Broadcast television only has one real power - the power of repetition.

Imagine this, for two years, 1968 and 1969, this Camp Fire Girls PSA ran before, and after, every cartoon, all day on Saturday mornings. Try as you might, no one could escape hearing this ad short of turning the TV off completely. Then you could hear it from the neighbor's open window!

But then a strange thing happened - this PSA became an unofficial Saturday morning anthem. After hearing it a few hundred times this soundtrack sort of permeated every weekend. Personally, I could hear it in my head late into the evening. I could hear it as I lay in bed looking up at the night sky.

Never realized how much this song got to me  - until the ad was pulled by Campfire USA.

The audio recording is awful, Thomas Edison could've done better with a needle and a wax cylinder. Maybe the bad recording is part of this PSA's charm. After 50 years I can only make out two lines of lyrics. The rest of the music is from an original garage band that I've never known the name of.

I thought you were joking about the sound quality. Is that really what it sounded like 50 years ago? 

shakin steak wrote :

I thought you were joking about the sound quality. Is that really what it sounded like 50 years ago? 

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It's hard to believe, but you're actually hearing the Camp Fire Girls song at the same poor playback quality that was originally aired back in 1968/1969. I'm still of the opinion that this PSA does not meet the broadcast standards of the National Association of Broadcasters, (NAB), but was given a waiver as a "PSA" to be held to "community stabdards" of local television. 

This is what I know - the name of the song is, "What is a Camp Fire Girl?" and each stanza of the lyrics is an answer to the songs title. All I can make out from the aawful recording is:

"what is a camp fire girl?" - "she's not opposed to finding out"

"what is a camp fire girl?" - "she'll grow on trust and not on doubt"

50 years later and I can only make out two lines of lyrics, lol.

Good to know that I am not the only one who fondly remembers that jingle!  Could have been a sleeper Top 40 hit with a bit more work/production.  Trying to find out who owns the rights to the song, and/or who performed it.  Wish me luck!

ckboldies wrote :

Good to know that I am not the only one who fondly remembers that jingle!  Could have been a sleeper Top 40 hit with a bit more work/production.  Trying to find out who owns the rights to the song, and/or who performed it.  Wish me luck!

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It was a total accident but back in 2011 there was a YouTube video by a local New Jersey band singing the same song as in the Camp Fire PSA. The YT notes said the recording was from 1967. I'm sure I saved a copy but since I moved all my old files to my remote hard drive I can't find that video, as a result I can't remember the name of the band.

It's kinda weird how old TV commercials get inside your head and never leave. That Camp Fire PSA mush have been made on a low budget, but that song is awesome especially when you listen a couple of times. In my opinion the song and TV spot deserves a remastering. It would be cool to see where the girls from the PSA are today.