Wave Your Arms Like They're On Sticks

In case you never learned to count up to 11.. or 12 even!

What few tracks The Dead Hensons have at their official site or their bassist’s site are pure gold and my sincere hope is that they play with foam banjos where you can bend the neck and whomp each other in the head with it for the finale.

The Dead Hensons play that flavorful soul and funk that took us all on a ride through the lower digits back in kinderschool. Seven individuals—a gender-balanced rock outfit—who throw themselves into the wakka-wakka with shaggy fervor. I mean, outside of the context of Sesame Street and various Muppet programming, these songs are glittery cool. I would start with Can You Picture That? and Eleven.

But, if you want to learn all the way up to 12, you’re going to have to eventually listen to The Pinball Number Count. This is what counting is all about. Stopping between numbers to get groovy and take a moment to wig out on the saxophone. Yes, most kids know the numbers. However, they usually race through their counting so they can go back to stuffing animals in their pockets. Sadly, few know how to enjoy the spaces between the numbers.

Incidentally, I’ve recently acquired a copy of the Pinball Number Count video and you can transfer it to your private collection by clicking on the image below.

The Pinball Number Count was the product of Walt Kraemer and The Pointer Sisters. A brief history is outlined here, in which Walt admits “it wasn’t until we had completed the project that I realized I may have stolen the first five notes of the Woody Woodpecker Song.”

The Woody Woodpecker song is here.

See also: We Are Drunk. Swimming Guests Face The Tuba.