Caught On Tape: Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (aka: Shelley Duvall's Rock 'n' Rhymeland) was a star-filled family romp of a movie. I myself became aware of this modern day classic more than 15 years ago when I VHS'd it during a free Disney Channel preview week on cable television. Remember those?

The premise of this marvelous musical adventure is that Mother Goose has disappeared, and her uptight son Gordon Goose (played by Dan Gilroy of the Breakfast Club) must team up with Little Bo Peep (Shelley Duvall) to save her before all of Rhymeland goes the way of the buffalo.

Along their journey, Gordon and Peep encounter a barrage of wacky nursery rhyme characters, including a trailer-trash Mary and her cigar-smoking Little Lamb (Cyndi Lauper and Woody Harrelson), the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (Debbie Harry), and the Three Blind Mice detective agency (Bobby Brown).

While a children's movie, many of the situations and jokes are obviously geared towards parents. The cast itself is rounded out by a number of musicians, and the musical segments are actually catchy, making this viewable to a wide audience. The set designs are wildly cartoonish and the crazy costumes even won the show a daytime Emmy in 1990.

The Three Men in a Tub are played by ZZ Top. Simon & Garfunkel make appearances as Simple Simon and Georgie Porgie. The Stray Cats dress to their name for a performance as Porgie's house band. Dan Gilroy co-wrote the theme song, "Hop to it." Even that merry old soul Little Richard gets a few verses in as Old King Cole.

By far my favorite song of the whole show occurs when Gordon is banished to Old King Cole's dungeon. The anthem, "Gordon Won't You Come Out to Play," gets performed by a costumed hair metal band resembling KISS and is credited to a group called The Dank. But who is The Dank?? This much is never explained...

In all, Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme is the kind of simple, silly fun that takes me back a few years. Currently, you can view the entire movie via YouTube.

Below, I've included the video for The Dank's "Gordon Won't You Come Out to Play."