Sesame Street Theme



The Sesame Street Theme (registered with ASCAP as "Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street") is the familiar opening theme song of Sesame Street. It is normally sung by The Kids. The theme introduces the magical world of Sesame Street through its lyrics, stating that it is a place where "the air is sweet" and filled with "friendly neighbors," and frequently asks the now-famous question "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?"

In an unpublished memoir, Jon Stone commented that he personally had come up with many of the ideas for the song: "An integral part of [set designer] Charlie Rosen's set was a wall of doors...I wanted to use these doors as transition gateways from the reality of the street to our puppet or animation pieces. I told Bruce [Hart] to include 'Every door will open wide'", which was also meant as a reference to the phrase "Open Sesame," the inspiration for the show's title. "More important, I insisted that the recurring theme in the lyric be 'Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?' The opening I envisioned was one of children...running happily, tumbling, playing along the way, but always intent on getting to Sesame Street..." Although Stone was pleased with Joe Raposo's music, which he said was "melodic and simple enough for a child to recognize" and link with the show, he believed the final product was "a lyrical disaster," filled with "hackneyed phrases" and "astronaut slang" such as "A-OK" which he believed would "become obsolete." Contrary to Stone's opinion, many of these "happy little clichés" (such as "Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away") have arguably become as inexorably linked to the series as the melody.

The song has been remade a number of times over the years not only for the show's opening and closing credits but also for inserts. Among the earliest, most distinctive versions of the theme feature solo harmonica performed by Toots Thielemans. William Galison provided the harmonica solo for the 30th Anniversary version of the theme (used from seasons 30 to 32).

On The Muppet Show, when the Sesame Street cast made a cameo in Episode 518, the cast of both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show sang a verse of the theme song (this recording can be heard over a montage of Sesame Street clips in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years).

Gladys Knight sang the theme in The Sesame Street Special. This recording was also included in the album Sing: Songs of Joe Raposo.

A remix was recorded by Ursula 2000 for Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music. This remix also featured sound clips from various Sesame Street albums. This recording sometimes accompanied montages in episodes of The Sesame Street Podcast.

Openings
The song has been a part of Sesame Street since the very beginning, as it was used to open the first pilot episode; this version is longer than that used in the series proper. Sung by Bob McGrath, the rendition includes the complete lyrics, as heard on albums and elsewhere, but seldom included on the show itself.

The more familiar opening theme, sung by a children's chorus (the original chorus being Lois Winter and the "Wee Willie Winter Singers," according to musical coordinator Danny Epstein ), was used from the show's premiere in 1969 until 1992. Throughout this period, the opening theme was accompanied by clips of children playing on location in a park or city. Various sequences of footage were used and rotated from episode to episode. Big Bird was added to most versions of the sequence starting in season 4 and Barkley was added to the opening in season 10; the actual rotation of openings, meanwhile, was replaced outright with new footage in both 1972 and 1988. Also, the rotation of openings during the first three seasons were shot on film, whereas the subsequent openings, beginning with season 4, were shot on camera, like the street scenes and puppet segments.

For Season 24, the theme was updated with a calypso-flavored beat. The opening sequence employed the use of numerous animated effects and featured many more Muppet characters, including Big Bird, Grover, Oscar the Grouch (running in his trash can), Cookie Monster, Count von Count, Prairie Dawn, Ernie, Bert, Elmo and Telly Monster. The opening footage was generally standardized from episode to episode from this point on; however, an alternate version of the opening, introduced in Season 26 and featuring Zoe and Baby Natasha in the places of Grover and Prairie Dawn respectively, was occasionally shown. The opening sequence was designed by Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc.

In 1998, the opening reverted to footage of Big Bird and various children, with a rerecorded version of the theme resembling the original opening. This lasted until 2002, when yet another opening sequence was produced featuring Big Bird and various children following computer-animated bouncing blocks, highlighting clips from the show. Near the end, Super Grover appears flying and crashing to the bottom of the "Sesame Street" lamppost. He gets back up, holding a sign of the episode number. This opening was shortened on reruns, except for Season 37, the last season to use this opening.

For Seasons 38 and 39 (2007-2008), another new opening was used, featuring a slightly-faster version of the theme with a minor hip-hop context to fit with the city setting. The sequence featured more Muppets, including Abby Cadabby, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Super Grover, Zoe, Rosita, and a bird among a computer-animated New York City using "folding" effects (this basis would also be used for the between-segment-bumpers and closing credits), and also had the episode number appearing on a sign next to the "Sesame Street" sign on the distinctive lightpole. The graphics for this sequence were designed by Magnetic Dreams.

A new intro was created for Season 40 in 2009, featuring the Muppet characters in a chalk-drawn environment. Muppets who appear in this version of the opening include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Ernie, Bert, Grover (and his super-hero alter ego), Cookie Monster, Zoe, Count von Count, Rosita, Telly Monster, Baby Bear, Murray Monster, Ovejita, Chickens, and Birds. After Super Grover knocks over the lamppost, it falls and the episode number is written next to it. The theme music is a remixed version of the 2007 theme, this time using mostly live instruments (i.e. acoustic drums, a horn section). This version was remixed again for Season 42.

For Season 46, when the series began airing on HBO, another new opening sequence was introduced. For the first time in the series' history, the sequence takes place on the actual street set. It features a new folk arrangement and only consists of the first verse.

Animation
During the first 6 seasons of Sesame Street, each episode began with an animated sequence that ended with the show's episode number. The following is a listing of known animated sequences.


 * Season 1 - Clay animation of a unicorn and a man standing in front of an arch that says "Sesame Street", and then walking under it. The animation was done by Jim Henson.
 * Episode 0131 - A little bird in a big bird's mouth.
 * Episodes 0162 and 0276 - Flowers are planted that form into the words "Sesame Street." Another flower produces the episode number.
 * Episode 0179 - A man hits a gong, and it falls down.
 * Episodes 0406, 0536, and 0666 - A woodpecker pecks "Sesame Street" on a tree.
 * Episodes 0560 and 0600 - A spy takes everything out of a trash can and turns it into a rocket, then it zooms off with the words "Sesame Street" in smoke.
 * Episodes 0573 and 0592 - 2 people standing under a sign that says "Sesame Street".
 * Episode 0597 - A mad scientist conducts a balloon-blowing experiment, then the balloon pops with the words that say "Sesame Street" coming out.
 * Episode 0598 - A man blows a balloon that says "Sesame Street", then it deflates with the man hanging onto it, after the words jump out of the balloon. The man then falls flat on his face.

International co-productions that premiered during the 70s (with the exception of Sesamstraat in the Netherlands), including Plaza Sésamo, Sesamstrasse, and Vila Sésamo used these animated sequences during their early years. However Sesamstrasse continued to use these segments long into the 1990s, as well as creating their own opening animation sequences. The particular segments re-used from the original American version also had different soundtracks and redrawn colors. Those segments were phased out after 1995, when Sesamstrasse stopped airing repeats of the 80s episodes, and the number sequences were eventually discontinued after 2000.

Closings
An instrumental version of the theme, featuring harmonica by Thielemans, regularly served as the outro for the first twenty three seasons of the show, and was only sporadically used afterwards. Like the opening, the closing has changed many times throughout the show's run. During the first season and for part of the third, the credits (which until season 34 were generally included only on Friday episodes) rolled as the action from episodes continued on. The season 2 closing featured still shots of childrens' paintings.

Sometime during Season 3, the closing was changed to an illustrated sequence scrolling the length of a tall apartment building down into 123 Sesame Street. Various Muppet characters were depicted in this closing: Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, Little Bird, Herbert Birdsfoot, Lefty the Salesman, Roosevelt Franklin, Roosevelt Franklin's Mother, Herry Monster, Sherlock Hemlock, Professor Hastings, and numerous Anything Muppets. Grover appeared in various areas throughout this closing.

For the 1974-75 season, the closing was changed to a live-action drive through the countryside with the driver's hands being shown. This footage was combined with films of railroad tracks and a canyon in the 1978-79 season and this time, the driver's hands are not shown. New live action footage of The Kids playing with Barkley was introduced by the 1980-81 season and remained in use for twelve years up to 1992.

Alternate closings with filmed sequences of New York City and upstate New York recorded during the pre-dawn hours were also occasionally used during this period, usually coinciding with episodes taking place at night. A lullaby version of the theme featuring a celesta often accompanied these closings. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, a different arrangement was occasionally used to close out episodes taking place at night (This version originally included a children's chorus repeating "How To Get To Sesame Street?" which was later removed).

A new, primarily-animated closing sequence was produced in 1992 to coincide with the new opening introduced in the same year, complete with a new upbeat version of the theme. Like the opening, this closing featured animated effects and appearances by various characters, including Elmo, a Muppet pigeon, Big Bird, and various kids dancing. Unlike the 1992 opening sequence, this closing remained in use for fifteen years until 2007, making it the longest-running closing credit sequence used on the show, although it was progressively shortened in 2001 (when references to "The Children's Television Workshop" were edited out), 2002, and 2003. Originally, the closing credits only appeared in every fifth episode. Starting in 1993, the closing credits would also appear on the season premiere, and continued to until 2003 when the credits would appear at the end of each episode. This version of the theme was also used on NBC's broadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade whenever the Sesame Street float was introduced from 1995 to 2013.

During seasons 24 and 25, a more "old-fashioned" alternate credit crawl appeared exclusively on repeats from preceding seasons. This closing, using footage from Episode 2525, featured Big Bird walking through Central Park and downtown with a group of children accompanied with the classic harmonica instrumental.

To coincide with the new opening sequence of 2007 and the "folding-city" bumpers used in-between segments, a new closing sequence was introduced in Season 38 with the camera panning around the CGI city, with appearances by Super Grover, Elmo, Big Bird and Abby Cadabby, accompanied by an urban-jazz instrumental version of the theme. It also ends with a new Sesame Workshop logo instead of the animated one used since 2000 (Season 38 utilized an in-credit variant featuring Abby Cadabby, and Season 39 debuted a newly-animated logo with an appearance by Elmo and other Sesame Workshop characters).

In 2009, a new credit sequence was created to go along with the new theme, and features Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Abby, Zoe and Elmo dancing on and around the credits in a chalked background of each character. The closing music, like the opening, is remixed from the 2007 edition and was also re-recorded for season 42.

Thielemans' harmonic version of the closing theme was used for the album Sing-Along Travel Songs, accompanied with Elmo and Zoe providing the vocals. When it was released on The Best of Elmo album, only Elmo's vocal is heard.

For Season 46, when the series began airing on HBO, the closing theme was replaced with an original closing song "Smarter, Stronger, Kinder," as the credits play during the song. HBO edits of pre-2003 episodes also used the Friday credit sequences at the end of every episode, including those that originally aired from Monday to Thursday.

Other appearances
As the show's theme song, it has been featured in many productions related to Sesame Street, in both vocal and instrumental form. An instrumental version with a bit of Christmas-sounding music was included at the beginning of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Instrumental versions of the song also appeared in the first and last street scenes in Follow That Bird. The song, usually in instrumental form, has also been included in many video releases.

The theme is sampled in the score of The Great Muppet Caper during Oscar the Grouch's "very brief cameo." It also appears during the ending portions of "The Lovable Monsters of Sesame Street", and in Elmo Saves Christmas, it's incorporated into "Keep Christmas with You (All Through the Year)" and worked into the melancholy score for the future where Christmas takes place every day and all the shops on Sesame Street have closed.

In most countries, several of the international Sesame Street co-productions use their own theme song, while others use the original American version in their own style with slightly different lyrics; one example being the Dutch co-production Sesamstraat (see Sesamstraat Thema).

Also, the Danish co-production Sesamgade uses the same theme (with the same audio from 2002), but with a altered text by Mariella Harpelunde Jensen, so that it fits into a show that focuses on Elmo.

The theme song was performed at the Jim Henson's Musical World concert on April 14, 2012.

Audio releases
All versions released are performed by The Kids, unless otherwise noted.


 * The Sesame Street Book & Record (1970)
 * Sesame Street Theme/Hello (single, 1970)
 * Rubber Duckie/Sesame Street Theme (single, 1970)
 * The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album (1971)
 * Sesame Street LIVE! — performed by The Gang (1973)
 * Sing the Hit Songs of Sesame Street (1974)
 * 60 Favorite Songs from Sesame Street (1975)
 * 25 Greatest Hits (1975)
 * Sesame Street Theme/Goin' for a Ride (single, 1976)
 * 10th Anniversary Album (1978)
 * Sesame Street Treasury (1980)
 * The Best of Sesame Street (1987)
 * Bob's Favorite Street Songs (1991) — sung by Bob
 * Sesame Street Celebrates! (1994) — calypso version
 * Platinum All-Time Favorites (1995)
 * Sing-Along Travel Songs (1996) — sung by Elmo and Zoe
 * Sesame Street Best (1997)
 * Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music (2003) — both original album version and a remixed version
 * Elmo's Rainbow and Other Springtime Stories exclusive bonus CD (2010)
 * Sunny Days Collection (2012)
 * E is for Elmo! (2018) - sung by Elmo and Zoe
 * All-Time Favorites 1 (2018)

Publications

 * The inside covers for Sesame Street Unpaved include sheet music and lyrics for this song.
 * Sheet music was also published in The Sesame Street Song Book and The Sesame Street Songbook.