Top Ten Songs by Sesame Street
Almost all of us are familiar with the cornerstone songs from the show, like Rubber Duckie (Ernie), C is for Cookie (Cookie Monster), I Love Trash (Oscar) and Sing (the entire cast). However, most of the best songs from Sesame Street are not the old standbys.
10 – Ma Nah Ma Nah doesn’t contain any real words or feature any recognizable Muppets, but it’s impossible to get out of your head. Even if you haven’t heard it for 20 years, it’s still in your brain. Let’s get it out of there. Sample lyric: “Ma nah ma nah (Bop Dee Da Dee Dee). Ma nah ma nah. (Bop Dee Dee Dee).”
9 – Pinball Number Count is sung by The Pointer Sisters. Sesame Street produced a series of pinball-machine cartoons illustrating the numbers 2 through 12. The funky tune is the same, but the Sisters will interject “Three!” or “Seven!” during the pinball action. Sample lyric: (Counting to 12)
8 – Fuzzy and Blue is a toe-tapping vaudeville number. Grover comes on stage with a straw hat and cane, singing about how fuzzy and blue he is. Soon, Herry and Cookie Monster join the song, since they share Grover’s texture and color. Frazzle wants to join as well, so the monsters are nice enough to change the song to Fuzzy and Blue (And Orange). Sample lyric, sung by Cookie Monster: “From head to bottom of shoe, me so beautifully blue.”
7 – We Are All Earthlings is a song by a Muppet boy and a group of wild animals. They sing about how we’re all together and must share the earth peacefully. I’m not a big tree-hugger, but the song is so sweet and sincere that it gets to me every time. Sample lyric: “We are all earthlings, spinning around together on a planet of the sun.”
6 – Put Down the Duckie is a jazzy song by Ernie and Hoots the Owl. Ernie asks Hoots for advice on getting rid of the quacking sound he hears when he tries to play the saxophone. Hoots says Ernie has to put down his rubber duckie. Sample lyric: “I think I see your problem. It’s yellow and it quacks!”
5 – Doin’ the Pigeon is the only 70s-era signature song to make this list. It outranks Rubber Duckie and I Love Trash because it features Bert at his absolute uncoolest. Bert’s love of pigeons leads him to create a foot-stomping, neck-stretching dance. Sample lyrics: “Dig this!” “I’m grooving now!” “Far out!”
4 – Monster in the Mirror is Grover’s song about his conversation with his reflection. You have to be nice to the monster in the mirror, Grover says, because it might be you. Sample lyric: “He sang ‘wubba wubba wubba,’ so I joined in too.”
3 – Healthy Food is Cookie Monster’s Eighties rap about his other favorite foods. He has a backup chorus of vegetables to help him. The best part of this song is Cookie’s Run-DMC outfit, with the black derby hat and gold chains. The video is like an 80’s rap video, too. That’s why it’s so much better than the new version of the song that Cookie did with Wyclef Jean. Sample lyric: “Me one healthy dude, ’cause me eat healthy food! Me love it!”
2 – Do De Rubber Duck is still shown often on Sesame Street’s current TV show. It’s a Bob Marley-style reggae song. First, Ernie starts singing with his rubber duck. Then a chorus of Muppets shows up outside his window to sing backup. Somehow they hop in the tub and dance around. The parade of bathtubbers includes The Count, Oscar, Guy Smiley, Biff, Telly, Hoots and Kermit the Frog (whose voice is almost exactly like Ernie’s). Bert walks up to the bathroom door, hears the commotion and gives a perfect “What theâÂ?¦?” look to the camera. Sample lyric: “Come and be a bathtime bopper âÂ?¦ don’t pull out the stopper.”
1 – Sing After Me will make you miss the comic genius of Madeline Kahn. She sings an “echo song” with Grover. Their interaction is priceless, especially when Madeline shows off by singing notes out of Grover’s range. Sample lyric: “Sing what I sing, sing after me. Be my echo if you can be.”
I asked my 3-year-old daughter what her favorite “Street.com” songs are, and Gracelin came up with some of the older songs in the Sesame canon. She picked Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood, What’s the Name of That Song, and ABCD-EFGHI, which features Big Bird singing the alphabet as one big word.
