C is for Cookie (song)

"C is for Cookie" is Cookie Monster's signature song.

Versions of the song
The original version of the song featured Cookie Monster standing behind a giant letter C, with a black background that eventually lightened to reveal a monster chorus including Grover, Fenwick, Herry Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Billy.

In the early 1990's, Candice Bergen paid a visit to the Fix-It Shop to have her radio repaired. To test it out, she lip-synced to the song, complete with some visual aids. A brief instrumental from the song also appears as the sketch's ending music button.

In 1993, a new operatic version was taped, featuring opera singer Marilyn Horne as Cleopatra in an Egyptian setting, with a pyramid made entirely out of cookies in the background. At the end of the song once Cleopatra is carried away out of sight, Cookie Monster appears in Egyptian clothing and pulls a cookie off the pyramid, causing it to collapse with a huge crash.

In season 30, another new version was filmed, once again sung by Cookie Monster (by re-using the original soundtrack), but this time standing in front of the giant C on a light blue background with fancy light effects. The chorus of monsters included Grover, Herry Monster, Elmo, Zoe, Telly, and Rosita.

A "mash-up" of the different performances is included on the DVD, C is for Cookie Monster. Similarly, a clip montage in Sesame Street All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! features clips from the original, Marilyn Horne's version, and the segment with Candice Bergen mixed together.

Other appearances
Clips from the original version of this song appeared in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, the Great Performances documentary The World of Jim Henson and Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Streets Forever.

A brief clip from the opera version also appeared in Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Streets Forever and the full clip appeared in Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration and The Street We Live On.

A 1992 episode features Lillian singing the song, only changed to name foods beginning with the letter P.

Baby Bear has periodically been heard singing a version of the song, "P is for Porridge," to himself in a number of episodes.

Cookie Monster sang a verse of the song in Elmopalooza.

In a 1998 episode, Big Bird got the song stuck in his head after watching the newer clip of the song, and constantly tried to find ways to get the song out of his head so he could do other things (such as tell the viewers what the number of the day is).

In a 2004 episode, Telly received letters from his Letter of the Month club; whenever he pressed a button on his letter C, it played an audio recording of Cookie Monster saying "C is for cookie". In a Play With Me Sesame insert, Cookie sings the song with Grover as part of his "Move and Groove" segment.

Cues from the song have been used as background music in a 2008 episode and a 2009 episode and as a music button at the end of Adam Sandler and Cookie Monster's explanation of the word "crunchy".

In a Plaza Sésamo insert, Pancho Contreras sings a version of the song, "C Es De Cebolla", singing in praise of his favorite food, onions.

In a season 42 episode of Sesame Street, Gordon pulls a cactus from Big Bird's nest. He and Big Bird sing a short little song - "C is for Cactus." In a season 43 episode, while looking for a song for the letter G, Super Grover (knowing only that he needs a letter song) suggests "C is for Cookie," singing a small portion of it. A trio of horses hum the song in a season 44 sketch.

Cookie Monster also sang the song at the Jim Henson's Musical World concert on April 14, 2012.

The origin of the song is touched upon in the 2016 special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas. In a 19th Century version of Sesame Street (as shown in a bedtime story for Elmo), Santa Claus tells Cookie Monster's great-grandmonster that he's been writing a song, "C is for...," and needs a hook. He and Cookie think for a bit and Cookie remarks, "Well, c is for cookie and that good enough for me." Santa passes on that idea, however. The tune is briefly quoted in the score as Santa Claus later gobbles down some cookies in Cookie Monster-fashion.

Audio

 * Original version
 * The Muppet Alphabet Album (1971)
 * Muppet ABCD (single, 1971)
 * C is for Cookie (LP) (1974)
 * Sing the Hit Songs of Sesame Street (1974)
 * 60 Favorite Songs from Sesame Street (1975)
 * 25 Greatest Hits (1975)
 * C is for Cookie/If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake (single, 1976)
 * Muppet ABCD (single, 1976)
 * Muppet Masquerade (1978)
 * Sesame Street Treasury (1980)
 * The Best of Cookie Monster (1983)
 * Cookie Monster and Grover: True Blue (1990)
 * Sing: Songs of Joe Raposo (1992)
 * Platinum All-Time Favorites (1995)
 * C is for Cookie (CD) (1995)
 * Sesame Street Best (1997)
 * Songs from the Street (2003)
 * Lyrical Letters (2014)
 * Live version
 * Sesame Street LIVE! (1973)
 * C is for Cookie/My Little Game (single, 1973)
 * C is for Cookie (LP) (1974)
 * Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree (1981)
 * Cast version
 * Bert & Ernie Sing-Along (1975)
 * The Best of Sesame Street (1987)
 * Disco version
 * Sesame Street Fever (1978)
 * C is for Cookie (disco version)/Has Anybody Seen My Dog? (disco version) (single, 1979)
 * Opera version
 * Sesame Street Celebrates! (1994)

Video

 * Original version
 * Learning About Letters (1986)
 * Monster Hits (1990)
 * Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years (1993)
 * Cookie Monster's Best Bites (1995)
 * Old School: Volume 1 (2006)
 * Best of Friends (2012)
 * Opera version
 * Elmo in Grouchland: Sing and Play (1999—beginning edited, added on-screen lyrics)
 * The Street We Live On (2004)
 * 40 Years of Sunny Days (2009)
 * Remake
 * Sesame English: Rock On (2000, edited)
 * Alphabet Songs (2014)

Online

 * Sesamestreet.org
 * original:
 * remake:
 * SesameStreet's YouTube Channel
 * original:
 * opera:
 * remake:

Publications

 * Sesame Street LIVE! (1973)
 * Favorite Songs from Jim Henson's Muppets (1986)
 * The Sesame Street Songbook (1992 and 2007 editions only)

Other

 * Letters (computer game) (released as audio)
 * ''Elmo Loves ABCs app

Mentions in Pop Culture

 * In one segment of &quot;Weird Al&quot; Yankovic's 2000 MTV Al-TV 2K special, Al read an extremely long title for a fictional upcoming album by Fiona Apple, the title was full of pop culture references—part of the title included "...C is for Cookie and That's Good Enough For Me..."


 * During a spring 2001 edition of WWF's Monday Night Raw, in a promotional segment for what would have been the relaunch of WCW, Shane McMahon was saying what his new "W-C-W" abbreviation would stand for, and said "C... is for cookie. And that's good enough for me!"


 * On one episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert began the show by saying, "Sorry, Cookie Monster, C is for Colbert. This is the Eponymous Report!"