April Stevens :: Teach Me Tiger
Teach Me, Tiger was one of the first songs that came to mind when I first heard about this project. Its campy brilliance is unsurpassed! Though I think April Stevens’ “whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa” is truly beyond words, still I had to come up with something to write. Upon searching the title, I happened upon a fascinating document.
This song was used as a wake-up call aboard NASA’s sixth Challenger mission on April 6, 1983. As a child I remember watching PBS footage of astronauts afloat in space with a single umbilical link to the spaceship, while The Beach Boys’ I Get Around played in the background. It never occurred to me that the song actually could’ve been pumped through their spacesuits. It turns out that wake-up calls are a “long-standing tradition of the NASA program.”
NASA playlists seem to be the sole responsibility of CAPCOM, the DJ at Mission Control, although special requests often are made by the families of astronauts. In the sixties, classical music and showtunes dominated the spacewaves, and most missions ended with Going back to Houston by Dean Martin. Themes of the sea, home, and lost love emerged throughout the seventies, while the lyrics tended toward hitting the road in the eighties. Certainly, some CAPCOMs had a better sense of humor than others. For the Discovery’s seventh mission, Robin Williams belted “Gooooooood morning, Discovery!” in Good Morning Vietnam style. In the later eighties, radio DJs submitted zany lyrics set to familiar tunes for CAPCOM approval, including the Star Wars theme with a Darth Vader voice over. Some songs were chosen for particular lyrics quoting the names of dropped or unusual scientific circumstances. Got Me Under Pressure by ZZ Top was played for a particular bout with high cabin pressure.
The 1994 Discovery mission’s crew included Susan Helm, possibly better known as the keyboardist for all-astronaut band Max Q. Most of their wake-up calls came from Max Q’s tape Mach 5. In 1995, Max Q recordings dominated playlists when their drummer, Jim Weatherbee, came aboard.
Though today’s wake-up calls seem decidedly less funny, inside jokes, wedding songs, and family voices still dominate wake-up call playlists. CAPCOM set a precedent in 1989 by sending recordings of astronauts’ children shouting such things as “Get up, Dad, get out of bed and get to work,” and “Hi, daddy, this is your darling daughter telling you to wake up.” This was followed by What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. The shuttle crew then broadcast Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel back to Mission Control.
Some of my favorites include the clever classics:
Carole King I Feel the Earth Move, Chicago Good Morning Sunshine, Willie Nelson On the Road Again, Judy Garland Over the Rainbow, Christopher Cross Sail Away, John Denver Take Me Home, Country Roads, Jerry Lee Lewis Great Balls of Fire, Perry Como Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes, Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird, Bachman-Turner Overdrive Takin’ Care of Business, The Muppets Pigs in Space, Theme from Chariots of Fire, Theme from Rocky
The utterly obnoxious:
the Singing Dogs Jingle Bells, Raffi with Ken Whiteley Rise and Shine, R.E.M. Shiny Happy People, Baha Men Who Let the Dogs Out, Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A.
And the ones that kinda blew my mind:
The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night, U2 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Surfaris Wipe Out, AC/DC Who Made Who, The Clash Should I Stay or Should I Go (played at the end of several missions), Simon and Garfunkel The Sound of Silence, Thomas Dolby She Blinded Me With Science, Irene Cara What A Feeling, Theme from Godzilla Versus Space Godzilla, R.E.M. Stand, Sonny and Cher I Got You Babe (referencing Groundhog Day on missions extended extra days)
Teach Me Tiger
April Stevens (wikipedia)
hiram said on wednesday, may 07th, 2008
anika said on wednesday, may 07th, 2008
woah woah woah. dang. we should do one like this in Notes. seriously. you take the mic. i’m only singing drag queen lines from now on.
joshua said on thursday, may 08th, 2008
This surely means I’m a creep, but the more I listen to this song it seems less campy and more just really sexy. I love how Stevens sings many of the lines a little off-time, a little wine-flushed, lips puckered teasing, so self-aware of her playfulness that it becomes simply hotness.
Oh, and astronauts are cool.
robbie said on thursday, may 08th, 2008
sexy
anika said on thursday, may 08th, 2008
Retromanticism
katy said on thursday, may 08th, 2008
Maybe it’s the looming holiday, or my heterosexuality, but I don’t think this is sexy at all…hilarious, absolutely. Also, I feel like "April Stevens" might be the stage name of any one of my older, drunker female relatives. Happy Mother’s Day!
barbara said on thursday, june 05th, 2008
Ok, this one is definitely classified in the “songs I would be embarrassed to blast in my apartment” category. Also included in the list is Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je t’aime moi non plus.” I mean, what would the neighbors think!
Ha! Nice song and an interesting post.