Telephone Rock

Written by	Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles
Date	1974
Publisher	Splotched Animal Music Company (BMI)

Original performance

"Telephone Rock" is a Sesame Street song performed by Little Jerry and the Monotones. In this song, Little Jerry gets into a telephone booth, where he starts singing to the operator, and eventually the Monotones pop up and join him. They duck down before the operator asks who it is that's calling her. They do this again a few times, harassing the operator until she shows up and has a cop arrest them (by shutting the telephone booth door and carrying it away).

This song was also included in the 1990 video Rock & Roll, and was actually used as a plot point in that video. In that video, the opening scene with Little Jerry getting into the telephone booth, and the ending with Little Jerry acknowledging the fact that the cop is taking them away ("Hey, put that booth down!"), were cut.

The Monotones' performance in the Rock & Roll home video

Trivia

• The police officer that arrested the band in the telephone booth at the end of the song was performed by Marty Robinson at the end of the "Rock & Roll!" vhs, and had a Scottish accent, while on the "Signs!" album, he was performed by Jerry Nelson, and had an English accent.
• Chrissy was performed by Richard Hunt in this song, and Rockin' Richard was performed by Christopher Cerf in this song.

Releases

Audio

• Signs! (1977)
• Letters, Numbers and Signs (1977)

Video

• Rock & Roll! (1990, new sound effects added)
• Shalom Sesame: Aleph-bet Telethon (1991)
• Old School: Volume 2 (2007)