I am looking for a song. It was a very happy song with people 
harmonizing that was played every night at closing time at "Great 
America", the theme park in Santa Clara, CA during the 80's. They 
played it for years right at closing time until about 1988. I am 
trying to find it. I called them and the person I talked to was too 
young and didn't want to pursue it. It is very important to me. It
wasn't America the Beautiful, they played that also. But I think it
has the lyrics "takes us along" in it somewhere. I want to find out
the title so I can buy or download a copy of the orginal recording.
Just find me the title!
Thanks!!

---

Request for Question Clarification by errol-ga on 24 May 2003 22:44 PDT

Hi there!

I've done a comprehensive search for the lyric "takes us along" and
found nothing.
However, the search "take us along" gave me a nice lead which was "Is
there a better way", performed by Status Quo.
It fits the description: it has some harmonizing and it would have
been played in the 80's.
Other than that, the Monkees were mentioned in my results also but any
searches such as "song played great america" gave me no lead at all.

Do you have any idea of which style of music it was?

Kind regards,
errol-ga.

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 25 May 2003 06:58 PDT

corky56789 --

Your clue about the words "takes us along" gave me an idea.  There is
a very catchy tune called "Take Me Along" from a long-forgotten 1959
Broadway show.  It seems to me that it is just the kind of song that
might be played at a theme park.  I have not found the lyrics to the
song online (I told you it was obscure!), although I recall that the
first lines of the song are, "Take me along, Take me along, Take me
along with you."  I have found one link to an audio sample of an
instrumental version on an out-of-print CD.

Tower Records: Andre Previn: Give My Regards To Broadway (the tune
begins about 25 seconds into the clip)
http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=1009228&cc=USD

If you believe that this is the song you are seeking, let me know and
I can help you locate a used copy of the original cast LP or CD.

markj-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 26 May 2003 06:02 PDT

corky56789 --

I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that I have uncovered
the name of the song, its history and a few more excerpts from its
lyrics by adopting a last-resort search strategy that turned out to be
successful.  The bad news is that I have found no evidence that a
recording of the song exists online or is likely to be commercially
available.

The song was written and produced specifically for Marriott, the
then-owner of the theme park and all rights to the song and its
performance have been transferred to Paramount, its current owner. 
This, in retrospect, is not surprising since it makes more economic
sense than paying royalties for daily performances over many years.

I am still awaiting e-mail confirmation of the nonexistence of a
recording, but I am not hopeful on this score.

You asked only for the title of the song, but you indicated that your
purpose was to acquire a recording or downloadable copy of it.  Under
the circumstances, I don't believe that I have $50 worth of
information for you, and I will write up what I have found and post it
as a comment later today, assuming that I don't get unexpected advice
that a recording is available.

markj-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 26 May 2003 15:23 PDT

Corky --

Thanks for your kind words.  And thank you for your generous offer to
me to repost my comment as an answer (formatted correctly this time, I
promise!).  If I do say so myself, I was persistent and ultimately did
come up with the information you asked for.

As for follow-up on the issue of a recording, I have these thoughts:

I am hopeful that I can find, and post, contact information for the
right section of the Paramount law department to consult on the rights
issues associated with the song and whether you might be able to get a
recording for personal use.  It would be awkward and probably
inappropriate for me to be a go-between because Google Answers
researchers are not allowed to communicate privately with customers. 
I obviously can't guarantee that you would succeed, but it would give
you an opportunity to make your case to the right people.

If I succeed in getting that contact information, I will post it as a
clarification of my answer.  You can then decide whether to compensate
me further.  The way to do that would be to post a new question to my
attention asking for that particular piece of information.

One final thought:  According to the first e-mail response I received,
the song is still played at the park every day.  Assuming that
recording devices are not banned, a visitor could presumably make a
legitimate personal-use copy at the park.  The sound would not be
great, but think of the background noise as natural ambiance!

Thanks again for the interesting research project.


markj-ga

corky56789 --

The name of the song you are seeking is "The Carousel Song."   Here is
the body of an e-mail (without personal identifying information) that
I received yesterday from a current senior manager at Great America,
who has worked at the park since the 1970s:

"The song is known as the "Carousel Song."  Paramount's Great America
in Santa Clara, California continues to play this song at closing each
night and we have done so since we opened in 1976. The other Great
America, now Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill., definitely
played this song at closing from 1976 through 1984. I have no idea
whether they continue to use the song.

"The Carousel Song was written and produced for the Marriott
Corporation to be used at the Marriott's Great America theme parks.
Ownership and copyrights to the song transferred to the new owners
with the sale of the parks."


Here is the body (without personal identifying information) of a
second e-mail.  This is from someone who worked at Great America in
the 1980s.  The information is consistent with the information above,
and the writer adds some more detail about the park, the song and its
lyrics:

"The park was one of two initial parks built for the Marriott
Corporation with the one in Santa Clara serving the San Francisco Bay
Area and one in Gurnee, Illinois, serving the Chicago area. They both
opened in 1976. Due to high property values Marriott sold the Gurnee
park to Six Flags and the Santa Clara Park to the City of Santa Clara
- in order to preserve it as an amusement park. The City of Santa
Clara then contracted with Kings Entertainment Corporation (KECO) to
management the park. The Santa Clara park was then sold to Paramount
who own and run it to this day.

"At both parks the main icon was a large double decker carousel which
inspired the playing of the song at the parks.

"I don't know the actual name of the song, but we used to call it "The
Carousel Song." But, based on the lyrics I would guess that the name
would be "The Carousel." Also, I don't think it was a "published"
song. It might have been written specifically for the park.

"When the park opened in the morning first the National Anthem was
played, then "The Carousel." When the park closed "The Carousel" was
played again along with verbal announcement that the park was now
closed. The shop and services in the back of the park then closed so
that the security "sweep" could flow the guests out."

"Here is my attempt at some of the main lyrics:

"See the carousel, turning 'round and 'round there.
It's a fantasy, take a ride you'll see.

"It takes along as it spins to a song
It's a daydream, won't you come along.

"To, the carousel.

"Then, the rest I can only remember bits and pieces such as;
"hold her hair there" "


 
Search Strategy:

After initially failing to come up with helpful information online and
making an incorrect guess based on personal knowledge, I was able to
identify several people who worked at Great America during the period
cited in your question.   To do so, I performed two Google searches
using the following terms:

"worked at great america"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22worked+at+great+america%22%22&btnG=Google+Search

"working at great america"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22working+at+great+america%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N

I successfully e-mailed the current park executive by using the
address format for Paramount theme park employees found at the
company's online "Media Center."

The other source I contacted had a nonworking e-mail address at his
old website that appeared in my search results, but further searching
based on information at that site led me to his current site and
current e-mail address.



I enjoyed the challenge of this question.  As discussed in our
previous posts, I will now take the next step of trying to find
contact information for someone at Paramount with whom you can discuss
the possibility of obtaining a copy of the recorded performance of the
song.

If any of the information in this answer is unclear, please post a
clarification request before rating this answer.


markj-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by markj-ga on 27 May 2003 08:11 PDT

corky --

The headquarters of Paramount Parks, Inc. is in Charlotte, NC.  Its
publicly posted contact information is as follows:

8270 Red Oak Blvd
Charlotte, NC 28217-3916 

Tel: 704-561-8100

That information is found at this linked page:
Hoovers Online: Paramount Parks, Inc.
http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/7/0,2163,107457,00.html

According to the Hoover's site, that home office staff includes the
company's business affairs department.  This is very likely the unit
that would handle a request like yours, with or without the input of
an in-house intellectual property lawyer.  A business affairs staff of
a large corporation often includes lawyers and, even if this one
doesn't, they certainly have close working relationships with in-house
lawyers in the much larger Paramount/Viacom universe.  Unfortunately,
I know from long experience that lawyers are ubiqitous in large
corporations and take great pains to protect their intellectual
property.

I think that the most targeted approach would be for you to call or
write the Paramount Parks Charlotte office and pose your request. 
Your familiarity with the information in my answer should help
establish that you have done your homework and are a true fan of the
Great America park.

Good luck!

markj-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by markj-ga on 29 May 2003 13:22 PDT

Corky --

Good news.  Here is an e-mail I just received from the Great American
executive who gave me the information on the song.  Here is his reply
today to a follow-up message from me:

"The song has never been made available to the public. We would be
willing to
dub a cassette copy of the song and send it to your customer free of
charge.
Please send me the information if interested."


He is expecting to hear from you.  Here is his business e-mail
address:

mark.mahaffey@paramountparks.com


As discussed in our previous postings, in order to compensate me for
this additional information, you can just post a new question to my
attention. It doesn't matter what the question is -- favorite song,
whatever.

Congratulations!

markj-ga

Thank you!

Just a quick note:

The website that I got the information from turned out to be incorrect
and the title of the song is in fact "Rockers Rollin'".

errol-ga.

It sounded like it was "pop" sounding. Sort of like Lawrence Welk but
not quite that corney. I remember walking with a bunch of friends
really enjoying the song many times at closing time. A friend of mine
remembers that time also but not the song. Music is important to me
and I really want that song again.
Thanks!

Sorry it is not "Rockers Rollin'". Thanks!

Hi Markj,
Thanks, but the tower records link is not the song. Keep up the good work. Thanks!
Corky

corky56789 --

The name of the song you are seeking is "The Carousel Song."   Here is
the body of an e-mail (without personal identifying information) that
I received yesterday from a current senior manager at Great America,
who has worked at the park since the 1970s:

"The song is known as the "Carousel Song."  Paramount's Great America
in Santa
Clara, California continues to play this song at closing each night
and we
have done so since we opened in 1976. The other Great America, now Six
Flags
Great America in Gurnee, Ill., definitely played this song at closing
from
1976 through 1984. I have no idea whether they continue to use the
song.

"The Carousel Song was written and produced for the Marriott
Corporation to
be used at the Marriott's Great America theme parks. Ownership and
copyrights to the song transferred to the new owners with the sale of
the
parks."


Here is the body (without personal identifying information) of a
second e-mail.  This is from someone who worked at Great America in
the 1980s.  The information is consistent with the information above,
and the writer adds some more detail about the park, the song and its
lyrics:

"The park was one of two initial parks built for the Marriott
Corporation
with the one in Santa Clara serving the San Francisco Bay Area and one
in
Gurnee, Illinois, serving the Chicago area. They both opened in 1976.
Due
to high property values Marriott sold the Gurnee park to Six Flags and
the
Santa Clara Park to the City of Santa Clara - in order to preserve it
as an
amusement park. The City of Santa Clara then contracted with Kings 
Entertainment Corporation (KECO) to management the park. The Santa
Clara
park was then sold to Paramount who own and run it to this day.

"At both parks the main icon was a large double decker carousel which
inspired the playing of the song at the parks.

"I don't know the actual name of the song, but we used to call it "The
Carousel Song." But, based on the lyrics I would guess that the name 
would be "The Carousel." Also, I don't think it was a "published" 
song. It might have been written specifically for the park.

"When the park opened in the morning first the National Anthem was
played,
then "The Carousel." When the park closed "The Carousel" was played
again
along with verbal announcement that the park was now closed. The shop
and
services in the back of the park then closed so that the security
"sweep"
could flow the guests out."

"Here is my attempt at some of the main lyrics:

"See the carousel, turning 'round and 'round there.
Its a fantasy, take a ride you'll see.

"It takes along as it spins to a song
It's a daydream, won't you come along.

"To, the carousel.

"Then, the rest I can only remember bits and pieces such as;
- "hold her hair there" "


 
Search Strategy:

After initially failing to come up with helpful information online and
making an incorrect guess based on personal knowledge, I was able to
identify several people who worked at Great America during the period
cited in your question.   To do so, I performed two Google searches
using the following terms:

"worked at great america"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22worked+at+great+america%22%22&btnG=Google+Search

"working at great america"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22working+at+great+america%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N

I successfully e-mailed the current park executive by using the
address format for Paramount theme park employees found at the
company's online "Media Center."

The other source I contacted had a nonworking e-mail address at his
old website that appeared in my search results, but further searching
based on information at that site led me to his current site and
current e-mail address.


I hope that the above information has some nostalgia value for you,
even if I can't direct you to a source for a recording of the song.  I
don't expect to get further information that might be helpful in that
regard, but, if I do, I will post it as an answer.


markj-ga

Sorry about the formatting problem with my previous comment.  With any
luck, this version will be more readable:

corky56789 --

The name of the song you are seeking is "The Carousel Song."   Here is
the body of an e-mail (without personal identifying information) that
I received yesterday from a current senior manager at Great America,
who has worked at the park since the 1970s:

"The song is known as the "Carousel Song."  Paramount's Great America
in Santa
Clara, California continues to play this song at closing each night
and we have done so since we opened in 1976. The other Great America,
now Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill., definitely played this
song at closing from 1976 through 1984. I have no idea whether they
continue to use the song.

"The Carousel Song was written and produced for the Marriott
Corporation to
be used at the Marriott's Great America theme parks. Ownership and
copyrights to the song transferred to the new owners with the sale of
the parks."


Here is the body (without personal identifying information) of a
second e-mail.  This is from someone who worked at Great America in
the 1980s.  The information is consistent with the information above,
and the writer adds some more detail about the park, the song and its
lyrics:

"The park was one of two initial parks built for the Marriott
Corporation with the one in Santa Clara serving the San Francisco Bay
Area and one in Gurnee, Illinois, serving the Chicago area. They both
opened in 1976. Due to high property values Marriott sold the Gurnee
park to Six Flags and the Santa Clara Park to the City of Santa Clara
- in order to preserve it as an amusement park. The City of Santa
Clara then contracted with Kings Entertainment Corporation (KECO) to
management the park. The Santa Clara park was then sold to Paramount
who own and run it to this day.

"At both parks the main icon was a large double decker carousel which
inspired the playing of the song at the parks.

"I don't know the actual name of the song, but we used to call it "The
Carousel Song." But, based on the lyrics I would guess that the name
would be "The Carousel." Also, I don't think it was a "published"
song. It might have been written specifically for the park.

"When the park opened in the morning first the National Anthem was
played,
then "The Carousel." When the park closed "The Carousel" was played
again
along with verbal announcement that the park was now closed. The shop
and
services in the back of the park then closed so that the security
"sweep"
could flow the guests out."

"Here is my attempt at some of the main lyrics:

"See the carousel, turning 'round and 'round there.
Its a fantasy, take a ride you'll see.

"It takes along as it spins to a song
It's a daydream, won't you come along.

"To, the carousel.

"Then, the rest I can only remember bits and pieces such as;
- "hold her hair there" "


 
Search Strategy:

After initially failing to come up with helpful information online and
making an incorrect guess based on personal knowledge, I was able to
identify several people who worked at Great America during the period
cited in your question.   To do so, I performed two Google searches
using the following terms:

"worked at great america"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22worked+at+great+america%22%22&btnG=Google+Search

"working at great america"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22working+at+great+america%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N

I successfully e-mailed the current park executive by using the
address format for Paramount theme park employees found at the
company's online "Media Center."

The other source I contacted had a nonworking e-mail address at his
old website that appeared in my search results, but further searching
based on information at that site led me to his current site and
current e-mail address.


I hope that the above information has some nostalgia value for you,
even if I can't direct you to a source for a recording of the song.  I
don't expect to get further information that might be helpful in that
regard, but, if I do, I will post it as an answer.


markj-ga

Thanks markj-ga!
I emailed him and he is sending me a copy of the song right away. I
asked you another question. Have fun!
Corky
http://www.corkystanton.com