The Ballad of Casey McPhee

Written by	Joe Raposo
Date	1973
Publisher	Jonico Music Inc.
First	Episode 0516

Sesame Street Cookie Monster And The Ballad Of Casey Macphee

Cookie Monster in "The Ballad of Casey McPhee."

"The Ballad of Casey McPhee" is a Sesame Street song about a train engineer named Casey McPhee. Performed by a Lavender Anything Muppet balladeer (played by Jerry Nelson), the song is loosely inspired by "The Ballad of Casey Jones."

Casey, who is portrayed by Cookie Monster, is entrusted with the job of delivering cookies, milk, ice cream and a tanker of "chocolate goo" to children's parties on the other side of the mountain. When an avalanche blocks the train tracks, Casey fights the urge to munch on his delectable cargo and instead eats the snow in his path, delivers the desserts and is declared a hero.

Cookie Monster reprised the role of Casey McPhee in The Sesame Street ABC Book of Words and The Perils of Penelope, and has driven trains on other occasions.

Notes

• In addition to composing, Joe Raposo provides backing vocals as well.

• Producer Robert Cunniff was directly involved in the production of The Ballad, according to online comments by a relative:

“Whether Bob wrote it or not, he had a great deal to do with it and it was one of his favorite pieces... And the avalanche! I had forgotten that. Very complicated to do it in the live studio the way they shot this stuff in those days. (Real smoke and mirrors and Vaseline before digital!)”

• The last few seconds of the song (minus vocals) were used as a musical tag for a few street scenes, specifically in episodes 2030, 2049, and 2461.

Releases

Audio

• C is for Cookie (LP) (1974)
• The Best of Cookie Monster (1983)
• Cookie Monster and Grover: True Blue (1990)
• Cheep Thrills (1994)
• C is for Cookie (1995)
• Platinum Too (1997)
• C is for Cookie! (2018)

Video

• Kids' Favorite Country Songs (2007, new sound effects added and avalanche scene shortened)

See also

• Cookie Monster songs