Our kids loved the record (vinyl, in those balmy old days) of BERT AND ERNIE’S SINGALONG… it was a wonderful episode.
Alas, they haven’t released it on CD, I guess because it has the late Mr Hooper on it. Sigh.
Easilyyyyyyy Ma Na Ma Na.
And speaking of the Rubber Duckie song, one of the shows last week featured Little Richard doing it. That’s another thing I like about Sesame Street. There’s enough grown-up appeal that makes the show, if not enjoyable, at least tolerable.
I’ve seen segments with Ray Romano, Kofi Annan, Ray Charles, the Dixie Chicks, REM, and a bunch of others. It’s nice to see some recognizable faces amongst the Muppets.
Robin
Kofi Annan? cool!
I always loved the guy who would go around painting numbers on things.
My Sesame Street claim to fame:
I had my nose broken by the guy who played the back end of Barkley the Dog.
He wasn’t actually dressed as Barkley the Dog at the time, but really, how many people have been the victim of a violent beating inflicted by half a muppet?
Now THAT is a great sig line 
Wow, can someone elaborate on this, because I totally remember it.
I always felt bad for him because he broke his teeth.
hey, shy guy! I realized that I actually have that Sesame Street Unpaved book that was mentioned in the thread earlier.
No Ten Tiny Turtles, thanks Max, but I couldn’t access your link, it said it was temporarily unavailable, BUT here’s the one about the Alligator King:
Said the Alligator King to his 7 sons
“I’m feelin’ mighty down,
Whichever of you can cheer me up
will get to wear my crown.”
The first son brought 7 oyster pearls
from the bottom of the deep blue sea
The second son gave him 7 statues of girls
with clocks where their bellies should be
The third son gave him 7 rubies
from the Sheikdom Downtherebeneath
The king thought the rubies were cherries
and he broke off 7 of his teeth
The fourth son tried to cheer him up
with 7 lemon drops
The king said, “I’m sorry son, since that ruby episode
I just haven’t got the chops.”
The fifth son brought the king perfume
in 7 fancy silver jars
The king took a whiff and he broke out in spots
'cause it smelled like cheap cigars
The sixth son gave him 7 diamond rings
to wear upon his toes
The king snagged his foot on the royal red rug
and rumpled up his nose
The seventh son of the Alligator King
was a thoughtful little whelp
He said, “Dad, to appears to me
that you could use a little help.”
Said the Alligator king to his seventh son
"My son, you win the crown,
You didn’t bring me diamonds or rubies,
but you helped me up when I was down.
Take the crown, it’s yours my son,
I hope you don’t mind the dents.
I got it on sale at a discount store,
It cost me all of 7 cents."
7!
How could I forget I had this book?
Later, guys!
I’ll be in my favorite chair curled up with this bad boy for the rest of the evening!
Hey,** sulamith**? Does that book list the SINGER of that song? Because I have always loved his voice (he did several of the songs), and I have no idea who he might be.
After just a quick scan, sorry, it doesn’t.
Does anybody know? That guy did have a rockin’ voice.
My favorite memory is when, in the 1970 season, Oscar changed colors (he was orange during the first season). I was a bit old to be watching the show, but I was just as perplexed as my younger siblings who couldn’t understand what happened.
My old man spent a half hour screwing around with the color adjustment on our television before he concluded that Oscar was in fact supposed to be green now.
But other than that, I’ve always loved the martian.
Yep-yep-yep-yep yep-uh huh, uh huh!
This isn’t actually my memory, because I don’t remember it at all. But my mom tells me that they had the woman who played the Wicked Witch of the West on one time, and she talked about acting, and getting into a roll, and how she really a very nice woman who only pretends to be the Wicked Witch. As she was talking about it, she gradually put on her Witch make-up. Meanwhile, I’m watching wide-eyed and slowly pulling into a ball as she became more and more witchy. Finally, when the make up was done, she put on the hat, turned to the camera and did her, “Hello, my little pretties!” line. My mom says I shrieked, jumped three feet straight up, and raced out of the room.
To this day, I have never seen The Wizard of Oz. I wonder if there’s a connection?
We had that record! (Actually, it’s probably still at my parents’ house.) It was the best. Bert is blithely taking a bath and singing to himself when suddenly he is interrupted by Ernie bringing a piano into the bathroom. Why is Ernie bringing a piano into the bathroom? Because he is planning on hosting a sing-along, and “Everyone sounds better singing in the bathroom!” Also, “What’s a sing-along without a piano?” (“It’s me, that’s what it is, alone!” grumps Bert.)
You get to imagine the entire Sesame Street cast crowding into Bert and Ernie’s bathroom and singing old favorites like “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt”. Meanwhile, poor Bert is shivering in the bathtub. Every once in a while, he plaintively cries, “Will somebody hand me a towel?!” Of course, it’s so crowded that no one can get to the towels.
If there were a CD of that, I’d buy it in a second. I’d love to listen to it again. Yeah, I’m sure that Mr. Hooper was on there. I think that he even sings–although I’m not 100% sure about that.
We also had the very 1970’s “Sesame Street Fever!” and its sequel “Sesame Disco”, but “Bert and Ernie’s Sing-Along” was definitely my favorite.
My daughter told me last week that she doesn’t like Little Richard’s version of “Rubber Duckie”–Ernie’s is much better. 
The Kofi Annan sketch was really cool, though.
There were so many in-jokes for adults watching the show that went over my little head for years–the “Beatles” singing “Letter B”, for example. It’s hard to remember them now, but growing up, I’d often have moments where I’d think “Aha! That’s what they were parodying!” “Monsterpiece Theatre” with “Alastair Cookie”, for example.
I don’t remember the witch, but I remember the clown who puts on his make-up. Suddenly, they reverse the film, and all the makeup goes back into the tube! I was amazed by that.
Did Grover really leave? He was always my favorite character 
I always liked the “This is Your Life” segments. Or whatever they were called.
Sesame Street taught me to count to ten in Spanish, a useful skill.
The rubber ducky song is a favorite, of course.
And also Kermit’s It’s Not Easy Being Green song.
And the 1-12 pinball songs.
I also remember the segments they would have with real world stuff, like the ocean or sand sculptures or what have you.
And I liked the segments with the silent guy.
This did not happen on Sesame Street. It happened on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and I remember it vividly. My reaction was quite similar to yours.
David was played by Northern Calloway. He apparently left the show after having some sort of Psychological breakdown.
Try this google groups link for more info.
-Myron
Monsterpiece Theater, Letter B, and Captain Vegetable (“It is I, Captain Vegetable! With my carrots…and my celery!”).
I didn’t see it as a kid; this comes from when the snackids were little, in the late eighties/early nineties.
Oooh! I love this thread.
I always liked the old (70’s) video segment that shows the father of a little girl carving a three-legged stool out of wood for her. It shows him cutting down the tree, sawing and then carving the wood. That was my all-time favorite.
I also liked the cartoon bit about the little boy whose mother sent him to the grocery store for a “loaf a bread, quart of milk and something, something [I can’t remember]”
And the Grover/Irritated Waiter in the restaurant bit.
Hey greywolf, it was:
a loaf of bread, a quart of milk, and a stick of butter.
Funny, the kid in the bit forgets it, too.
Yes, I put the book down and came back to SDMB.
The book is funny, but you guys are more fun!
Anyhoo, I am having a memory jog:
Was it Sesame Street that had the piece about wasting water?
It went:
Don’t be a wasteroo!
You’ll be wasting waaaaaater! You’re a wasteroo!
It was this funky animated girl at the sink turining off the water.
I don’t think I dreamed it, hee hee!
Also, I loved the opera thing with the orange, or was it a grapefruit? Anybody else recall that? The fruit sang a piece from Carmen, with a big rubber band for a mouth and plastic flowers for long eyelashes! So funny!
La mew, La meeeww! LA MEWWWWWWW!