Written by | Christopher Cerf |
Date | 1973 |
Publisher | Splotched Animal Music (BMI) |
First | Episode 0553 |
"Count It Higher" is a Sesame Street song about the thrill of counting, performed by Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats in their debut appearance.
A number-themed parody of the rock 'n' roll standard "Twist and Shout," Little Chrissy eggs on the Alphabeats to count higher than before, first up to three, then up to five. Finally trying once again, they count all the way up to ten.
Count von Count performed the song in the Sesame Street Live show, Let's Be Friends.
Notes[]
- In the Alphabeats' first appearance, there are three backup singers instead of two. An extra Hot Pink Alphabeat (puppeteered by Frank Oz[1]) upstages Little Chrissy as he plays the piano during the song's coda.
- The two recurring Alphabeats look slightly different here than in later appearances: The Lavender Alphabeat sports messy blond hair instead of a smooth brown pompadour, the Green Alphabeat has fuzzy black hair as opposed to his usual blonde hair, and they both have wide, circular eyes with no eyelids. In this song, the Alphabeats are voiced by Jeff Moss, Richard Hunt, and Jerry Nelson, with Christopher Cerf pulling double duty on later verses by voicing an Alphabeat in addition to Little Chrissy.
- Jon Stone directed this segment.[2]
- On Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street, the video has MTV-style captions that refer to Letters of Love and "Broken Records". In addition, it was listed as number 1 on The Count's Countdown Show, because it was The Count's favorite song. The lyrics to this song were released on a songbook in the original VHS release.
Releases[]
- Audio (Little Chrissy's version)
- Letters ...and Numbers, Too! (1974)
- The Count Counts (1975)
- 60 Favorite Songs from Sesame Street (1975)
- 25 Greatest Hits (1975)
- Count It Higher/Exit (single, 1976)
- The Count Presents Numbers (1981)
- Born to Add (1983, remix)
- Sesame Street Celebrates! (1994)
- Sesame Street Best (1997)
- Audio (Count von Count's version)
- Video
- Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street (1988)
- Shalom Sesame: Passover (1990, partially dubbed in Hebrew)
- Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years (1993)
- Sesame English: Make Me a Sandwich (2000, edited)
- Best of Sesame Street Spoofs! (2011)
- Online
- Other
- Numbers (computer game) (released as audio)
Sources[]
- ↑ ToughPigs Presents CABIN FEVER with Sesame Street Writer Chris Cerf (at 0:10:40), May 6, 2020.
- ↑ Count it Higher credits