Charlie the Hamster with Floyd Robinson
A Netgeist® White Paper © 2004 Comet der Geistmeister. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Directed by the Holy Spirit and inspired by Alvin and the chipmunks, Floyd Robinson recorded and released at least fourteen LPs of children’s evangelical Christian music in the five-year period between 1973 and 1977.
Charlie the Hamster records are, to the ears, what Jack T. Chick tracts are to the eyes: humorous, innocuous witnessing tools with an unexpectedly powerful soul-saving impact. While Charlie the Hamster’s songs are easily mocked and often ridiculed by smug “sophisticates” and self-impressed “hepcats,” anyone who approaches the material with child-like innocence may reap eternal rewards.
Floyd Robinson
Floyd Robinson, “the inventor of Charlie the Hamster,”1 was born in 1938 in Nashville Tennessee.2 He dropped out of school, and started playing at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 16.1 He made his fortune as a professional guitarist playing with Jim Ed Brown, Little Jimmy Dickens, George Jones, “White Lightnin’” George Morgan, Eddie Arnold and Jim Reaves.3
Floyd Robinson is occasionally confused with the 1960’s Major League Baseball star of the same name; this fact is ironic given two of Robinson’s inventions, Woody Woodchuck and Barney the Bear, are similarly confused with like-named cartoon characters.
Robinson’s earliest success came as half of the booze-glorifying bluegrass duo Jack & Daniel and the Sourwood Mountain Boys.4 Thereafter, Robinson achieved much greater fame as a solo artist. His most popular composition was the immoral hit “Makin’ Love” which sold “close to the million mark”5 and peaked at #20 on the Billboard Pop Chart in 1959.2 Consequently, Robinson had a hard time convincing the Christian music establishment that he could succeed as a legitimate children’s Gospel artist.
In 1973, admittedly inspired by Ross Bagdasarian’s chipmunk characters Alvin, Simon and Theodore, Robinson invented Charlie the Hamster (and his cousins Huey and Stanley) targeting a narrow Sunday school audience. Robinson was adamant that he be identified as the inventor of his characters, not the creator. “Only the Lord God creates, the rest of us can only discover or invent.”
Charlie the Hamster proved very successful and Robinson soon branched out, inventing additional animal characters: Woody Woodchuck, Finley the Fish, Bernie the Billy Goat, Ricky the Cricket and Barney the Bear.
In 1977, Robinson was sued by newly licensed lawyer (and son of Alvin and the chipmunks’ creator) Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.6 for plagiarism and copyright infringement. The parties quickly settled out-of-court for an undisclosed amount of money; Robinson and his record companies agreed to cease immediately production, distribution, and sale of all of Robinson’s animal records.
In 1992, Robinson self-published an instruction book, Guitar Playing Made Easy: The New Pick & Strum Method. The inside front cover features a photograph of a pile of Robinson’s secular and Christian LPs with the caption “a few of the many albums by Floyd Robinson.” At the bottom of the pile are Ricky the Cricket Bible Songs with Floyd Robinson and Charlie the Hamster Sings Bible Stories for Boys and Girls with Floyd Robinson, however the titles and the character illustrations are covered almost entirely by other albums.3
In 1994, Robinson fulfilled a life-long ambition by self-publishing a novel, The Guitar, "the adventurous, moving and emotional journey of a vintage Martin Guitar."7
As recently as January, 2003, Robinson owned a used car dealership, Music City Auto, in Titusville Florida.8
Charlie the Hamster
Charlie the Hamster is Floyd Robinson’s most popular and prolific character with at least nine LPs to his credit.
Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster started out as a puppet. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster’s voice was created by recording a human voice at a slow speed then playing it back at normal speed. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster's vocal style originated with his inventor in a pre-rodent novelty song ("Witch Doctor" and "The Man In The Moon Is A Lady," respectively). Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster frequently wore a red letterman sweater and matching ball cap emblazoned with his first initial. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster often engaged in mischievous and playful banter with his human counterpart. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster usually sang in three-part harmony with his rodent buddies. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster released albums of songs constructed around a central theme. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster traveled the world and sang about it. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster occasionally sang flat for comic effect. Just as Alvin the chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster exceeded his human inventor's popularity as a recording artist. Just as Alvin the Chipmunk, Charlie the Hamster's LP albums are highly prized collectibles in the vinyl record resale market.
But the similarities end there. Charlie the Hamster sings about the Holy Bible and about the salvation available to poor sinners through the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
C.B. Pritchett
C.B. Pritchett is credited with all album artwork with the notable exception of Charlie the Hamster Goes to Sunday School with Floyd Robinson. Robinson wanted Charlie the Hamster to resemble Alvin the chipmunk and suggested copying the chipmunks’ letterman sweaters and caps. Pritchett receives credit for the distinguishing blue eye shadow and curvaceous eyelashes that characterized Charlie the Hamster, Finley the Fish, Bernie the Billy Goat, Ricky the Cricket, and Woody Woodchuck. Pritchett feminized the facial features and endowed most of the characters with distended potbellies to ensure that children would not be frightened or threatened by the images. Pritchett often incorporated a pair of glowing eyes peering out from a dark space in his final album cover design to signify an unsaved creature, existing in spiritual darkness, but open to the word of God conveyed through music.
Pritchett’s amazing versatility is evident in work that ranges from fine impressionistic paintings to crisp cartoon caricatures to primitively rendered felt marker drawings. Robinson’s voluminous productivity forced Pritchett to explore new techniques in order to keep up with the output.
Pritchett rendered the cover for the first Hamster recording, Charlie the Hamster Sings Bible Stories for Boys and Girls with Floyd Robinson in an impressionistic style reminiscent of Paul Cézanne, and the artwork took over two months to complete.
Pritchett’s growing credit for the success of Charlie the Hamster and the others is evident through the development of his signature on subsequent releases. On the cover of the first LP, Charlie the Hamster Sings Bible Stories for Boys and Girls with Floyd Robinson, Pritchett’s signature does not appear at all. With each consecutive release thereafter, his signature is more and more prominent.
Pritchett and Robinson’s relationship grew strained during their collaborative years. Subsequently, Pritchett has demonstrated little discretion when given an opportunity to criticize Robinson’s work.
Woody Woodchuck
Floyd Robinson’s Woody Woodchuck appears on only one album: Woody Woodchuck Sings Bible Stories with Floyd Robinson. Robinson had no involvement with another popular Woody Woodchuck LP: Woody the Woodchuck Christmas Sing Song.
Woody Woodchuck’s raspy voice sounds like that of an octogenarian Charlie the Hamster after living an extremely hard life in the Appalachians. Nevertheless, Woody exudes the most charm and personality of all of Robinson’s invented animals.
Following the success of Charlie the Hamster on Zondervan’s Singcord and Singspiration labels, Word Records granted Robinson a lucrative four-album contract (for new characters). Robinson took full advantage of the generous funding, utilizing both synthesizers and electronic vocal effects in the production of Woody’s recording. Robinson relished the opportunity to re-imagine several Charlie the Hamster “standards” (e.g. “Peace and Joy and Love”) “they way they were meant to be” with lavish instrumentation and studio techniques. C.B. Pritchett recalls the Woody the Woodchuck recording significantly exceeding the projected budget and believes that Robinson was forced to “cut corners” on subsequent projects (e.g. Ricky the Cricket) as a result.
Woody Woodchuck Sings Bible Stories stands out as Robinson’s finest children’s evangelical recording.
Finley the Fish
Finley the Fish appears on one LP: The Adventures of Finley the Fish – Music and Words by Floyd Robinson. Robinson employed a gurgling vocal gimmick resulting in an album that sounds like a cross between hillbilly bluegrass and a mouthwash commercial.
C.B. Pritchett acknowledges “that fish theme was smart…it worked real good.”
Bernie the Billy Goat
Bernie the Billy Goat has a single album: The Adventures of Bernie the Billy Goat – Songs for Sunday School – Music and Words by Floyd Robinson. Bernie’s voice resembles Woody Woodchuck’s; Bernie has a more pronounced southern drawl and intersperses his verses with baas.
C.B. Pritchett found it extremely challenging to render a Billy Goat that in no way appeared satanic and his first two Bernie the Billy Goat album designs were vetoed by Robinson for this reason.
Ricky the Cricket
Ricky the Cricket is another of Floyd Robinson’s one-album wonders. Ricky resembles a lanky Jiminy Cricket forsaken by the good fairy and forced to live on the streets. Ricky is a Cricket hobo, strutting around in ragged tails and spats, sporting a pair of pince-nez and a crooked stove-pipe hat with an unidentified parasite living within it (C.B. Pritchett’s signature glowing eyes peering out of the dark).
Pritchett claims he drew Ricky the Cricket as a hobo because, upon hearing the music, he knew the concept “didn’t work at all.” For Ricky the Cricket, Robinson forwent the tape manipulation technique and hired a male studio musician to sing in a stuttering baby-talk style. Working on a tight budget, Robinson directed the songs to be completed in one or two takes. The result is an amateurish recording with several obvious mistakes.
The most notable feature of Ricky the Cricket Bible Songs with Floyd Robinson is the composition, “Stairway to Heaven” which shares only a title, and no other similarity, with Led Zeppelin’s 1971 “classic” rock ‘n roll version.
Barney the Bear
Barney the Bear is the second Floyd Robinson invention with one album appearance and a name that promotes confusion. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios produced a popular series of animated cartoons in the 1940’s starring a character named Barney the Bear. Spire comics in the 1970’s released a series of Christian titles reviving the MGM character; coincidentally, Robinson’s Barney the Bear record was released around the same time (1977).
Whereas Robinson slowed the tape when recording vocals for Charlie the Hamster and Woody Woodchuck, he sped the tape when recording the vocal tracks for Barney the Bear Sings Bible Stories with Floyd Robinson; as a result, Barney delivers his lyrics in an inhumanly low drawl.
Per C.B. Pritchett, “I remember this song called ‘Unbearable’ and thinking ‘boy, Robinson, you read my mind, there’s no other way to describe this album’…In the opening song--and in my picture--Barney Bear lives in a zoo, but then there’s this song about campers burning down his forest. I said ‘is this Barney Bear or Smokey Bear?’ but Robinson didn’t get it…I suggested reversing the songs, you know, maybe the forest burned down, that’s why he lives in a zoo, but Robinson didn’t care. At this point, he was cranking these (non-hamster children’s) albums out in about a day.”
Jack T. Chick
Jack T. Chick is not a bird character invented by Floyd Robinson; Chick is an evangelical Christian artist and writer who’s ubiquitous “Chick Tracts” divinely parallel the recordings of Charlie the Hamster.
Chick was inspired by the popularity of Chinese communist propaganda comics and their effectiveness at amusing and persuading the illiterate.9 Robinson was inspired by the popularity of Ross Bagdasarian’s chipmunk music and it’s effectiveness at entertaining and engaging children.
Both Chick and Robinson have garnered legions of both Christian and non-Christian, obsessive collector-fans.
Both Chick and Robinson favor the original (Authorized) King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Both Chick and Robinson use slang to appeal to common audiences, resulting in material that quickly appears out-dated and quaint.
Both Chick and Robinson had the opportunity to meet at least once at a Christian Booksellers’ convention in 1981.10
Chick’s publishing career was threatened when he came under attack by the Catholic Church; as a result, the majority of his publications were banned by the Christian Booksellers association.11 Robinson’s musical career was threatened when he came under attack by the estate of Ross Bagdasarian; as a result, the majority of his recordings were pulled from the market under the terms of the legal settlement.
Who’s Right?
Neither Floyd Robinson nor his record companies established legitimate copyright to the Christian animal music. There are three possible explanations: the publishers simply erred by failing to establish copyright; Robinson wanted the music to be free with no restrictions regarding its use or duplication; the copyright was intentionally waived to pre-empt infringement litigation by the Bagdasarian estate. Whatever the reason, for over a quarter of a century, Robinson has refused to explain why the copyright to his children’s Gospel catalog was unclaimed.
Hamsters and Rumors of Hamsters
The abrupt end to the prolific career of Charlie the Hamster and his animal friends gave rise to rumors of unreleased material and unauthorized “bootleg” titles. Many tantalizing personal messages scrawled on the back covers of Robinson’s albums directed kids to look forward to future albums that never came to pass.
The most credible unauthorized release is Charlie the Hamster Visits the Holy Land with Floyd Robinson that had been produced and pressed--but not distributed--at the time of the settlement with the Bagdasarian estate. Less credible releases include The Swiss Yodeler, Charlie the Hamster’s Birthday Party, Charlie the Hamster Leads the Easter Parade with Floyd Robinson, and Charlie the Hamster Performs with the Vermin Tabernacle Choir.
That Sounds Familiar
Floyd Robinson often reused melodies in subsequent children’s albums. Listed below are a few of his identical and near-identical compositions:
“Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of the Lord Thy God in Vain,” “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and “Bedtime Song.”
“Sunday Morning” and “See Ya Sunday Morning.”
“Treasures” and “Woody Woodchuck.”
(Charlie the Hamster’s) “Peace & Joy & Love” and (Woody Woodchuck’s) “Peace and Joy and Love.”
“I’ve Got Jesus,” “God’s Wonderful Plan” and “I’m Glad Jesus Loves Us All.”
Odd 1, Sod 5
Floyd Robinson expressed simple ideas of faith to children through a strictly limited vocabulary. At least five songs contain couplets rhyming God with sod: “We Praise You,” “Solomon Built a Temple,” “The Ten Commandments,” “Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image,” and “Saul Changed To Paul.”
In “Noah And The Ark,” Robinson rhymed God with odd. Robinson never rhymed God with mod, clod, bod, pseudopod, tightwad, jihad, Iditarod or iPod.
Conclusion
While many critics deride Charlie the Hamster as an uninspired knockoff of the Chipmunks, Floyd Robinson boldly branched out beyond Charlie, experimenting with vocal recording techniques and conceiving new animal musicians in the process. Floyd Robinson’s legacy will grow in the coming decades and the Lord Jesus Christ will no doubt welcome him into heaven proclaiming “well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23). God willing, Charlie and his pals’ immortality will be ensured through the proliferation of information sharing on the Internet through such channels as the Charlie the Hamster Evangelistic Ministry.
Discography
Charlie the Hamster Sings Bible Stories for Boys and Girls with Floyd Robinson. Singcord ZLP 929. 1973.LP.
Charlie the Hamster Teaches Bible Stories with Floyd Robinson. Singcord ZLP 938. 1975. LP.
Charlie the Hamster Plays Gospel Songs with Floyd Robinson. Singcord ZLP 957. 1975. LP.
Charlie the Hamster Sings Christmas Songs with Floyd Robinson. New Light NL 250. 1976. LP.
Charlie the Hamster Leads the Choir with Floyd Robinson. Singcord ZLP 978. 1975. LP.
Charlie the Hamster Goes to Sunday School with Floyd Robinson. Singcord ZLP 991. 1976. LP.
Charlie the Hamster Sings the Ten Commandments with Floyd Robinson. Singcord ZLP 3009. 1977. LP.
Charlie the Hamster’s Camp Meeting with Floyd Robinson. Singspiration ZLP 3017. 1977. LP.
Charlie the Hamster Sings Old Favorites with Floyd Robinson. Singspiration ZLP 3033. 1978. LP.
The Adventures of Finley The Fish – Music and Words by Floyd Robinson. Word Wonder World Series K-736. 1976. LP
Woody Woodchuck Sings Bible Stories with Floyd Robinson. Word Wonder World Series K-738. 1976. LP
The Adventures of Bernie The Billy Goat--Songs For Sunday School – Music and Words by Floyd Robinson. Tempo R-2101. 1977. LP.
Barney the Bear Sings Bible Stories with Floyd Robinson. Singcord. ZLP 3034. 1977. LP.
Ricky the Cricket Bible Songs with Floyd Robinson. Word Wonder World Series. K-737. 1976. LP
Acknowledgements
Sincere thanks to Floyd Robinson and C.B. Pritchett.
References
1. Album notes. Charlie the Hamster Sings Bible Stories with Floyd Robinson. (1973)
2. Bogdanov, V. (editor) All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country, 2nd Edition. (2003)
3. Robinson, F. Guitar Playing Made Easy: The New Pick & Strum Method. (1992)
4. Lilly, J. Hank’s Lost Charleston Show. West Virginia Traditional Life Goldenseal. (2002, Winter)
5. Album notes. Charlie the Hamster Sings Christmas Songs with Floyd Robinson. (1976)
6. Bentley, R. Chipmunk Legacy. Fresno Bee. (2003, November 16)
7. Robinson, F. The Guitar. (1994)
8. Simmons, D. The Buzz About Town. The News Observer of North Brevard. (2003, January 23)
9. Chick, J. WHO, ME? (1998)
10. Bass, J. CBA Answers Criticism Regarding Controversial Exhibitor. CBA Marketplace Magazine The Bookstore Journal. (1981, October)
11. Fowler, R.B. The World of Jack T. Chick, 2nd Edition. (2001)