Written by | Christopher Cerf |
Date | 1979 |
Publisher | Splotched Animal Music Co. |
First | Episode 1375 |
"Born to Add" is a Sesame Street song that parodies Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run," and also borrows heavily from "Jungleland," another Springsteen tune (also from the Born to Run album). It was performed by Bruce Stringbean, Clarice, and the S Street Band.
Notes[]
- The song was initially written during Season 9. In an earlier draft of the song, Bruce and Clarice (said to be his girlfriend) would be loudly waking up the neighborhood with their adding throughout the song until it ends with the policepersons dragging them away. The two would carry miniature blackboards to do the math on, coming in handy at the end as they add up the charges levied against them. Further changes included them adding motorcycles rather than cars, and referring to themselves as "tramps" as in "Born to Run."[2]
- The song (and the album that was named after it) was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children, but it lost to the Michael Jackson-narrated read-along album from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- In Sesame Street Unpaved and Sesame Workshop's parody of Facebook titled "Muppetbook" that was created for the 40th season of Sesame Street, it states that Count von Count's favorite songs are "Born to Add" and "Count on Me."
Releases[]
- Audio
- Born to Add (1983)
- ABCs and 123s (2012)
- Video
- Learning to Add and Subtract (1987, ending edited)
- Best of Sesame Street Spoofs! (2011, ending edited)
- Old School: Volume 3 (2012)
- 50 Years and Counting (2019)
- Special
- The Street We Live On (2004, clip only)
- Publications
- The Sesame Street Songbook (1992 and 2007 editions only)
- Other
- Numbers computer game (audio)
Sources[]
- ↑ Documents provided by trusted source
- ↑ Tony Geiss Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University