There are some things in life that are so ingrained in your brain that you take them for granted. Where did they come from? Who is responsible for them? Was there ever a time before they existed?

You probably think I’m about to get really deep now, but that’s just not my style. Yesterday I watched the movie Bye Bye Birdie. A movie most people have probably heard of but wouldn’t be able to talk about, if asked. This was me 24 hours ago. I had never even heard the title track.

For those of you who have not seen it, the movie is about a young pop/rock star named Conrad Birdie in the 1960s. He gets drafted and all the girls of America are very distraught. (The story is loosely based on the Elvis joining the army situation.) A down and out song producer and his secretary (Albert and Rosie) decide to create publicity stunt to get their music noticed using Birdie’s fame. They choose a fan to represent the “every girl” (Kim McAfee) to be kissed by Birdie after he sings their new song “One Last Kiss” on the Ed Sullivan show before the army takes him away. Of course, there are several other characters who add plot twists and turn what should be a straight forward plan into a high speed mess, including a jealous boyfriend (or “steady”) and a needy mother.

I recently saw the opening clip from the movie and decided I wanted to watch the whole thing. Based on the little information that I knew about the story, it actually turned out to be a lot different than I expected. I knew it would be light-hearted but I think it was just down right silly. That doesn’t mean I liked it any less, however.

But going back to my first paragraph about taking everyday things for granted, I noticed that there were quite a few songs from this movie that I have always known but didn’t know where they were from. Turns out, they are from Bye Bye Birdie!

The first such song was actually a really exciting revelation! In university, my college would sing a song to other colleges or people when we wanted to show our appreciation (mostly during Frosh week). It was a very simple and consisted of us singing, “We love you (insert name), oh yes we do. We love you —, oh yes it’s true. When you’re not with us, we’re blue. Oh — we love you!” So, you can imagine my surprise when I heard the girls of Sweet Apple, Ohio singing “We love you Conrad, oh yes we do,” etc. The best part of this, though, was the boys singing their adapted version. “We hate you Conrad, oh yes we do. We don’t hate anyone, as much as you. Your singing makes us say P.U. Oh Conrad we hate you.” I had to know that this song came from somewhere, and since the Fine Arts college taught it to us, I should have guessed it had roots in musical theatre.

The second song is “Put On A Happy Face.” I couldn’t begin to tell you how I know this song, I just do; and I never once bothered to find out. I guess I just assumed it was just something I had heard on the radio a hundred times growing up. My research tells me that both Tony Bennett and The Supremes did versions of this song; maybe that’s where I’ve heard it. All I know is, when someone says, “Looks like those gray skies are going to clear up,” I say “Put on a happy face.”

And finally, the third song I recognized from this movie is called “Kids.” I wasn’t so much surprised to hear this song (as I knew it had to come from somewhere iconic) as I was pleased. I’m willing to bet that anyone my age who watches this movie would tell you they recognise this song; and they will all name the same source, The Simpsons. The Simpsons is well known for having musical episodes every once and a while, and on this particular occasion, the kids are given a curfew that they quickly break, which leads into the song Kids/Adults by all the townspeople. It was fun to casually stumble upon the origin of this musical parody. Some of the other musical influences on the Simpsons include the “Monorail Song” (“Trouble” from The Music Man), “Springfield, Springfield” (“New York, New York” from On The Town), and “See My Vest” (“Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast), among countless others.

I always love to learn about things I thought I already knew. Watching Bye Bye Birdie made me realise there are a million more movies that make up my cultural references that I have yet to see. It makes me want to stop time so I can catch up on all the stuff I’ve missed so I can place every reference and get every joke. But I know that’s not going to happen. All I can do is keep watching old movies and discovering things on my own.

For your enjoyment, here are both the Bye Bye Birdie and Simpsons versions of “Kids.”