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Music by Joe Raposo
Lyrics by Raposo, Jon Stone, Bruce Hart
Date 1969

"One of These Things" was a song regularly used on Sesame Street for sketches where viewers would be shown a group of four items, one of which was different from the other three, and they would have to identify the item which didn't belong. A similar sorting song that asks the inverse question is "Three of These Things."

The game has been used in segments starring William Wegman's dogs, and in animated form, melody only, with footprints. It was also the basis for a game in one "Journey to Ernie" segment. A line of the song is included in the theme for the "This Is the Game Today" segments from Season 37, and some of the games from "This Is the Game Today" include this song.

Versions[]

Picture Singer First Appearance Subjects
Susan Test Show 2 First round: 3 and three W's
Second round (sung as "One of These Shapes"): Three triangles and a circle
According to research documents, the children complained when the camera zoomed in on one item at a time.
Susan Episode 0001 W and three 2s
Susan and the kids Episode 0011 Clothing items and a fish
Susan and Oscar the Grouch Episode 0013 Ice cream cone sizes
Bob Episode 0030 Three small and one large O, three big and one small hand, three long and one short pencil, and three fat wedges and one thin wedge of cake.
Susan Episode 0043 Shoe sizes and ball sizes
Susan Episode 0078 Letters and a tree
Bob Episode 0094 Abstract shapes
Susan Episode 0123 Capital and lower-case Rs
Susan, Bob, and Grover Episode 0131 Circles
Susan Episode 0133 Letter combinations
Susan Episode 0138 Abstract shapes
Susan Episode 0139 Groups of squares
Susan Episode 0152 Circle patterns
Cookie Monster Episode 0174 Number of cookies on each plate
Bob and the kids Episode 0207 Ds
Susan Episode 0216 Three small Qs and a small P
Susan Episode 0260 First round: Three small capital As and one big capital A. Second round: Three identical large elephants and a small one.
Maria Episode 0280 Oscar's trash
Mr. Snuffleupagus Episode 0291 China plates and a cup
Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus Episode 0298 Three cut-out drawings of Snuffleupaguses and a cup
Bob Episode 0309 Images of blob-like shapes
Jay and the kids Episode 0319 Sidewalk chalk shapes
Luis Episode 0337 Raggedy Ann dolls
Maria Episode 0352 Cookies
David Episode 0354 Squares
Gordon and the kids Episode 0378 Carrots
Brynne Episode 0378 Chairs
Susan Episode 0382 Books
Bob and the kids Episode 0393 Gloves
Gordon Episode 0394 Three uppercase Es and one lowercase E
David Episode 0399 Squares
Maria Episode 0400 Pavas (Puerto Rican hats)
Rafael Episode 0400 Roosters (in Spanish)
Bob Episode 0405 Trucks
David Episode 0407 Blobs
Luis Episode 0410 Insects
David Episode 0415 Trash cans
Gordon Episode 0437 Beds
Susan, Shola, and John-John Episode 0441 Numbers of circles on dice
David Episode 0457 Hats
David Episode 0448 Three Js and one H
Maria Episode 0448 Leaves
David Episode 0465 Capital M and three lowercase Ms
Maria Episode 0475 Three rubber balls and one alphabet block
Susan Episode 0514 Happy and sad faces
Gordon Episode 0530 Three baby elephants and one mother elephant
Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus Episode 0533 Three circles and one square
David Episode 0536 Three starfish and one crab
Bert Episode 0559 Pigeons
Big Bird Episode 0573 Big and small bowls of birdseed
Bob and Maria Episode 0592 Three triangles and 23
David Episode 0613 Pencils
Bob Episode 0657 Three regular lightbulbs and one flame-shaped lightbulb
Biff and Maria Episode 0660 Dump trucks
David Episode 0669 Beans
Bob and Count von Count Episode 0711 Three small birds and Big Bird
Maria, Luis, and Count von Count Episode 0751 Jars
Big Bird Episode 0763 Quantities of telephones
Maria, David, Luis, and the kids Episode 0797 Campaign buttons
Bob and the kids Episode 0806 Doorbells
Bert Episode 0827 Pigeons
Bob Episode 0828 Bs and a D
Count von Count Episode 0831 Icicles
The Amazing Mumford and Susan Episode 0845 Fire helmets and Mumford's magic hat
Herry Monster Episode 0846 Different sized weights
Bob and the kids Episode 0931 Three rubber duckies and a toy boat
Luis Episode 0939 4s and an H
The adults, Gladys the Cow, and the kids Episode 1056 People and a cow
Bob and the kids Episode 1600 Three kids and a Honker
Bob, David, Gordon, and Slimey Episode 1904 Four dancers
Bob, Susan, and the kids Episode 2132 Three lemons and one fish
Forgetful Jones Episode 2180 Three Birdketeers and Forgetful (a cowboy)
Simon Soundman, Susan, and the kids Episode 2306 Three Honkers and a bird
Olivia Episode 2323 Three birds and a fish
Uncle Wally and horses Episode 2578 Uncle Wally and a singing group of horses
Gina, Telly, and Elmo Episode 2699 Boats
Luis and Baby Natasha Episode 2707 Three wingnuts and a bolt
Gordon, Gina, Oscar, and Ernest Episode 2720 Shapes
Bob and The Great Blechini Episode 2730 Dogs and a rabbit
Sydney Episode 2755 Three cans and one cup
Telly Monster Episode 2889 Three big plates and one small bowl
A penguin Episode 3145 Four penguins - one of which has a clown nose on its beak, and one of which is Wolfgang in disguise.
Mr. Handford Episode 3277 Three square sandwiches and a bowl of porridge.
Joey and Davey Monkey Episode 3293 Three pineapples and a lamb
Gordon Episode 3366 Ruthie, Davey, Joey, and Gordon
Davey, Joey, and Telly Episode 3373 three faux-bananas and a real one
Carlo, the kids, Elmo, and Telly Episode 3432 Three number 15s and one letter O
Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear Episode 3534 Three bears and a chicken
Big Bird and Gordon Episode 3540 The Squirrelles and a rabbit
Auntie Audubon Episode 3606 Three car toys and Dodo
Humphrey Episode 3662 A picture of himself and his three siblings
Elmo and Zoe Episode 3872 A number 1 and three socks
Susan Episode 4039 A hat, a sweater, a shoe, and a basketball
Louie Episode 4809 Vegetables and meat
Oscar the Grouch, Rosita, and Herry Monster A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration Instruments and Grouch instruments
Susan and Bob Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration Three number 50s and an L

Incidentally, L is the Roman numeral for 50.

Notes[]

Feet animations[]

A series of animated segments from season 4 featured an instrumental of the song over visuals of footprints or shoes in a graph.

Releases[]

Audio
Video
Publications
Online

Mentions[]

  • This song was included in a 2004 Subway commercial, where it was called "One of These Subs."
  • Dave Grohl, from the Foo Fighters, admits that he was influenced by "One of These Things" while writing the song "The Pretender." (YouTube)
  • The Mindless Self-Indulgence song "Unsociable" has the line: "One of these shapes is not like the other holes," which is very similar to this song.
  • In the tour Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, Peanut comments on Jose Jalapeno calling Jeff "Senor Heff" and then "Senor Cheff." Jeff Dunham says it's the same thing and Peanut replies "No it's not! Didn't you watch Sesame Street?" Then he sings a short clip of "One of These Things" singing "One of these things just doesn't belong here." Then he parodies the end of the show by saying that "this show was sponsored by the sound CH."
  • Taylor Swift's song "ME!" references the song in the lyrics. (YouTube)
  • On an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation titled "99 Problems, Pt. 1," while discussing the scarcity paradigm, Riley says, "Look, there's Jess T, Jess M, Jess B, and then there's Fiona," to which Drew replies, "Wow! One of these things is not like the others."
  • After prematurely declaring an election win, Donald Trump received the Sesame Street treatment with a parody of the song, in the November 4, 2020, cold open of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (YouTube)

External links[]