The Muppet Alphabet Album





The Muppet Alphabet Album was the first Sesame Street LP that was hosted solely by the Muppets without assistance from the human cast. It was originally packaged in a gatefold sleeve, featuring visualizations of each letter of the alphabet by Smollin Associates. The original package contained 26 small punch-out letter-shaped books illustrating the songs, plus a letter-shaping pipe cleaner, a blackboard and chalk. It was also released simultaneously in a "Carry About" boxed set of 45s, with a catalog number of CC 25504. The LP edition reached #189 on Billboard's Top LP's chart in early 1972.

The 1976 reissue dropped the inserts, and the gatefold contained new "Learn Your Letters" artwork which did not directly correspond to the content of the songs. In 1977, the album was reissued as part of the 3-LP boxed set, Letters, Numbers and Signs. Sesame Street Records later released the album on cassette, first with the title The Muppet Alphabet Album (C 5003), and later with the title The Muppet Alphabet Cassette (C 79010). Sight & Sound also released it on cassette, with a catalog number of GNL-206. Then Golden Music released it on cassette yet again, under the title The Sesame Street Alphabet Album (Golden Music 4107).

The album was re-released on CD and cassette by Sony Wonder in 1996 under the title Sing the Alphabet. The opening and closing tracks were combined with "The Sound of the Letter A" and "The Zizzy Zoomers," respectively, and a new version of "ABC-DEF-GHI" sung by Elmo was added to the beginning, before the album's introduction starts.

Track listing
Side One by Joe Raposo Lyrics by Jerry Juhl, Music by Joe Raposo by Joe Raposo by Jeff Moss by Jerry Juhl by Joe Raposo by Jeff Moss Lyrics by Jerry Juhl, Music by Joe Raposo by Joe Raposo by Jeff Moss by Jerry Juhl by Joe Raposo by Jeff Moss by Jerry Juhl
 * 1) The Opening - Cast
 * 2) The Sound of the Letter A * - Big Bird
 * 1) Oscar's B Sandwich - Oscar
 * 1) C Is for Cookie * - Cookie Monster
 * 1) Dee, Dee, Dee * - Ernie
 * 1) E What's My Letter * - Guy Smiley and Prairie Dawn
 * 1) Four Furry Friends - Grover, Herry Monster, Oscar and Cookie Monster
 * 1) Two G Sounds * - Grover and George
 * 1) Ha Ha - Harvey Kneeslapper, Herry Monster and Big Bird
 * 1) I Stand Up Straight and Tall * - Grover
 * 1) J Friends * - The Anything Muppets
 * 1) K Herbert's Silly Poem - Herbert Birdsfoot
 * 1) La, La, La * - Bert and Ernie
 * 1) M-M-M Monster Meal * - Herry Monster and Cookie Monster
 * 1) The Noodle Story - Big Bird and Oscar

Side Two by Joe Raposo by Jeff Moss Lyrics by Jerry Juhl, Music by Jeff Moss by Jim Henson by Jeff Moss by Jerry Juhl by Joe Raposo by Jeff Moss Lyrics by Jerry Juhl, Music by Joe Raposo by Joe Raposo by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl by Joe Raposo
 * 1) Would You Like to Buy an O? * - Lefty the Salesman and Ernie
 * 1) P My Favorite Letter * - The Anything Muppets
 * 1) The Question Song * - Grover and a Little Girl
 * 1) The R Machine - Ernie and Bert
 * 1) Sammy the Snake * - Sammy
 * 1) The Tale of Tom Tattertall Tuttletut - Herbert Birdsfoot and the Anything Muppets
 * 1) U Lecture - Professor Hastings
 * 1) Very, Very Special Letter - Big Bird
 * 1) The National Association of W Lovers * - Bert
 * 1) X Marks the Spot! * - Sherlock Hemlock
 * 1) Y Just Because* - Grover and a Little Girl
 * 1) The Zizzy Zoomers * - the Anything Muppets
 * 1) The Closing - Cast


 * * this track is known to have been performed on the show

Edits
On non-record editions of this album, the following section of dialogue has been cut from the end of side 2, after Big Bird says, "What's the alphabet?" and everybody groans:


 * Bert: Well, don't just sit there. Turn the record over and let's start again.


 * Big Bird: Hey, if they turn the record over, won't we all fall off?

Then the closing music plays, on all versions.

Other Releases

 * T 5003 (Sesame Street 8-track tape)

Credits

 * Produced by:
 * Jim Henson
 * Associate Producer for the Muppets:
 * Diana Birkenfield
 * Written by:
 * Joe Raposo, Jeff Moss and Jerry Juhl
 * with the talents of:
 * Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill and Jim Henson
 * Original Concept and Design by:
 * Arthur Shimkin
 * Visuals by:
 * Smollin Associates