Up with People
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"Up with People" was the name of both an organization and a performance event popular in the U.S. beginning in 1968 and continuing through the 1990s. The performance traveled around the country, playing in modest venues — school gymnasiums, hockey arenas, and the like. Initially, approximately 40 volunteer student performers presented upbeat songs using vocal soloists, a choir, electric guitars, and other instruments. The music was accompanied by choreographed dance. Through the later years the size of the troups grew to 100+ students culminating with the 25th anniversary cast in 1990 which had just under 200 students from 24 different countries. With multiple casts running each year the organization entertained audiences around the world including the U.S., Canada, Europe, Central and South America and Japan.
Groups of local volunteers in each city would provide housing and food for the performers, with each volunteer family opening their home to one or more members of the cast. Along with performing the show, cast members would partake in civic events assist with volunteer organizations as a way to give back to the communities that were hosting them. At the event's apogee, there were several casts touring the world at the same time.
A theme song, "Up with People" was written for the group and performed at each event. Copyright is guarded closely by the foundation, which does not permit the song to be recorded or performed commercially. The lyrics were part of the 1970s cultural fabric:
It happened just this mornin' while I was walking down the street
A milkman, and a postman, and a policeman I did meet
There in every window, at every single door
I recognized people I'd never noticed before.
Up, up with people! You meet people wherever you go!
Up, up with people! They're the best kind of folks we know
If more people were for people
All people everywhere
There'd be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who'd care.
The squeaky-clean image of the group made it a target for parody, and there were at least two "up with people" albums released by different groups that poked fun at the group's style.
The Simpsons parodied Up with People in the episode "Bart vs. Thanksgiving":
Announcer: And now, get set for our fabulous halftime show, featuring the well-groomed young go-getters of `Hooray for Everything!'
Homer: Oh, I love those kids. They've got such a great attitude!
Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, `Hooray for Everything' invites you to join them in a salute to the greatest hemisphere on earth, the Western Hemisphere! The dancingest hemisphere of all!
Now reinvented as the "Worldsmart Leadership Program," the program continues in modified form today.