written by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles

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Can you tell us how to get, how to get back to Sesame Street... so

when I got the SS Platinum All-Time Favorites album, there were

several songs included I was familiar with, and several as well I

was not. This song fell into the latter of those two categories. It’s

sung by Frank Oz, as Grover—Frank also being the puppeteer and

voice actor who portrayed Ernie’s longtime roomie and bestie Bert.

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Something about this song just rather dazzled me when I heard it... perhaps little to nothing more than its amusement factor alone. And the fact that when I included it in one of my playlists, I sequenced it alongside Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror”—nice and kind of logical companion pieces to one another. It premiered on Sesame Street in February 1990, and the following year, a slightly modified music video was made for it, featuring cameos of 26 celebrities singing along. The celeb cameos are: Maria Conchita Alonso, Candice Bergen, Ray Charles, Chubby Checker, Glenn Close, Tyne Daly, Geena Davis, Bo Diddley, Roger Ebert, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Kadeem Hardison, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Bo Jackson, Kid ’N Play, Robert MacNeil, Lou Diamond Phillips, Tim Robbins, Julia Roberts, the Simpsons, Gene Siskel, Jeff Smith, Tracey Ullman, Blair Underwood, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and alphabetically last but certainly not least, Robin Williams. The full celebrity longer is a bit longer, with more choruses, but no additional different lyrics, so I’m printing the lyrics below as per the 2:45 version that exists on record. The original album that contained the song, Put Down The Duckie!, was released in 1990 only on cassette.

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Pretty adorable song with an equally positive message, as Sesame Street’s always had a way of giving us.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full record version

full TV version

video clip (with cameos)

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Sesame Street’s official website

Lyrics

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Saw a monster in the mirror when I woke up today / A monster in my mirror, but I did not run away / I did not shed a tear or hide beneath my bed / Though the monster looked at me, and this is what he said / He said, “Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo / Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly doo” / He sang, “Wubba wubba wubba,” so I sang it too / Do not wubba me or I will wubba you / (Do not wubba me or I will wubba you) / Told the monster in the mirror, “No, I am not scared” / Then I smiled at him and thanked him for the song that we had shared / Well, the monster thanked me too, he smiled right back and then / The monster in the mirror sang his song again / He sang, “Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo / Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly doo” / He went, “Wubba wubba wubba,” and I sang along / Yes, “Wubba Wubba Wubba” is a monster song / (“Wubba Wubba Wubba” is a monster song) / “Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo / Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly doo” / He went, “Wubba wubba wubba,” and I sang along (wubba wubba wubba WUBBA WUBBA WUBBA!!) / Yes, “Wubba Wubba Wubba” is a monster song / (“Wubba Wubba Wubba” is a monster song) / If your mirror has a monster in it, do not shout / This kind of situation does not call for freaking out / And do nothing that you would not like to see him do / ’Cause that monster in the mirror, he just might be you / Singing, “Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo / Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly doo / Wubba wubba wubba,” you can join in too (wubba wubba wubba WUBBA WUBBA WUBBA!!) / Yes, if you wubba me, then I will wubba you / (If you wubba me, then I will wubba you) / Going, “Wubba wubba wubba” is the thing to do / Every time you wubba us, we’ll wubba you / (Me wubba you)