Changes: Letter B

Written by	Christopher Cerf
Date	1979
Publisher	Splotched Animal Music Co.
EKA	Episode 1845

Revision as of 06:26, 22 December 2015

"Letter B" is a song parody of The Beatles' song "Let It Be," sung on Sesame Street by The Beetles. Richard Hunt provided lead vocals. As the title implies, the song teaches about B words.

Christopher Cerf, who lost his voice at the time, later sung a portion of the song at the Brooklyn Public Library on November 21, 2009.

Notes

When the Beatles' catalogue was still owned by Northern Songs, the company attempted to sue Children's Television Workshop for $5.5 million. They cited that the song too closely resembled "Let It Be." Before the case came to trial, Michael Jackson purchased the Lennon/McCartney catalogue and the suit was dropped. The Children's Television Workshop was only fined $50, which was paid out of Christopher Cerf's own pocket. Paul McCartney, who was not involved in the lawsuit, wrote to Cerf saying that he liked the song.^[1]
On the Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street home video, the segment has MTV-style captions that refer to "Lemon Records" (a parody of "Apple Records"), and also had an album name that would later be released onto CD five years later (Sesame Road); the lyrics to this song were released in the original release of the video.

Releases

Audio (album version)

Born to Add (1983 edition only)
Sesame Road (1993, with added introduction by Big Bird)
Sesame Street Best (1997)

Video

Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street (1988, intro cut)
Old School: Volume 3 (2012)

Online

The Sesame Street Podcast: The Letter B (edited)

Other

Letters (computer game) (released as audio)

Sources

↑ Chris Cerf at a book signing for Street Gang, 1/5/09 [1]

[1] Chris Cerf at a book signing for Street Gang, 1/5/09 [1]

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{song|writer=[[Christopher Cerf]]|composer=|lyricist=|date=[[1981]]|source=|publisher=Splotched Animal Music Company}}
+{{song|image=Thebeetles.jpg|writer=[[Christopher Cerf]]|date=[[1979]]|publisher=Splotched Animal Music Co.|eka=[[Episode 1845]]}}
-[[Image:Thebeetles.jpg|thumb|300px]]
-{{ekabox|1845}}
 "'''Letter B'''" is a song parody of [[The Beatles|The Beatles']] song "Let It Be," sung on ''[[Sesame Street]]'' by [[The Beetles]]. [[Richard Hunt]] provided lead vocals. As the title implies, the song teaches about [[B]] words.
+[[Christopher Cerf]], who lost his voice at the time, later sung a portion of the song at the Brooklyn Public Library on November 21, 2009.
 ==Notes==
-*When the Beatles' catalogue was still owned by Northern Songs, the company attempted to sue Children's Television Workshop for $5.5 million. They cited that the song too closely resembled "Let It Be." Before the case came to trial, [[Michael Jackson]] purchased the Beatles catalogue and the suit was dropped. The Children's Television Workshop was only fined $50, which was paid out of Chris Cerf's own pocket. Paul McCartney, who was not involved in the lawsuit, wrote to Cerf saying that he liked the song.<ref>Chris Cerf at a book signing for ''[[Street Gang]]'', 1/5/09 [http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=toughpigs&ctx=&cacheTag=19-56&msg=11514.17]</ref>
+*When the Beatles' catalogue was still owned by Northern Songs, the company attempted to sue Children's Television Workshop for $5.5 million. They cited that the song too closely resembled "Let It Be." Before the case came to trial, [[Michael Jackson]] purchased the Lennon/McCartney catalogue and the suit was dropped. The Children's Television Workshop was only fined $50, which was paid out of Christopher Cerf's own pocket. Paul McCartney, who was not involved in the lawsuit, wrote to Cerf saying that he liked the song.<ref>Chris Cerf at a book signing for ''[[Street Gang]]'', 1/5/09 [http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=toughpigs&ctx=&cacheTag=19-56&msg=11514.17]</ref>
+*On the ''Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street'' home video, the segment has [[MTV]]-style captions that refer to "Lemon Records" (a parody of "Apple Records"), and also had an album name that would later be released onto CD five years later (Sesame Road); the lyrics to this song were released in the original release of the video.
-*The [[Anything Muppet]] bugs who performed the song were puppeteered by Hunt, [[Jerry Nelson]], [[Brian Muehl]] and [[Michael Earl Davis]].
-*On the "Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street" vhs, the video has [[MTV]]-style captions that refer to as "Lemon Records", and also had an album name that would later be released onto CD five years later (Sesame Road).
-*Lyrics to this song were released in the original release of the "Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street" VHS.
 ==Releases==
 ;Audio (album version)
 *''[[Born to Add (album)|Born to Add]]'' (1983 edition only)
-*''[[Sesame Road]]'' (1993)
+*''[[Sesame Road]]'' (1993, with added introduction by [[Big Bird]])
 *''[[Sesame Street Best]]'' (1997)
 ;Video
-*''[[Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street]]'' (1988, intro cut)
+*''[[Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street]]'' (1988, intro cut)
+*''[[Old School: Volume 3]]'' (2012)
+;Online
+*''[[The Sesame Street Podcast]]'': The Letter B (edited)
 ;Other
-*''[[Letters (CD-ROM)]]'' (1997)
+*''[[Letters (computer game)]]'' (released as audio)
 ==Sources==


Written by	Christopher Cerf
Date	1979
Publisher	Splotched Animal Music Co.
EKA	Episode 1845