A Small Victory

I still have this on vinyl. I really need to get a record player for when the boys get old enough to enjoy it!

OF COURSE, "Put down the duckie" is the Number One moment!

And anyone who disagrees is a Nazi, falling down the slippery slope of Moonbatism, and must be in favor of starving old people to death!

At the risk of being targeted by flame and screed, I'm going to have to disagree. For me, Dance Myself to Sleep (with the Boogie-Woogie Sheep) edges out Put Down the Duckie. (Hoot the Owl bugged me.)

Keiran, great suggestion. I can still recite that one.

Some of these I know from when I was little (though it was my baby sister watching the show, mostly) and some I remember from when my kids were little.

Timeless stuff.

I always loved the "Baby, We Were Born to Add" song. And Bert and Ernie were always my favorites, especially Ernie and the mummy sketch.

I spent a lot of hours, sitting and nursing one baby while watching Sesame Street with my older son...excellent memories and a wonderful trip to the past. Thanks for posting the site, Michele.

I agree that Put Down the Duckie was tops and Jelly Man Kelly should be in there.

Two others come to mind. One was with Jim Carrey, the details of which escape me. The other was when Herbie Hancock was demonstrating the Moog synthesizer to the kids, and he had the early version of the "voice box," which would immitate the voice of the singer. He asked one of the little girls , "what's your name," he recorded her response and then played it baclk through the synth.

The little girl (probably 6 then) was Tatyana Ali, current recording artist and actress.

Too many great ones..I'm gonna go with my instant "this is it" episode. (my eldest daughter is a Sesame Street kid... it was pretty much 'played' by the time Abby was watching the tube).

I was really glad when Snuffleupagus was finally visible to others besides Big Bird. It always bugged me that he was invisible to everyone but BB for so long.

I also remember Big Bird talking about "who will take care of me" after Mr. Hooper died, asking questions a child would.

Damn, this show meant more to me than I thought it did.

Bert's Blockbusters is the one album I will not let anyone borrow. Others are allowed to look at Sesame Street Fever's cover with Grover doing his best Travolta, but I won't let them touch. If I could track down some vintage Oscar and "Dump Grump Grunchy Grouch Garden" (actual title?) I'd be a happy man.

And "Ladybug Picnic" must not be forgotten. "They talked about the high price of furniture and rugs/And fire insurance for ladybugs" is pure poetry, man. Pure poetry. Shakespeare could write for the stage, but could he be accompanied by a jews harp? Hack.

And then there was that boy who got lost because he took the brown acid or something, passed by all the psychedelic DVD-only extras from Yellow Submarine, and found his way back home by tripping backwards past the same weird stuff. Don't tell me you don't know what I speak of.

Whenever I'm counting in my head, I subconsciously do the musical bridge from "pinball counting" when I go from eleven to twelve. Until just now, I had no idea why I did that. Now I know.

Sesame Street stays with you forever.

Dude, seriously, you rescued my crappy day. And my mom must still have at least half a dozen Sesame Street records she bought for me as a kid.

YipYipYipYipYipYip.

I must also mention that Don Music is my muse.

Where the hell was the red ball rolling down the metal rollercoaster while counting 1,2,3?

And what about Manahmanah?

The ball thing was there, that's the pinball song.

123566891011...............12!

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
Ladybugs
Came to the ladybugs' picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they all played games
At the ladybugs' picnic

They had twelve sacks so they ran sack races
They fell on their backs and they fell on their faces
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

They played jump rope but the rope it broke
So they just sat around telling knock-knock jokes
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they chatted away
At the ladybugs' picnic

They talked about the high price of furniture and rugs
And fire insurance for ladybugs
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic
12!

That was Nat's absolute favorite when she was little.

I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten Sesame Street songs stuck in my head:

"In... Out..." ("that's what the song is all abooout") (one of the songs at the disco)

"Honk Around the Clock"

"Ten Tiny Turtles on the Telephone" ("talkin' with the grocery men") - I have no idea what this one's actually called, and I only have fragmented memories of the words, so like 1 1/2 verses keep playing in my head over and over and over...

"Captain Vegetable" - This one I know by heart, so the only problem here is when I start humming/whistling/singing it in public unconsciously.

Various "letter" songs - including "We all live in a capital I", "Letter B", Bert and Ernie's "L" song - classic!, "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ", etc., etc.

No wonder there's no room in my head for pertinent information. Sesame Street made me useless except for trivia and music.

Looking for music files, I ran into this. Follow link and scroll down at your own risk - don't blame me if you're singing them on the way home.

Wow, that was awesome! What a trip down memory lane!
I love the fact that Sesame Street still incorporates some of those great moments in their current episodes.
I still see the pinball count, Grover the waiter, and the Tiny Little Super Guy when I watch with my son.

not Sesame Street per se, but it's the Muppets... when Ozzy & Miss Piggy did "Born To Be Wild" on the Muppet Show. The new Ozzy boxed set has the song, but it's not the same as seeing it.

I so wish my four-year old would enjoy Sesame Street, but he's totally fixated on Rolie Poli Olie, which airs on the Disney channel. Perhaps it's time for some extra recordings on Tivo to indoctrinate introduce him to Big Bird.

This is so GREAT! How 'bout this one - I always loved it:

"It's a lovely 11 morning
I heard 11 worms yawning (yawn)
I saw 11 cows nipping at the buttercups
I said: 'How's the cottage cheese?'
They said: 'Eh, dried up.'"

hahaha

I must add my own personal favorite, merely because it is so damn weird:

The grapefruit singing opera. I believe it was Carmen. Anyone remember that one?

Oh and yes - the Mr. Hooper dying episode was television at its best. Unbelievable. So moving.

Just checking back, to make sure that anti-PutDownTheDuckie-ists are not scoring any points.

FROM MEMORY:

Bert: "Welcome to the weekly meeting of the National Association of W Lovers! We are gathered here today to pay tribute to the letter W! And the wondrous sound it makes: wuh! Isn't that a beauty? It makes the heart pound faster! Now if you'll all turn to page four in the program, we'll sing the club song. Turn to page four, that's it. All right, everybody? Here we go! I'll start, you can join in later, here we go...

Oooooooooh, what is the letter we love?
What sound are we extra-fond of?
It's not any trouble, you
Know it's a W
When you hear wuh-wuh-wuh-WUH!

Without this fine letter, there wouldn't be "wash"
Or "wish", "wag", or "wiggle", my gosh!
There wouldn't be "wet", "warm", or "walrus", oh wow!
There wouldn't be "would", would there now? (Nuh-uh!)
Without this fine letter, why then "wink" would be "ink"!
And a "week" would be "eek"! Don't you see? (Of course!)
A fine word like "waffle"
Would turn out just "affle"
Oh, W's grand as can be!
ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY!
Everybody (with Bert rocking the entire podium back and forth):
"So what is the letter we love?
What sound are we extra-fond of?
It's not any trouble, you
Know it's a W
When you hear wuh-wuh-wuh-WUH! (One more time!)
When you hear wuh-wuh-wuh-WUH!"
Bert: "WOW! That was WONDERFUL!"

Yes! I love the W song. Especially
A fine word like "waffle"
Would turn out just "affle""

Yeah, there's a few classic Sesame Street songs missing here. Like "J Joe Jeans and his Jellybeans." Or the Count singing "Slowly, slowly, slowly getting faster, faster, faster, it's too hard to stop . . . "

A loaf a bread, a containa a milk, and a stick a butta. I REMEMBERED!