“brothers and sisters, sisters and brothers, ain’t we everyo-one…”

A co-worker is buying for her niece the big pink paperback of Free to be You and Me, created by Marlo Thomas 5,000 years ago (read: my childhood).

Free to Be You and Me was huge to my generation and I am glad to see it is being passed on. It’s very 1970s. It is consciousness-raising masked as children’s entertainment. Women can do whatever they want to do, even be cab drivers, and men can be sensitive and have dolls, and the world will go on turning.

Marlo Thomas called in favors from all of her old friends, to write sketches, write songs, perform on the album. Her friends include luminaries such as Shel Silverstein, Mel Brooks. People with wit, humor. Non-treacly types.

My friends and I were in a production of this when we were 11, 12 years old.

Does anyone else out there have any intense Free to Be You and Me memories?

Here are a couple of mine:

“There’s a land that I see
where the children are free
And I say it ain’t far
To this land from where we are
Take my hand, come along
Lend your voice to my song
Come along, take my hand
And we’ll li-ive
In the land
Where the children run free
In the land
Of a green country
In the land
Where the horses are free
And you and me are free to be
You and me…”

What else?

“You’re bald! You’re bald as a ping-pong ball, are you bald!”

“Brothers and sisters
Sisters and brothers
Ain’t we every-o-one
Brothers and sisters
Sisters and brothers
Every brother’s father
Every mother’s so-on…”

“It’s all right to cry
Crying gets the sad out of you
It’s all right to cry
It might make you feel better…”

“Ladies first! Ladies first!” “BU-URP!”

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11 Responses to “brothers and sisters, sisters and brothers, ain’t we everyo-one…”

  1. Betsy says:

    Mommy’s are people
    People with children
    When Mommy’s were little they used to be girls
    Like some of you
    But then they grew…

    Jill told Bill
    That it was lots of fun to cook
    Bill told Jill
    That he could bait a real fish hook
    So they made oooey gooey
    Chocolate cake icky licky
    And they sat by the river
    And they ate it…

    A doll, a doll, William wants a doll…

    Okay – I need to stop – But I’m so glad to hear that the music goes on!!!

  2. Rad World says:

    One of the first albums I ever memorized the lyrics to. I can almost hear the deep, sonarous voice of Rosey Grier telling me its all right to cry. That was before I saw “The Thing With Two Heads”. Now I know why he wanted to cry.

    My other favorite cuts were “William’s doll” and “My Dog the Plumber” because lets face it there is nothing more entertaining to an 8 year old than a dog as a plumber.

  3. red says:

    I forgot that that was Rosie Grier. So cool!

  4. Beth says:

    Some mommies drive taxis/or sing on TV…..(must be sung wearing rainbow suspenders and gigantic Gloria Steinham glasses….) uhh..ok, but I have never known any Mommy taxi drivers…or tv singing stars, for that matter. In Wakefield, our Mommies worked at the URI athletic ticket office, or Health Center, or gave guitar lessons. But I guess the point was SOME, not ours. ha ha.

  5. mitchell says:

    I didnt discover that album until i was in my 30’s!! Such a sad childhood! Anyway..i fell in love with it..Rachel Hamilton gave it to me. Any album with Mel Brooks and carol Channing is ok in my book!

  6. El Capitan says:

    Wow… haven’t thought about that record in almost 30 years. Damn, I feel old now. It more or less permanently occupied the little portable turntable my sister and I shared. I had listened to it hundreds of times, and by the time she was old enough to get into it, I had already moved on to ABBA and KISS and all the other 70’s sounds.

    Memories are kind fuzzy now.. let’s see what I can dredge up:

    “It’s all right to cry, Crying takes the sad out of you”

    Mel Brooks saying “I want to be a cocktail waitress!”

    Alan Alda telling tale of Atalanta

    “Sisters and Brothers, Brothers and Sisters, each and every one; Sisters and Brothers, Brothers and Sisters, every father’s daughter, every mother’s son.”

    Hmm, might need to go excavate the garage to see if we still have a copy. Now that Sis is married and trying for kids, though, perhaps I should just spring for a new CD version!

  7. El Capitan says:

    Heh, what a tool I can be at times… I started commenting before I read all of Sheila’s post, and mostly copied what she had already written… See what bringing you back in time 25 years will do? Hehehe…

  8. alex says:

    “I’m a girl! That’s it! I knew it!! I….AM…A….GIRL!”

    “Well, you don’t have any hair.”

    “What?!”

    “You don’t have any hair.”

    “Ickkkk. Don’t look!”

    “Why? Why not?”

    “A bald girl? Ick. Disgusting.”

    Gender roles. That album changed my life.

    Alex

  9. Dan says:

    THat recrod was my first exposure to Mel Brooks. He is on that, right?

  10. Ash says:

    You’re doing it to me again. Next you’ll be talking about the Banana Splits or something…

  11. Beth says:

    Na na na- nananana- na na na na na na na na…one banana, two banana, three banana, four…can’t remember the rest of the words, but I know they were big freaky looking things, like Sigmund and the Seamonsters and HR Puff’n’stuff. Remember them??

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