Mr. T Record: Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!

My sister and I both had Fisher Price Record Players growing up. We didn't have that many records. Sometimes at fast food places, happy meals or whatever would come with small vinyl records. We had kids records, although I don't remember too many of them.

The last time I saw those record players was in 2002, when my parents moved out of my childhood home into a new home farther from the city. We had this HUGE pile of stuff we were giving to Goodwill, and those record players were on the pile... still in very good condition. There was talk from my mom whether to keep them, as if they'd be very valuable someday. Current price on eBay is Buy It Now for $15.00.

Mr. T's album Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool! was the record I remember playing most. It taught children to speak up, and stand up for themselves. It had a very good message. besides an audio record, it had an accompanying video to the program as well... so I'm sure this was probably out on VHS somewhere, or on TV. The TV videos (below) look very familiar, so I'm sure I've seen these too. Did you know Mr. T wears all of those gold chains to represent the pain and agony his ancestors went through coming to and living in America? He tells the children that in the video.

You can still find this program on Google Videos. It's a made for kids program on how to build self-esteem, and act mature for your age. Mr. T had songs he would sing or rap... and I gotta admit, some of them I thought were really good. Of the ones on the record, I remember one about mothers. "My mother, she is no other... my mother - so treat her right - treat her right!"

I would play this record on my plastic Fischer Price record player and take naps. I'd wake up to the record being done with, scratching around on the paper label in the center. I would wake up, flip the record over, and fall asleep to the other side. The label for the record (around the donut) had a rainbow printed on it... which I believe is the mark of the record company, but I thought that was cool too.

What you have to understand here is that Mr.T was THE MAN. He was on the A-Team, he was in Rocky movies, he was in Wrestlemania, and everyone thought he was cool. He even had a cereal that tasted like Cap'n Crunch!