Super Safi’s Monday Morning Musings 66 – It’s Not Unusual

Morning Musically-Minded, Medically-Minded, Masticators!

(Today’s post is sponsored by the letter “M”)

Over the past 600+ episodes, The Simpsons has taken us on an amazing journey involving music, science, and food to name a few concepts.

And what better way to start your week, than by discussing some of these concepts Monday morning?

So let’s get started this week by talking about a classic 1960’s song, “It’s Not Unusual”.

In the sixty sixth episode of The Simpsons, Marge Gets a Job (Season 04, Episode 07), the Simpsons are in need of financial support when the entire left side of their house is sinking due to foundation issues. But in order to earn $8,500, Marge needs to get a job. Fortunately Jack Marley just retired, and there is an opening at the Plant.

Homer is not too thrilled to have Marge working with him. Things go from bad to worse for Homer when Mr. Burns starts developing feelings for Marge. Mr. Burns starts taking Marge’s advice to spruce up things around the Plant. This includes introducing Funny Hat Day and playing Tom Jones music. He then attempts to seduce Marge with the help of a kidnapped Tom Jones. 

But when Marge reveals that she’s married, he fires her. Marge threatens a lawsuit and enlists the help of local lawyer Lionel Hutz. But when Lionel Hutz sees Mr. Burn’s army of lawyers, he flees in a hurry. But when Homer stands up to Mr. Burns, Mr. Burns has a change of heart. He gifts Homer and Marge to a private show performed by a chained-up and protesting Tom Jones.

But have you ever wondered what song Tom Jones is singing?

‘It’s Not Unusual’

‘It’s Not Usual’ is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Sir Tom Jones on November 11th, 1964. It was released a couple months later in the United Kingdom on January 22nd, 1965. It reached number 1 on the UK singles chart. It was successful in the United States as well; reaching  number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1965 after it’s March 1965 US release.

The song enjoyed a mid-90’s resurgence for it’s frequent use in the hit Will Smith sitcom ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. It typically featured Carlton Banks (played by Alfonso Ribeiro), lip-syncing to the lyrics and performing ‘the Carlton’ dance. Tom guest-starred on the show on a few occasions, also performing and dancing alongside Carlton in episodes.

Sir Tom Jones was born on June 7th, 1940 in Treforest, Wales as Thomas John Woodward. In 1963, he became frontman of the Welsh band ‘Tommy Scott and the Senators’. In 1964, London based manager and songwriter Gordon Mills spotted ‘Tommy Scott and the Senators’ and urged him to adopt the stage name Tom Jones.

Tom Jones (June 7th, 1940 – Present)

The name Tom Jones was to exploit on the popularity of the Academy Award-winning 1963 film ‘Tom Jones’. ‘Tom Jones’ was nominated for 10 Oscars at the 1963 Academy Awards. It won 4 Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

Tom was a regular in Las Vegas, having spent at least a week performing there every year from 1967 to 2011. From 2012 to 2015, he served as a mentor on ‘The Voice UK’.

Tom has sold over 100 million records, with 36 Top 40 hits in the UK and 19 in the US. His hits include ‘It’s Not Unusual’, ‘What’s New Pussycat?’ (which is also heard in this episode), the theme song for the 1965 James Bond film ‘Thunderball’, ‘Green, Green Grass of Home’, ‘Delilah’, ‘She’s a Lady’, ‘Kiss’, and ‘Sex Bomb’. Tom was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music in 2005

It’s Not Unusual lyrics:

It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone
It’s not unusual to have fun with anyone
But when I see you hanging about with anyone
It’s not unusual to see me cry
I wanna die
It’s not unusual to go out at any time
But when I see you out and about it’s such a crime
If you should ever wanna be loved by anyone
It’s not unusual
It happens every day
No matter what you say
You’ll find it happens all the time
Love will never do what you want it to
Why can’t this crazy love be mine?
It’s not unusual to be mad with anyone
It’s not unusual to be sad with anyone
But if I ever find that you’ve changed at any time
It’s not unusual to find out I’m in love with you
Whoa-whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh
Whoa-whoa, oh-ohh
Whoa-whoa, oh-oh-oh-oh, whoa
Whoa-whoa, whoa-whoa

Now that we’ve learned more about the song ‘It’s Not Unusual’, be sure to come back next week when we continue our Monday morning musings with the next episode of The Simpsons.

Did you remember the episode? What’s your favourite Mr. Burns centric episode of The Simpsons? What about your favourite Marge-centric episode? Who’s your favourite musical guest on The Simpsons? Were you familiar with Tom Jones? What about the song ‘It’s Not Unusual’? Sound off in the comments below. You know we love hearing from you.