Ready To Sing My Song - The Autobiography of Theodore Chipmunk

by One Small Monkey

Like many musicians at the tail end of their careers, Theodore has a story to tell...and some facts to set straight. (I've put together a youtube playlist featuring nearly all of the songs discussed in this story. If you'd like the link, please let me know.) Update May 2018 - Story now complete.

1. Keeping It A Mystery

Fair warning: some of what you read in the pages ahead won't jibe with what you already know. Or what you think you already know. And I'm not talking about just a few minor things. Let me put it this way: if you've formed a mental image of Theodore Chipmunk after watching the movies, or the cartoon from the 1980s, or The Alvin Show back in the 1960s, or even from the records we put out, you're probably going to have to revise that image quite a bit.

And that's at least partially my fault. I may not have set out to make "cartoon Theodore" different from "real Theodore", but I definitely had a paw in not correcting those differences once they were made. As you read on, hopefully you'll understand my reasons for doing so. And once you reach the end - assuming you make it that far - you might decide you don't like the real Theodore Chipmunk. You might decide to reject this autobiography completely, and hold on to the image you formed based on the movies, or the cartoon, or your favorite childhood record. That's your call, and I'm fine with that.

That being said, before we get started, what can you hold on to from your past? Surely it wasn't all lies? No, it wasn't.

* My name is Theodore.

* I am a chipmunk. One of those larger, standing-on-his-hind-paws, self-aware chipmunks, but a chipmunk nonetheless.

* I play the drums.

* I have two brothers named Alvin and Simon.

* We three brothers performed together in a musical group. Sometimes we just sang, and sometimes we played the music.

* When we did play the music, Alvin played guitar (usually) and Simon was on bass (usually).

* There was a man who went by the name of David Seville, who wrote a good deal of our early material.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details. So let me see if I can start filling those in.

(Quick note. I interviewed my brothers, and a few other people, for this autobiography. Anything given in present tense - "Alvin says" - will be from those interviews. Anything given in past tense - "Alvin said" - will be my recollection of what was said back then.)