Sesame Street Theme
From Muppet Wiki
| Written by | |
| Music by | Joe Raposo |
| Lyrics by | Jon Stone, Bruce Hart, Joe Raposo |
| Date | 1969 |
| Source | |
| Publisher | Sesame Street, Inc. |
The Sesame Street Theme is the familiar opening theme song of Sesame Street. It is normally sung by The Kids.
The song has been remade a number of times over the years not only for the show's opening and closing credits, but also for inserts. One of the earliest and most distinctive versions includes a harmonica solo performed by Toots Thielemans. For the 25th Anniversary version, the harmonica solo was performed by William Galison.[1]
On The Muppet Show, when the Sesame Street cast made a cameo in Episode 518, the cast of both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show sang a verse of the theme song (this recording can be heard over a montage of Sesame Street clips in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years).
Gladys Knight sang the theme in The Sesame Street Special. This recording was also included in the album Sing: Songs of Joe Raposo.
A remix was recorded by Ursula 2000 for Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music. This remix also featured sound clips from various Sesame Street Albums.
Contents |
Openings
The song has been a part of Sesame Street since the very beginning, as it was used to open the first pilot episode; this version is longer than that used in the series proper. Sung by Bob McGrath rather than the more familiar children's chorus, the rendition includes the complete lyrics, as heard on albums and elsewhere, but seldom included on the show itself.
Classically, the opening theme was accompanied by clips of children playing on location in a park or city. Various sequences of footage were used and rotated from episode to episode. Big Bird was added to most versions of the sequence starting in season 4 and Barkley was added to the opening in season 10; the actual rotation of openings, meanwhile, was replaced outright with new footage in both 1972 and 1988.
A new rendition of the theme song was used from 1992 to 1998, featuring a calypso beat. During this period the opening featured many more Muppet characters, and employed the use of numerous computer-animated effects. Muppets who appeared in this version of the opening include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Cookie Monster, Count von Count, Prairie Dawn, Ernie, Bert, Elmo and Telly Monster. The opening footage was generally standardized from episode to episode from this point on; however, an alternate version of the opening, featuring Zoe instead of Grover and Baby Natasha instead of Prairie Dawn, was sometimes shown.
In 1998 the opening reverted to footage featuring Big Bird and various children, and another recording of the theme song was used featuring a prominent harmonica overdub and resembling the original opening theme. This lasted until 2002, when the opening was changed yet again to feature computer-generated bouncing-block animation, clips from the show, and an appearance by Super Grover. Yet another version of the theme was also recorded, this version also including a prominent harmonica. It is shortened on reruns, except season 37, the last season to use this opening.
Starting with Season 38 in 2007, another new opening was introduced, featuring a slightly-faster version of the theme with a minor hip-hop context to fit with the city setting, and featured more Muppets, including Abby Cadabby, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Super Grover and a few others among a computer-animated New York City using "folding" effects (this basis would also be used for the between-segment-bumpers and closing credits), and also had the episode number appearing on a sign next to the "Sesame Street" sign on the distinctive lightpole.
Closings
Like the opening, the closing has changed many times throughout the show's run. During the first and part of the third seasons, the action from the episodes that featured closing credits (until season 34 closing credits were generally featured only on Friday episodes) continued on as the credits rolled. The season 2 closing featured still shots of childrens' paintings.
By episode 355, the closing was an illustrated sequence scrolling the length of a tall apartment building down down to Sesame Street. Various characters were depicted in this closing: Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Kermit the Frog, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Little Bird, Herbert Birdsfoot, Lefty the Salesman, Roosevelt Franklin, Roosevelt Franklin's Mother, Herry Monster, Sherlock Hemlock, Professor Hastings, and the Anything Muppets. Grover appeared in various areas throughout this closing, while everybody else only appeared once. This closing was used for a few years during the early to mid-1970s.
For the 1974-75 season, the closing was changed to feature a live action drive through the country. This footage was combined with films of railroad tracks and a canyon in the 1978-79 season. New live action footage of The Kids playing with Barkley was introduced by the 1980-81 season and remained in use for twelve years up to 1992. Alternate closings with filmed sequences of New York City and upstate New York recorded during the pre-dawn hours and/or a dreamlike version of the main closing theme featuring a celesta were also occasionally used during this period, usually coinciding with episodes taking place at night.
A new, primarily-animated closing sequence was produced in 1992 to coincide with the new opening introduced in the same year, complete with a new upbeat version of the theme. Like the opening, this closing featured computer-animated effects and appearances by various characters, including Elmo, a Muppet pigeon, Big Bird, and various kids dancing. Unlike the 1992 opening sequence, this closing remained in use for fifteen years until 2007, making it the longest-running closing credit sequence used on the show, although it was progressively shortened in both 2000 (when references to "The Children's Television Workshop" were edited out) and 2003. Originally, the closing credits only appeared in every fifth episode. Starting in 1998, the closing credits would also appear on the season premiere, and this was continued until 2003 when the credits would appear at the end of each episode.
To coincide with the new opening sequence of 2007 and the "folding-city" bumpers used in-between segments, a new closing sequence was introduced in Season 38 with the camera panning around the CGI city, with appearances by Super Grover, Elmo, Big Bird and Abby Cadabby, accompanied by an urban-jazz instrumental version of the theme. It also ends with an in-credit Sesame Workshop logo instead of the animated one used since 2000.
Other Appearances
As the show's theme song, it has been featured in many productions related to Sesame Street, in both vocal and instrumental form. An instrumental version with a bit of Christmas-sounding music was included at the beginning of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. An instrumental version of the song also appeared in the first and last street scenes in Follow That Bird. This song, usually in instrumental form, has also been included in many video releases.
Audio Releases
All versions released are performed by The Kids, unless otherwise noted.
- The Sesame Street Book & Record (1970)
- Sesame Street Theme/Hello (single, 1970)
- Rubber Duckie/Sesame Street Theme (single, 1970)
- The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album (1971)
- Sesame Street LIVE! -- performed by The Gang (1973)
- Sing the Hit Songs of Sesame Street (1974)
- Sesame Street Theme/Goin' for a Ride (single, 1976)
- 10th Anniversary Album (1978)
- Sesame Street Treasury (1980)
- The Best of Sesame Street (1987)
- Bob's Favorite Street Songs (1991) -- sung by Bob
- Sesame Street Celebrates! (1994) -- calypso version
- Platinum All-Time Favorites (1995)
- Sesame Street Best (1997)
- Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music (2003) -- both original album version and a remixed version
References
This song, or lyrics of this song (most notably the line "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?"), have been referenced quite a few times on Sesame Street, or in related productions.
- In a film insert showing kids playing with toys followed by adults working with similar objects includes a scene where a little girl plays the drums and sings a line of the theme song. (EKA: Episode 0796)
- In a 1980s Reporter Kermit skit, Don Music wrote a similar song called "Yellowstone Park", and after he finished his song, he asked Kermit, "By the way, can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?"
- In Follow That Bird, after Miss Finch is told that Big Bird lives on Sesame Street, she asks, "Can you tell me how to get to sesame Street?"
- In another scene from Follow That Bird, after Big Bird sends two kids to call Sesame Street to rescue him, the girl asks the operator, "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?"
- In Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, Kermit goes out to the streets to ask the question of the day, which happens to be "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?" Needless to say, nobody can give an answer regarding how to get to Sesame Street.
Publications
- The inside covers for Sesame Street Unpaved include sheet music and lyrics for this song.
- Sheet music was also published in "The Sesame Street Song Book" and The Sesame Street Songbook.
Outside Uses
- In 2003 repetitive playing of the song was used by United States interrogators as a tool to break the will of Iraqi Prisoners of war.[2]
