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Coffee Break

9:30 Coffee Break: Count-offs

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by Jill Riley and Sean McPherson

June 16, 2015

Jack King
A Nov. 14, 1969, photo made available by NASA shows Jack King in the Firing Room of the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., during the countdown for Apollo 12. King, who died Thursday, June 11, 2015, became known as NASA's "Voice of Apollo."
AP

Last Friday, MPR News reported that Jack King, the retired NASA employee who became known as "the voice of Apollo," had died at age 84 in a hospice facility not far from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

King's "10 … 9 … 8 …" countdown sequence for the 1969 launch of the Saturn V rocket that ultimately put astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon was heard by a live, global television audience; the archive audio has been heard by hundreds of millions of people since. (Watch a YouTube compilation of King's countdowns.)

Thinking about Jack King's iconic countdown sequences got us thinking about how many songs include the count-off at the beginning of the finished track.

So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, let's honor Jack King: What songs do you want to hear that feature an audible count-off? Send us your requests.

Songs Played


Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs "Wooly Bully"
The Modern Lovers "Roadrunner"
U2 "Vertigo"
The Beatles "Taxman"
Ramones "Cretin Hop"
Outkast "Hey Ya!"

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