Still Ready to Wiggle!

The Wiggles

Get Ready to wiggle. We’ve been ready for so long! Get ready to wiggle. When you wiggle you can’t go wrong!

“Get Ready to Wiggle” © 1991 by Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field, Greg Page, and John Field, initially published by Wiggly Tunes Pty. Ltd.

Formed in the early 1990s by university classmates in the childhood education program in Sydney, Australia, the Wiggles have been entertaining preschoolers ever since. Their introduction to American tots was slow, according to a newspaper article:

“US shows were held in record-store car parks in front of 20 fans. Audiences began to approach their current size… after the group started performing back-up at concerts for Barney the Dinosaur and signed a deal in 2002 that brought their TV program to The Disney Channel. So popular [did they become] in the US that The Washington Post claimed: “There are two kinds of people, those who’ve never heard of the Wiggles and those who know all the words to Fruit Salad. There’s a word for those in the latter group: parents.” ¹

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy!

“Fruit Salad” © 1993 by Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field, and Greg Page, initially published by EMI Music, later Wiggly Tunes Pty. Ltd.

A Wiggles Introduction

Their Aunt Beth introduced our boys, ages three and one, to the Wiggles sometime in late 2000 or early 2001. Our children are about the same age. “I took [my son] to NYC to see the Wiggles just before his 3rd birthday in 2000. He sat on all their laps at a meet and greet at FAO Schwartz,” she remembered. “He knew them because they were the opening video on the Barney Videos. He never wanted to watch Barney, He only wanted to see the “men dancing. “ It was the era of VHS videos and portable CD players. She bought them a videotape, and the Wiggling began. Their upbeat songs, happy demeanors, and empathy for their young audience attracted us, their parents, as well. We got a free CD of the group sponsored by Mott’s Applesauce in a Chick-Fil-A kid’s meal, and a few CD and video purchases later, we were all prone to “wiggle at home without a care, wiggle alone or with your teddy bear, wiggle at breakfast lunch or tea, wiggle and wiggle, wiggle along with me.”

A Wiggly Family Halloween

Our mother Mary Ann had a reputation for inventive Halloween costumes. She seldom disappointed, often winning top prize for originality at the hotel where she was employed and startling or delighting her grandchildren in equal measure. Ann made it a point to go trick-or-treating with as many of her fifteen grandchildren as she could arrange, and went all out on decorations at our childhood home. Beth inherited many of her decorations (including a life-sized witch she named Hagatha) as well as her mother’s affection for the holiday. Beth and her husband Pete made it a tradition to host an annual Halloween costume party for many years, welcoming their father and mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, and neighborhood adults and children for food and fun. This particular year we decided to go as The Wiggles, among the cutest of my wife Jean’s costume ideas over the years.

A Scary Time

Fall of 2001 was a scary and uncertain time to be a parent. I worked in the hotel business at the time, and spent a few minutes each day on our Rosslyn, VA hotel roof top looking southeast across the expanse of Arlington National Cemetery at the gaping hole in the Pentagon, blackened and still smoldering, dozens of people dead within and as yet unidentified and unclaimed. The surrounding skies were strangely empty of the usual traffic from nearby Reagan National Airport for many days after the September 11 event. It was gut-wrenchingly sad and surreal. I returned home each evening to our two pre-school aged sons, wondering what kind of world we were leaving them.

A Happy Time

The Wiggles helped provide some normalcy and comfort. In fact, the popularity of the Australian group in America “was forged in the shell-shocked weeks after the terrorist attacks on New York in 2001. Sports teams were cancelling overseas trips but the Wiggles decided to fly. The decision earned them respect and loyalty… It was a kind of watershed.” ¹ They began their tour with two shows in Boston on Friday, November 2, three in Queens, NY on Saturday, two in Englewood, NJ on Monday, and four shows in Annapolis MD on Tuesday, November 6, 2001. It was a grueling schedule, the Maryland shows expanded to four performances because the venue was too small to meet the growing demand.

The Annapolis concerts were held at the 250-seat Chesapeake Music Hall off U.S. Rte 50 near the Chesapeake Bay, a dinner theater that hosted community plays and special events. The venue closed in 2005, and the Wiggles concerts were considered a highlight of their existence.² We went to the morning show, and though we arrived early the lot was full and we parked across the highway in a church lot and boarded a shuttle to the venue, where we met and chatted with other excited Wiggle families. Our boys wore their homemade Wiggles shirts, and we had a table to ourselves, front row, stage left. Greg and Anthony and Murray and Jeff came bounding out and gave an energetic show, connecting with their young audience and encouraging their participation, particularly when Jeff fell asleep again and they needed the children to help wake him up.

Captain Feathersword, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, and Dorothy the Dinosaur made their appearances. Our four year-old son had a crying fit at one point, and Murray (the Red Wiggle) gave him his best sad face to cheer him up. It was very touching. We bought some souvenirs, including a Wiggles sippy cup for our two year-old. It was a fun day, and we all went home happy. Beth and her kids went to a later show, and the children went on stage to give roses to Dorothy. “We also saw them in Baltimore at the Lyric Theater [a 2,500 seat auditorium] the following year. That was a disappointment after the tiny venues, The Wiggles had made the big time.”

Wiggles For Daddies

It has been nearly 20 years since the concert, and we look back on it now with a sweet sadness. Our family outgrew the Wiggles within two or three years, which is typical. The group is still going strong, however, with new members, new songs, and new energy inspiring new generations of preschoolers through video streaming, music downloads, and, as always, live events.

Fathers’ Day has always coincided closely with our oldest son’s birthday, and in 2002 he must have gotten some Wiggles music for his birthday. Not wanting his father to feel left out, Jean gifted me a “Wiggles For Daddies” CD (Actually, more age appropriate music with a homemade label, as you see). It was very thoughtful. Our Wiggles VHS and CD collection was handed down to younger cousins a long time ago, but Wiggles for Daddies has thus far survived. So do the memories.

¹ “The Wiggly Way” by Catharine Munro, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), May 22, 2005.

² “Chesapeake Music Hall Preps for Final Curtain Call This Month” by Phillip McGowan, The Baltimore Sun, Dec 2, 2004.