Project Nodajo

Sesame Street. The Muppets.  So much comes to mind when you hear these names. An array of hilarious characters that were with us through our childhood.  Making us laugh, dance, sing and just enjoy life.  It's no secret that adding muppets to anything automatically makes it awesome.  This is evident in the countless CD's they've released consisting of muppets singing normal people songs, or the list of classic stories that have been redone starring them ( A Muppet Christmas Carol!).  But just this once, and I swear to you this will be the only time you will ever be asked to do this, lets NOT consider the muppets in order to appreciate true genius at the core...Sesame Street music.

I was first prompted to listen to Sesame Street music out of context by my good friend, Charlie. He had this documentary on the man behind the music, Mr. Joe Raposo, and one night we sat down and decided to watch it. I was a little skeptical at first as to why we would want to watch a special on Sesame Street music. In my head, they were just silly kid songs that accompanied a number of great muppet skits.  Boy, was I wrong.  This documentary featured multiple clips of Mr. Raposo perfoming these songs himself on piano, and that's when I realized how amazing they actually are. There are two songs that I want to discuss in particular, and I'm sure you know them..."It's Not Easy Bein' Green" and "Sing!"

It's Not Easy Bein' Green

We're all familiar with this reflective masterpiece, sung by none other than the infamous, Kermit the Frog. When listening to a little green frog with a hilariously unique voice, it's kind of hard to look past it and really appreciate the songwriting.  For this reason, it wasn't until I heard a cover by Ray Charles that I was able to finally understand it. First of all, what an amazing melody.  It's hard to hear that song and not walk away humming it. It's short, yet as long as it needs to be. What really captures my attention, though, are the lyrics.  Mr. Raposo wrote this song specifically for Kermit to sing, and it is a very funny subject matter.  But looking at it closely, its message is one that people try to communicate so often...love who you are and don't try to be different. Remember that these songs are written for kids, and it makes me happy to know that Mr. Raposo was able to teach them this lesson without being upfront and preachy about it.  Instead, he used a loveable character (Kermit) to get the message across to those children, and as I've come to realize lately, adults as well.

When green is all there is to be 
It could make you wonder why, 
But why wonder, why wonder? 
I am green and it'll do fine, 
It's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.

Sing!

This became a sort of anthem for Sesame Street.  They often had a number of different guests perform the song, and on the Joe Raposo documentary, there was a performance in which every sesame street character sang a line or two in his memory. Once again, Mr. Raposo had written an infectiously catchy tune for children to sing along to, as prompted by the lyrics.  There is no doubt that this song went, and may still, go straight to the hearts of all of those who grew up with Sesame Street.  But Joe is not only telling us to sing, he is urging us to be ourselves, regardless of what others may think.

Sing!
Sing a song!
Make it simple,
To last your whole life long.
Don't worry that it's not good enough
For anyone else to hear.
Just sing!
Sing a song!

These well written songs are hard to take seriously when they are featured on a show like Sesame Street, being sung by talking frogs and giant yellow birds.  But I urge you to look behind the visual, and appreciate the audio.  Take some time and look up a few covers to really hear and enjoy them. I think you will find that these songs are some of the most beautifully written pieces of music you will hear. I've included an acoustic cover of "Sing!" that I found on YouTube to get you started.  It is done by a guy with the screenname, danielhassixstrings.

Go ahead and dive back into your childhood.  I think you will find it just as enjoyable now as you did back then.

Noel