The Partridge Family Episode #11
Welcome to my review of The Partridge Family Episode #11. This episode is titled “This is My Song” and originally aired on December 4, 1970. It’s about when Keith can’t come up with any new songs. He’s going through a dry spell. He’s all panicked and stuff because the group has to record a live album in two weeks. Talk about pressure! Poor Keith. Anyway, Danny tries to help out by writing songs. Yeah, right. Danny’s songwriting skills consist of copying. He first comes up with Born Free and Moulin Rouge before copying Keith’s song. Once again, the episode features the awesome Danny Bonaduce. BTW, this is one of the few episodes not to have any guest stars.
The show opens with Reuben on the sofa snoring very loudly. Why is he there? Shirley is reading on the sofa next to him and scratching the family dog, Simone. (He disappeared after the first season.) Laurie and Danny are watching TV (Moulin Rouge). Keith walks in with his shaggy hair and Reuben (who is now awake thanks to Danny) jumps on him about a new song. They have a live record date in ten days and Keith is supposed to write a song. Since Keith is going through a dry spell, Danny decides to help by “knocking out a couple of songs”. Everyone laughs at how stupid he is.
Danny’s Song
Danny has come up with a great new song. He calls Reuben over (and away from his date with Bonnie Kleinschmidt) and asks Laurie to write the song down while he sings it to her. Reuben and Laurie realize that what Danny is humming is the song from the movie they watched last night (Moulin Rouge). Susan Dey actually sings in this scene and sounds great. I wonder why she never made an album. If Danny Bonaduce can put out an album……..I’m just saying.
Danny comes into Shirley’s bedroom to whistle his newest song for her. It turns out to be Born Free. Why is he so stupid?
Keith finally has an idea for a new song and excitedly rushes into his room to work on it. The rest of the house is asleep except for Shirley who tells him not to stay up too late. Keith continues to pound out his new song on the guitar all the while Danny is in the next room taking it all in. The walls are apparently very thin and Danny is able to steal Keith’s song, but Danny doesn’t know it’s Keith’s song. He’s asleep! He’s learning Keith’s song by osmosis.
Cut to the next morning while Danny is singing “his” new song to Laurie, Shirley, and Reuben. They compliment him and tell him how great he is. Keith comes running in from a morning jog looking like a cartoon character. When he hears Danny’s new song, he starts freaking out. He says it’s his song that he wrote last night. Nobody believes him because he sucks.
Keith’s Plan
Shirley and Keith are in his room and realize how paper thin the walls are when they hear Danny and Chris laughing. Keith purposely writes a piece of crap song to see if Danny will steal it again.
Danny comes down to breakfast the next morning and is depressed because he wrote another song last night but it’s garbage. Keith plays the POS song on the guitar and Danny accuses him of stealing even his poo. Everyone laughs.
Debut
Cut to the live concert. Shirley is trying to make Danny feel better by telling him he made Keith’s song better. Uh huh. Keith introduces the song as a collaborative effort between himself and Danny. They sing the song, but it’s not David Cassidy’s voice. I guess this song was recorded with the pros before they knew David could sing. But wait! There’s about two lines in the bridge where Cassidy is singing. What the hell? Odd. Did they think nobody would notice?
Did Tracy have a speaking line at all in this show? The song they sang was a bossa nova with some syncopation (off the beat rhythms). Tracy nailed her part a couple times on the cowbell. I was impressed.
The tag of The Partridge Family Episode #11 is Danny wanting to bring back the bunny hop. He thinks it would be nice if they all hopped off stage after the concert. Danny, why you so stupid?
I hope you’ve enjoyed my review of The Partridge Family Episode #11. Feel free to comment. I hope you’ll be back!