Paul Ruebens, a one-of-a-kind actor and comedian and creator of the 80s hit television show Pee Wee’s Playhouse, passed away over the weekend. “Pee-wee’s Playhouse debuted in September of 1986 and ran five seasons and 45 episodes,” (80sXChange.com). “It aired on Saturday mornings on CBS as one of the few live-action shows among mostly cartoons. (It featured) the iconic Pee Wee Herman character alongside all of his friends and neighbors. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was designed as an educational yet entertaining and artistic show for children, but the show quickly acquired a dual audience of kids and adults.
… One of the musicians who provided music for the show was Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo who most remember for their biggest hit “Whip It”. Since Devo, Mothersbaugh has developed a successful career writing musical scores for film and television and that really started after he worked on Pee-wee’s Playhouse. In film, he went on to work frequently with filmmaker Wes Anderson, scoring four of his feature films … Mothersbaugh was tasked with writing the opening theme song for Pee-wee’s Playhouse … (the theme) introduces us to most of the other characters and really sets the tone for the fun, colorful show … The opening prelude theme is an interpretation of Les Baxter’s ‘Quiet Village’. The Pee-wee’s Playhouse theme song was actually performed by Cyndi Lauper imitating Betty Boop” with a side order of Edith Bunker. Lauper was credited as Ellen Shaw.
The frenetic theme bounces along, following a classic (if sped up) songwriting template during its 90-second length. After a few verses, a bridge unfurls at 0:43, leading into a half-step key change at 1:06 for the final verse and ending tag.
modulationoftheday.home.blog 