written by Sara Compton and Jeffrey Moss

 

I​’ve always liked Sesame Street. But if we’re being honest, haven’t we

all? One of my favorite fun facts about it is that for just a few

episodes in the beginning, 1969-ish, Oscar the Grouch was in fact

actually orange. But he always loved trash either way. This one came

chronologically right after “Every Time I Turn Around” a.k.a. the

theme from Punky Brewster, another song from a show for kids. The little kid in me will always appreciate their innocence and idealism. One of the reasons Sesame Street was always so successful was its ability to brilliantly juxtapose heartwarming diverse relationships between characters and fun educational lessons, focusing a lot on words and numbers. (“Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter ‘K’ and the number 9.”) The lessons were too blended into other cultures, teaching us for instance to count to ten in Spanish. Do you know anyone who didn’t have a favorite Muppet? Another thing Sesame Street taught us was how to love one another and try to live in harmony... just as one of the lines in this very song says. “We Are All Earthlings.” Watch the video if you’ve not seen it; it’s a must for any animal lover. Elmo is featured among the singing creatures, and Big Bird makes a cameo in verse two. Its first appearance on record was the 1993 SS album of the same name, though the song and its accompanying video first played on an episode from 1991—following a traumatic year for every Muppet that had ever been created. Sadly, on May 16th, 1990, we lost our beloved Jim Henson. But Sesame Street continued to spread his love, maintaining its benevolent touch through the changes it had undergone. Not every legacy lives on with as much love and acclaim as Jim’s has. One year after he died, the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (The Secret Of The Ooze) was dedicated to his memory. Don’t forget, puppets, and Muppets—and Turtles—are all Earthlings too.

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Side note: I have a copy of Platinum All-Time Favorites, a 2008 Sesame Street compilation which closed with this song. Before digging out its insert, I looked up the lyrics online. On each and every lyrics source I read, the fourth line is “And some of us have skins.” Being that this made a bit more sense than “grins”—which I’d always heard it as—I supposed it was possible I’d misheard it... but I listened to the line, and couldn’t hear “skins” in there at all. So I dug up the insert, and luckily, it included the lyrics. “And some of us have grins.” Aha! It IS “grins”! I was right!

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Final note: directly after this one originally in my list was another (much earlier) song from Sesame Street. But as I’ve decided that particular song does not have quite as steady a beat, and as it contains more chanting than singing... actually, it’s all chanting and no singing... that’s the first number that’s now no longer in The List.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

video clip

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Sesame Street’s official website