“Ooh, eeh, ooh aah aah/Ting tang, wallawalla bing bang!” They just don’t write lyrics like those anymore. Perhaps for good reason but, that snippet is from a No. 1 hit in 1958. More on that later but ...

Alvin and the Chipmunks have been singing in their high-pitched voices since the 1950s, and the tiny animated crooners' names ...