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| Written by | Jeff Moss |
| Date | 1970 |
| Publisher | Festival Attractions, Inc. |
| First | Episode 0095 |
"I Love Trash" is Oscar the Grouch's signature song. It was first performed on Sesame Street in season 1, and has been retaped several times as the Oscar puppet evolved.
Oscar lists off several special items in his trash collection that he admires; including a tattered and worn sneaker that was given to him by his mother, a 13-month-old newspaper with smelly, cold fish wrapped inside, a defective clock, an old telephone, a broken umbrella, and a rusty trombone.
Earlier taped performances of the song have Oscar pulling the items he names out of his trash can. In a later remake, taped for Episode 2785, Oscar steps out of his trash can area and exhibits his trash spread across Sesame Street.
Performances[]
| Image | Year | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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1970 | Sesame Street Episode 0095
Sung by Oscar the Grouch.
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1970 | The Sesame Street Book & Record
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, audio releases often retain the spoken introduction with Bob.
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1970 | Sesame Street Episode 0153
Retaped with the green Oscar, syncing to audio from The Sesame Street Book & Record, as do several subsequent remakes on the show. | ||
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1970 | Children's Christmas at the White House
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, syncing to the album version. | ||
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1971 | Sesame Street Episode 0291
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, syncing to the first season version. | ||
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1972 | Sesame Street Episode 0379
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, syncing to the album version. | ||
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1972 | Sesame Street Episode 0430
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, syncing to the album version. | ||
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1973 | Sesame Street Episode 0510
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, syncing to the album version.
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1975 | Sesame Street Episode 0710
Oscar leads his Grouch School students in the song for their music lesson. | ||
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1980 | Here Come the Puppets!
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, accompanied by Bruno the Trashman on rollerskates and other full-bodied Muppets. | ||
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1980 | Eileen & Friends
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. | ||
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1982 | Sesame Street Sing-Along!
Performed as part of a medley of Sesame Street songs, sung by Oscar and the cast. | ||
 |
1988 | Sesame Street Episode 2432
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. | ||
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1989 | The Jim Henson Hour Episode 109
Sung by K.d. lang | ||
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1991 | Sesame Street Episode 2785
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. Originally part of a street story where the cast discusses love, the scene, minus the prologue, later aired as a stand-alone insert.
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1993 | Sesame Street Live: When I Grow Up
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grundgetta, and Telly Monster. | ||
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1997 | Sesame Street Episode 3638
Oscar sings the song as "Grouches Love Trash" with Irvine
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1997 | Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Coloring Book
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. | ||
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1998 | Elmopalooza
Oscar sings the song as part of the "Songs" medley. | ||
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1998 | Elmopalooza (soundtrack)
Sung by Steven Tyler.
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1999 | Sesame Street Episode 3815
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, backed by Gabi and Three Grouches Named Moe. | ||
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2000 | Evening at Pops
Sung by Oscar as a part of the closing medley | ||
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2001 | Sesame Street Live: Everyone Makes Music
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. | ||
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2002 | Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic
A chorus line of stinky socks sing a brief portion of the song during Oscar's imagination sequence, where Sesame Street is turned into a vast garbage dump. | ||
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2008 | Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Green Thumb
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. | ||
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2009 | A Capitol Fourth
Sung by Oscar the Grouch. | ||
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2009 | The Bonnie Hunt Show
Oscar sings the first chorus, and adds that it'll cost 50 cents to hear more of the song. | ||
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2009 | Plaza Sésamo Episodio 1033
A Multimonstruo, who loves trash, performed a rock version of this song. | ||
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2012 | Jim Henson's Musical World
Performed as part of the "Sesame Street medley," sung by Elmo, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Gordon, Bob, Susan, Leela, Gina, Alan, and Maria. | ||
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2013 | The Colbert Report
Stephen Colbert, Big Bird, and Oscar sing a portion of the song. | ||
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2017 | Sesame Street Live: Let's Party!
Oscar performs a remixed version of the song. | ||
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2018 | Sesame Street YouTube channel
An animated lyric video of the song features Oscar dropping into his trash can to show off his collection, and includes cameos from Oscar's mother, Grundgetta, Bruno the Trashman, Irvine, an orange Grouch, Oscar's sister, Bunny, Grandpa Grouch, as well as Cookie Monster, Grover, and Elmo.
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2018 | Caroll Spinney's retirement party
Sung by Oscar the Grouch, Sonia Manzano and Grundgetta. | ||
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2019 | Sesame Street Episode 4929
The newest Grouch member, Jack (Antonoff) the Grouch, sings an introductory verse highlighting the small spot on his tie. Oscar interrupts, insisting that Grouches don't like tiny smudges, but really messy stuff. Oscar then sings the traditional song, joined by Grundgetta, Jack and the other Grouches.
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2019 | Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration
Sung by Oscar and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as part of a medley. | ||
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2020 | The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo episode 111
Sung by Oscar and Josh Groban
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2024 | Say Hello
Oscar, Elmo, and Abby sing the song with a couple human cast members. | ||
Variations | ||||
| Image | Year | Description | ||
 |
1970 | The Flip Wilson Show
Oscar and Flip Wilson sing a unique version of the song, with additional lyrics. | ||
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1984 | Sesame Street Episode 1911
Oscar digs through a giant trashcan and sings about the large items in it, like an oversized "ratty old comb." A clip of this version appears in the special Stars and Street Forever.
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1997 | Sesame Street Episode 3612
Oscar sings an abridged version of the song in scene 1. In scene 6, Oscar sings a new version with lyrics about his pets (Slimey, Fluffy, Iago, Spot, and Lassie), as a plea for them to come home. | ||
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1998 | The Three Grouchketeers
Grover, Telly and Zoe each sing a verse of the song, with changed lyrics to suit their interests. | ||
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2000 | Sesame Street Episode 3891
When Oscar finds Felix the Grouch polishing some of his trash, Oscar sings "I Love Trash," while Felix sings about how he loves to clean. | ||
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2018 | Puppets for Puppetry
Bobby Moynihan and Oscar sing an altered version of the song in honor of Caroll Spinney. | ||
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2022 | Sesame Street: The Musical
Oscar sings a new version of the song, describing his role as a theater critic. He's joined by a Muppet Tony Award, broken umbrella, and rusty trombone. | ||
Publications[]
- The Songs of Sesame Street in Poems and Pictures (1983)
- The Sesame Street Song Book (1971, 1992 and 2007 editions)
- Sesame Street Unpaved (1998, lyrics and pictures from 1991 version)
- The Reader's Digest Children's Songbook (1986)
- Sesame Street Songbook Vol. 1
- Songs of Sesame Street (1977)
- The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)