Bob Dorough, Jazz Musician Best Known For 'Schoolhouse Rock!,' Dead At 94

Bob Dorough, whose career began as a composer, arranger and singer in the booming New York jazz scene of the '50s and '60s before he became the musical keystone of Schoolhouse Rock!, died Monday afternoon in Mt. Bethel, Penn., his wife, Sally Shanley Dorough, confirmed to NPR. He was 94.

The Arkansas-born, Texas-raised Dorough began working in music in the army, serving as a composer, arranger and player in the Special Services Army Band between 1943 and '45, before getting a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas. In the late '40s, Dorough made his way to New York, working there as a pianist and singer.

Bob Dorough, Jazz Musician Best Known For 'Schoolhouse Rock!,' Dead At 94

Sign, another icon of childhood gone. For those of us int he States, Schoolhouse Rock was an essential part of Saturday morning cartoons. It animated an short education piece with a catchy, easy to remember tune. Decades later I can still sing along with the songs.

My all time favorite


My favorites

and of course in this day and age you are not relevant till the Simpsons parody you:

Their take on "I'm just a bill"

a reply to: FredT

wow...that guy raised a helluva lot of us. I still get Im just a bill, running through my head from time to time.
He will be missed, heck his work already is around our house.

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: FredT

wow...that guy raised a helluva lot of us. I still get Im just a bill, running through my head from time to time.
He will be missed, heck his work already is around our house.

Yea our son liked it too! it was multigenerational it seems

Wow. Schoolhouse Rock.

I don't think it's even possible to explain just how much of an impact SR had on us kids that grew up in the 70s. Television was SO different then.

If you didn't live in a major metropolitan area, you only had local ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates. Some areas had PBS, and possibly an independent station if you were very, very fortunate.

But Schoolhouse Rock is as close to perfect educational programming as it gets. I'm 52 years old, and in my mind I can still see and hear several SR bits as clearly as if I was watching a recording.

I can't think of any other educational programming that had that kind of impact, especially in the 70s and early 80s.

I bet a very large percentage of people who watched Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s can actually sing or quote the "I'm Just a Bill" bit from start to finish.

There was another series about numbers, was it called "Multiplication Rock"? It had a bit for the number 2 that used a "Noah's Ark" theme, if I remember it accurately.

I can still hear the 3x bit tune in my head too.

I don't know what it was exactly about it that made it work SO well, but it was AWESOME.

School House Rock was one of my favorites between cartoons.

Conjuction Junction! What's your function ...?

So many I remember ... I have them on DVD.

This guy impacted so many people. He will be missed.

I think my favorites were always the multiplication songs. I used them to help my own kids:

















I skipped the ones for 8, 9 and 11.

My favorite of all these was the 5 song. I also remember when I was a kid I really liked the 6 and 12 songs too.

Blind Melon did a cool cover of '3 is a Magic Number.'
School House Rock was good stuff.

a reply to: FredT

Be Prepared for ATS to move this thread to the back-water "People" forum, in the Chit-Chat area. That seems to happen any time I've started a "___________ has passed away." thread in one of the mainstream forums.

originally posted by: ketsuko
School House Rock was one of my favorites between cartoons.

Conjuction Junction! What's your function ...?

So many I remember ... I have them on DVD.

This guy impacted so many people. He will be missed.

That was of my favorites!

www.youtube.com...