35 Years of Sesame Street Music!

[Artemus]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/958470.asp?0bl=-0

35 years of Sesame Street music

CD box set features Muppets, Cash, Bennett, R.E.M., Seeger

NEW YORK, Aug. 28 — Oscar the Grouch has plans for a new CD set celebrating 35 years of “Sesame Street” music: He intends to beat on the discs and sling them about until they look and sound like the rest of his music collection.

“I LIKE THE ONES that have a chunk missing,” the irascible, trashcan-dwelling Muppet told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“It makes a nice sound every time the needle hits the missing part. It just sort of jumps when it hits the broken edge and drops into a new track every time, so it makes the song more interesting.”
Oscar’s musical preferences are not those of most people, or most puppets, either. Most children, parents and former children will find “Songs from the Street — 35 Years: The Ultimate Sesame Street Music Collection” plenty interesting when it hits stores Sept. 2, even without Oscar’s crude remastering.
The discs offer digitally remastered songs from the classic children’s show performed not only by some of television’s most beloved characters — Big Bird, Kermit the Frog and even Oscar himself — but by a flock of famous guest musicians.
From Cab Calloway and Lena Horne to Dixie Chicks and Destiny’s Child; Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett and B.B. King to R.E.M., Los Lobos and and Diane Schuur; from James Taylor and Paul Simon to Billy Joel and Pete Seeger; Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion to Goo Goo Dolls and +NSYNC; from Stevie Wonder to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the list of superstar singers is as long and varied as any television show can boast.

STARS LOVE SESAME
Thirty-two guest performances are among the 63 songs, or 2-1/2 hours of music, on three CDs, with a 68-page booklet.
Many of the stars have said appearing on “Sesame Street” was a highlight of their careers.
“All of us were very excited to be on the set, period, because we’ve all been fans of Sesame Street since we were kids,” said Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child. “When we saw Elmo, when we saw everybody on set, we were just like, wow!”
Chuckling quietly, then roaring with laughter, she said: ”It was great. It was weird at first, definitely.”
Some of the songs were already hits by the guest artists, rewritten for Sesame Street. One such is Joel’s “Just the Way You Are,” reworked to salute Oscar’s grouchiness. By the end, though, Joel’s original message of love and acceptance is resurfacing. Oscar complains: “This is the mushiest thing I ever heard” and “You really know how to hurt a grouch.”
Then there are the classic Sesame Street songs for which the Muppets needed no outside help to teach generations of kids to spell, count and enjoy life: “Bein’ Green,” “Sing,” “C Is For Cookie” “ Rubber Duckie,” “Everybody Sleeps,” “People in Your Neighborhood” and others.

NO COMPROMISES
Christopher Cerf, a songwriter/producer who says he is “62 going on 8,” said the show has never compromised its preschool curriculum, overseen by academics, but “the teachers are not allowed to compromise the entertainment, either.”
Cerf — who has been with the show since its first season, and who did the liner notes for the new compilation — said that while the songs must have a basic meaning that children 3 to 6 can understand, “Sesame Street” has always enjoyed making sure older children and grown-ups can enjoy the songs, too, whether for their humor, charm or emotional sympathy.
The songs have to be listenable, Cerf said, but not too simple. “I think writing down to kids, just as in books, is a terrible mistake.”
For Cerf, who wrote rock music and rock parodies at Harvard and then the National Lampoon humor group, “Sesame Street” fulfills some longtime fantasies. “As long as you’re willing to have 4-year-olds be your audience, I’m a rock star. I always dreamed of that, but I never thought it would happen,” Cerf said.
Even Oscar (who was called to the telephone by Muppeteer Caroll Spinney) can sound almost bubbly. The Muppet who rates himself “probably the best rotten singer going,” who says “I hate music” and who admits “I love to be negative” felt a little apologetic as he ended his interview.
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[Meesh]

awesome! i would so get it!

[Red Ribboned Cub]

aaah i want!!!
though it'd be cool if they could somehow make a box set of EVERY SINGLE SONG...

[Mordecai]

we all sing with the same voice, the same song, the same voice...and we sing in harmony

[tully]

roosevelt franklin, how old are you?

well, i used to be one,
now i'm going on two