Back in the day--as recently as the mid-seventies--this thing used to pop up on local stations whenever their programming would run a couple minutes short. And...well, yeah, okay, even as a kid I was prone to depression. But honestly, is there any mood to be conjured by this other than overwhelming despair?
Is it the unaccompanied voices of the Norman Luboff Choir, apparently recorded in a public restroom? Is it the cheap design and animation, which tries to conjure visions of an enchanted wonderland while suggesting nothing so much as a Christmas pageant performed by the residents of an underfunded mental hospital?
Or is it the song itself? Specifically, Suzy's reminder that she hasn't long to stay? "I'll be your best friend," she says, "but don't get too accustomed to me, don't let messy emotions get involved, don't love me, dear God, no, because soon I'll be gone, like a dream before the breaking dawn."
Why was this even produced? Surely it was conceived with one purpose in mind: to introduce kids to the concept of mortality, as a plodding reminder that our time is brief, that all the wonders of creation are ultimately impermanent.
That's what they were going for, right?
