 60s, that I figured they must have spawned some knockoffs. Sure enough — enjoy the squeaky sounds of:

The Nutty Squirrels (singing “Uh Oh”)
The Grasshoppers (singing “Shortnin’ Bread”) (More info)
The Three Happy Crickets (“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”)
Woody Woodchuck’s Christmas Sing Song (info only)
Sing Along with the Busy Beavers (album download)
BONUS LINK: The Happy Hamsters sing “Ghostbustin'”, a few decades later. Full album here.

Buy a Print

Saturday, May 17: Juneau!

May 15, 2025 by David Malki !
image

I’ll be in Juneau, Alaska this weekend at the 2025 Alaska Robotics Minicon, along with a bunch of other great folks!

The event is Saturday, May 17 at the APK Libraries, Archives, and Museum building.

I’ve written about my travels to Juneau before! Here are three fun posts from previous trips:

• The Story of How Juneau Ate My Boots

I’m not entirely sure where I got these boots. I’ve had them for at least a decade. They just appeared in my closet one day — I honestly don’t know where they came from...

• 11 portraits of me from Alaska

Celebrated likeness-capturer Scott Campbell had the idea for a group of artists to break into groups and draw portraits of each other...

• The Pleasures of Camping Out

The telegraph, the telephone, the locomotive and the steamship, the modern printing press, and thousands of minor devices which add immensely to the sum total of his pleasures, are all willing servants if properly used; but once in control, they become the hardest taskmasters...


Recent blog posts