Wednesday cover: "Pac Man Fever" from Danny Hoctor

Danny Hoctor's Dance Caravan '82 is an album of cover songs, some public domain and some not. There are no credits listed at all on the album. It consists of only two verses and two choruses.

I couldn't find it available already, so I've uploaded it to YouTube.

Scans courtesy Discogs.com.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph" by Buckner & Garcia

While working on the movie Wreck-It Ralph, someone at Disney had the bright idea of having Buckner & Garcia sing a song based on the Fix-It Felix Jr. game. So they called up Jerry Buckner and asked if they'd be interested. Of course they're interested! Unfortunately, Gary Garcia had passed away, so Danny Jones did the lead vocals. But it doesn't have the same effect if they don't keep calling the band Buckner & Garcia. Buckner has briefly told the story on YouTube.

The nice thing was that they got to reunite the surviving members of the band from the original Pac-Man Fever album. As mentioned, Garcia was gone, but so, too, was Ginny Whitaker who'd played drums on the album. Buckner also presented some video of the song's recording session. He mentions Jamie Houston as the co-producer, but glosses over the fact that he also composed the music and wrote lyrics. Houston has written a lot of songs for Disney.

As it says up top, the song is "Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph." And there's an Easter egg in it. There's a short instrumental/sound effects break in the song. If you listen closely at the 2:03 mark, you'll hear someone say "Uh!" That's Gary Garcia's voice taken from a recording of "Pac-Man Fever". (Probably the 1999 version.) They figured if they're going to keep calling themselves Buckner & Garcia, he should have a part in it, so he does.

Image courtesy Discogs.com.

Week 50: Pocket Full of Quarters t-shirts

In late 2012 or January 2013, Buckner & Garcia opened a new Café Press store. It contained a series of items, all featuring the same graphic on them.

Yes, they all said "I've got a pocket full of quarters and I'm headed to the arcade" (the opening line of the song) in a handwritten-style font and "http://BucknerGacia.com" printed underneath. Items include many, many different styles of shirts and a puzzle.

I am as surprised as anyone to discover this store STILL EXISTS! But it now only features shirts. The puzzle is no longer available.

Buckner & Garcia, Songwriters of the Year

40 years ago today, on September 23, 1982, Buckner & Garcia received the Songwriters of the Year award at the fourth annual Atlanta Songwriters Association showcase and competition.

Wednesday cover: "Pac Man Fever" from Statler Records

All we know about this cover of "Pac-Man Fever" is the publisher. There's no artist credits or even a copyright date (but c. 1982 is probably a good guess).

The song takes some liberties with the lyrics in the first two verses. Then they skip the guitar solo and do an original third verse. Yeah, okay then.

Off-Topic Tuesday: Video game medleys by Insane Ian

We've covered one of Insane Ian's medleys before because of the Frogger section, but he's done 5 of them! You can get the first 4 on a single EP. His latest medley is its own track.

Week 49: Pac-Man Fever 30th Anniversary Edition

In 2012, for the 30th anniversary of the Pac-Man Fever album, Jerry Buckner self-published this special version of the album. The 1999 re-recordings are each followed by a commentary track by Buckner.

The final track is an interview recorded with Gary Garcia before he passed away. The album is no longer available, but Buckner has put it on YouTube.

Wednesday cover: "Pac-Man Fever" by the Beachwood All-Stars

Wait, don't look for an album by that artist. What you actually want is "Tune Up with the Hits" by Linda Fratianne. Fratianne was an American Olympics-level figure skater. Yes, everybody had an aerobic workout album in the early '80s and (spoiler) more than one included "Pac-Man Fever" in the workout routine. Yeah, that'll never get dated.

This album came in both LP and cassette versions. The packaging was nearly identical because both include a booklet showing the exercise moves. They just added a cut-out to hold the cassette for that version. (Photos courtesy Discogs.com.)

The Beachwood All-Stars are Tim Graziano (bass), Jose Ortiz (drums), Frank Pellino (guitar), Tom First & Roger Hatfield (sax), Gary Boggess (synthesizer), Pete Tokar (keyboards and vocals), Ken Zahorcak (trumpet and vocals), and Leon Debouse, Diane Green, & Becky Goldstein (vocals).

I can't find the full version of the song online, but there's a 30-second excerpt at the Internet Archive. You'll quickly discover this version isn't good for regular listening because Fratianne gives exercise directions over the song. Unlike some exercise albums, there's no version without the directions included.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Mama Rap" by Dead Alewives

Those of a certain age will remember when the "Your Mama" insult trend was ubiquitous? This 1996 rap leans fully into that and mentions a bunch of classic video games in the process. (Thanks to James Piazza for the pointer.)

Week 48: Fuel 2000 CD

Eight years after the K-Tel release, in 2010, the album was released by Fuel 2000. For unknown reasons, they changed the art and fonts. They also added two other Buckner & Garcia songs, "Hostage" and "E.T. (I Love You)", which had appeared on the 1999 Now & Then CD.

Wednesday cover: "Pac-Man-kuume" by Tijamaria (Finland)

Another international cover from 1983, this time with all-original music and vocals. And unlike the original, this one features no arcade samples, just synthesized effects.

This one also is a promotion for the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, as can be seen by the back cover. My working theory is that Atari licensed the song in territories where the original song wasn't released, like Finland and Australia. (Photos courtesy Ville Ranki.)

They then found local artists to perform the song in the native language. (Or, in the case of Australia, they just used the original.) Unfortunately, I've found no confirmation of this theory beyond the existence of the records.

Getting back to this release, the B-side is a love song whose title doesn't translate well I'm told. The orange sticker basically says "sample record / not for sale."

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Pac-Man Is Naked and So Should You" by Worm Quartet.

I mentioned this song earlier, but now I'm highlighting it on it's own. This was, I believe, Worm Quartet's first time doing a song about Pac-Man. It's from the album Stupid Video Game Music, and that title also pretty much sums up the song, I think. (No offense intended.) Yeah, that's pretty much it. Take a listen on Bandcamp.

Week 47: Pac-Man Fever video game

This Mario Party-esque game was released for PS2 and GameCube in 2002. Honestly, it doesn't have anything to do with the song. Except that, if not for the song, they might not have named it this.