Sesame Street Theme

The Sesame Street Theme is the theme song of the children's television series "Sesame Street". It remains as one of the most distinctive and enduring television theme songs to this day.Fact|date=November 2007

Overview

The theme song was composed by Joe Raposo, a writer and composer of many of television show "Sesame Street" songs. Raposo also wrote the lyrics to the song along with Jon Stone and Bruce Hart. In the song's earliest recordings the song uses a harmonica-accompanied melody played by Toots Thielemans.

Uses within the series

Opening sequences

For the first 23 seasons of "Sesame Street" the theme song in the opening credits and the show's start was untouched. The first version in the opening credits has the melody played by Thielemans while children sing the lyrics. In each episode's beginning storyline, a slower instrumental version of Thielemans's tune is heard.

Beginning in season 24, a newer version of the theme surfaced. To coincide with the "Sesame Street"'s move to Kaufman Astoria Studios, the theme song was re-recorded for the opening credits with a more upbeat, calypso-like tune instead of the harmonica-themed melody of the previous versions with children singing. This version remained during the show's opening for six more seasons. Like the previous version, this arrangement also had an instrumental version that opened every episode. However this instrumental version opened the series until Season 38, outlasting the vocal version. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWDnhwLNA_w&feature=related YouTube - Sesame Street 1993 Intro ] ]

For the series' 30th season, the tune went back to a more conservative tone. Using again a harmonica-style tune by Thielemans, the theme was a throwback to the shows early seasons. Unlike the first version, though, this version was much slower and had additional notes added particularly in the beginning. This version remained for three seasons. Still, the instrumental calypso version used since November 1992 remained as the episode opener.

Again, the theme was given a complete makeover in season 33 to coincide with the show's structure. This version had a much rapid, more energetic feel to the song. Also the line "Can you tell me how to get/How to get to Sesame Street" was repeated twice in this incarnation rather than the traditional repetition of "How to get to Sesame Street" at the end. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-AUCEE5AsY&feature=related YouTube - Sesame Street Intro (english, season 35) ] ]

Drastic changes were once more instituted for the opening song for season 38. The song again was upbeat, but it now had a style that has a kiddie pop/Hip hop tune. Another change was the instrumental opener which now had a softer version of the new rendition. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wieWYBkSQg YouTube - New Sesame Street intro ] ]

Closing sequences

For the closing scenes that preceded the credits/underwriting sponsors, a silent version of the old harmonics-style version in the opening sequence is used. This version remained intact for 37 seasons. Of 23 of those seasons, the version spilled over into the Friday full cast and crew credits. Starting in season 24 and through season 37, a hip-hop/rap style melody of the song was used, and the closing credits were separated from the closing scenes of the show. In 2000 and 2003, Sesame Workshop cut out the references to Children's Television Workshop and The Jim Henson Company in the closing credits making them short. Also in old credits the references to CTW are also removed and the old logos are plastered with one of the three Sesame Workshop logos either the purple roof/green house, green roof, or the red roof/purple house.

In season 38, a new melody was used to complement the opening. The style seemed to be an instrumental version of the opening (see above).

Uses in Popular Culture

The theme was "remixed" in 1992 by British rave group The Smart E's. "Sesame's Treet" reached #2 on the UK singles chart. [David Roberts (Managing Editor) "et al.", "Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles & Albums" (Eighteenth Edition), 2005, ISBN 1-904994-00-8]

On their 2001 album "Free to Smoke Marijuana", comedy duo Ned and Manson parodied the song as the popular "Sensimmilla Street".

References

External links

* [http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street_Theme Sesame Street Theme at Muppet wikia]