999,829: Rita Pavone — My Name is Potato

As the Internet has very little information on this video, I can only imagine how this cartoon / live action extravaganza of a song came to pass. However, I think we all know how it went. By the late 70s, the Schoolhouse Rock animators were riding high on the hog. The goverment / Public Television was giving out mucho dinero for educational cartoons. Those guys became International Jetsetters! There were Pina Coladas in Fiji followed by aperitives in gay ol 'Paris. One night in Rome, a drunk schoolhouse rocker came into contact with cute-as-a-button Rita Pavone. "Hey baby!" he shouted at her. "Do you know who I am?" She smiled coyly and took a gold tipped cigarette out of her Halston purse. "No, English not so good." As flecks of red wine spittle spew from his mouth, he screamed "Schoolhouse Rock!" She replied, "well you look ... how you say? Like Potato, American Potato!" The wheels in this rocker's mind spun quickly. Business cards were exchanged and they were in studio the VERY NEXT DAY laying down the track. Yeah, said animator may have taken on an Italian name "Guido Manuli" for artistic credit, but we all know that's not a real name.

When the tape was released, Guido's friends back at home chastised him. "What are you trying to teach man? That potatoes grow in the earth? Let's not get started on the tobacco sequence. That shit better not see the light of day in our U.S. of A." But Guido had got to spend a whole two days with Rita, and that was all that mattered.