It was in my head, rattling around in there.
We’re sitting there a couple of weeks ago, watching the kids from our church’s high school youth group doing a skit based on “The Dating Game” at their ’70s-themed fund-raising dinner.
Never mind that “The Dating Game” debuted in 1965 and — to my mind, at least — is a relic more of the ’60s than of the ’70s. (The original went off the air in July 1973.) But the kids don’t realize that, and I understand. The ’70s are to them what the ’40s were to me, when I was their age.
Yet we’re sitting there, and try as I might to keep it in check, there is one thing I … simply … cannot … resist … sharing … with the folks at our table.
“You know, there actually were different pieces of music for each part of ‘The Dating Game.'”
The lovely Janet turns to me and says, “You sound just like your dad.” (Dad is legendarily obsessive about the smallest details of railroading.) Everyone else at the table looks at me as if I have just arrived from Mars.
I didn’t go into the details … though I would have loved to had anyone asked. I suspect your eyes are glazing over, too. If you really must know, check out this portion of the Wiki entry on “The Dating Game.”
Suffice it to say there was more to “The Dating Game” than one tune.
The song that lingers in everyone’s mind is “Whipped Cream,” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. They played that when they introduced the bachelorettes. You know that one. Here’s a remixed version of it.
“Whipped Cream,” Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass with Ozomatli, “Whipped Cream and Other Delights Rewhipped,” 2006.
And, finally, the original theme song to the show.
“The Dating Game” theme song, Chet Baker and the Mariachi Brass, 1965. From a 2003 compilation CD called “The Coolest Year in Music History: 1966,” a debatable point.
AM, Then FM 
“I didn’t go into the details … though I would have loved to had anyone asked.”
I know that feeling all too well, I’m afraid.
Did you know that ‘Whipped Cream’ was originally done by Allen Toussaint’s group the Stokes (written by Toussaint on the ALON label)? I suspect it made him quite a bit of change.
great memories from THE biggest Herb Alpert fan. Still have every single one of my dad’s TJB albums and still spin them on the hi-fi on a regular basis. I remember getting so worked up watching the dating game. Now our poor kids have to suffer with The Bachelor and The Bachelorette! Life was so simple when you could wrap it up in 15 minutes instead of a whole GD season!
LOVE LOVE LOVE re-whipped. Play it constantly in the car — especially bittersweet samba — I get quite a few looks from the cars whilst sitting at traffic lights. Probably wondering what that old broad could possibly be listening to that could make those side view mirrors shake so!