John Lennon

John Lemon

1974 letter asking John Lennon to perform for the benefit of Sesame Street.

John Lennon (1940-1980) was an English musician and activist known best for his position as rhythm guitar player and songwriter for the Beatles.

Despite never working directly with the Muppets, Lennon was known for being a self-professed fan of their appearances in what was then a brand-new show, Sesame Street.

On March 13, 1974, Lennon was sent a letter asking him to perform for a benefit show to help raise money for Sesame Street. Due to the severity of his personal issues during his self-described “Lost Weekend”, however, he declined the offer. The letter ended up being used to write a note on his door to let Ringo Starr know he would be stepping out to go shopping.

References

• In The Furchester Hotel episode "Ups and Downs," the hotel is visited by famous fruit music star John Lemon.

• In the Dinosaurs episode "I Never Ate for My Father," the crowd of herbivores at The Salad Bar parody Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance," by singing "All we are saying is give peas a chance".

• Telly Monster also exclaims "give peas a chance" when a group of vegetables start protesting over the mistreatment of peas in Sesame Street Episode 4232.

Muppet Mentions

• In his 1970 song "Hold On", during the interlude, Lennon mutters "cookie" in the same style as Cookie Monster. Lennon's affinity for the Muppet was also referenced by Starr in his 1970 single “Early 1970”.
• 12 hours before his death on December 8th, 1980, Lennon conducted an interview with Dave Sholin to promote his new album, “Double Fantasy”. Before the interview begins, he is introduced to the rest of the personnel at the radio station, including Bert Keane. Upon hearing this name, Lennon begins an exchange questioning if he is another type of “Bert”.

Lennon: You’re not John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert, are you? Not that Bert. It’s the only Bert I know. Oh I know the other Bert. “Good night, Bert.” “Oh Ernie, Ernie”. “Ok, Bert.”

Keane: I have two boys and they ‘Bert and Ernie’ me to death.

Lennon: Yeah, I bet, I bet. Well look, I binge a lot of Sesame Street, me and Sean, so I know all the characters, you know.

Keane: It comes on twice a day in L.A. It comes on at nine in the morning, and then at five in the afternoon, they do a repeat of the same thing.

Lennon: Oh, well, we get it on channel G at seven ’till eight. From nine ’till ten on PBS. And then evenings, some time or other.

• In his posthumous 1984 solo single "I'm Stepping Out", Lennon's spoken introduction makes a passing reference to watching Sesame Street: "This here is the story about a househusband ... he's been washing the dishes and screwing around and watching Sesame Street till he's going crazy."