Sing a Song of Sesame Street! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sing

The song "Sing" was performed several times on "Sesame Street" and its anniversary specials, famously in 1975 with Lily Tomlin singing and signing the song to deaf children. Lena Horne also sang the song in 1976 on the eleventh episode of "The Muppet Show".

The Carpenters took the song to number three on the United States Billboard Hot 100 in 1973. Karen Carpenter and Richard Carpenter were appearing on the ABC television special "Robert Young with the Young" when they heard the song for the first time and immediately fell in love with it.

Answer: Ernie

Interestingly, "Rubber Duckie" climbed to number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in 1970 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children. Quite oddly, it lost (in a manner of speaking) to itself, for it was on the recording "Sesame Street Song and Book", which won the Grammy.

Ernie (formerly performed by Jim Henson himself) is the roommate of Bert, and they both live in a basement apartment at 123 Sesame Street. They hold the distinction of being the very first Muppets to air on "Sesame Street" and were on the pilot episode. Despite rumors to the contrary, Sesame Workshop insists Bert and Ernie (or Ernie and Bert) are not gay and they were not named after the Bert and Ernie from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life".

Answer: Oscar the Grouch

"I Love Trash", written by Jeff Moss, was first performed during 1970 of the first season. It has later been performed by k. d. lang and Steven Tyler.

On the first few episodes, Oscar the Grouch is orange instead of green. He is peformed by Caroll Spinney, who also peforms Big Bird. Oscar lives in his garbage can, which defies scientific explanation. The inside of the trash can is infinitely larger than the outside, for it contains multiple rooms, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, an ice rink, a farm, a piano, a pet elephant, and every piece of junk imaginable.

Answer: Cookie Monster

While Cookie Monster sings his trademark song against a black background, this eventually lightens to reveal a chorus of singing monsters behind him, to include Grover, Herry, Fenwick, Oscar the Grouch, and Billy.

The song was composed by Joe Raposo and was later, in a 1990's episode, lip-synched by Candice Bergen, who was testing out her radio after she took it to the Fix-It-Shop. Also, in the 1990's Marilyn Horne performed a new operatic version of the song. She played Cleopatra with an Egyptian background that included a pyramid made out of cookies. At the end of the song, Cookie Monster takes a a cookie from the pyramid, causing it to crumble.

Answer: Captain Vegetable

Jim Henson was the original performer of Captain Vegetable, and later the role was taken on by Richard Hunt. However, John Leguizamo later played a human version of the hero with the same name.

The song was written by Jeff Moss. During its original performance, the rabbit superhero has one huge black eyebrow for eyes, two very tall pink and purple ears, a mop of shaggy fire-red hair, and long, thick, curly white whiskers. As he approaches Andy and Eddie, each one respectively asks, "Who are you? Some kind of bad dream?" and "What are you? Are you some kind of weirdo?" Captain Vegetable, completely oblivious to how odd he appears, responds each time with "Do I look like a bad dream?" and "Do I look like a weirdo?" While Andy and Eddie roll their eyes, Captain Vegetable explains, "It is I, Captain Vegetable / With my carrot and my celery. / Eating crunchy vegetables is good for me, / And they're good for you, so eat them too . . . "

Answer: Doin' the Pigeon

The 1973 skit actually begins with Bert asking Ernie to start up a film, and the audience watches black and white home footage of pigeons strutting around various areas. However, we never see or hear Ernie. Eventually, we see Bert again who wears a brown hat with a feather in it, tells his feet to "do their stuff", and kicks one foot backwards while a pigeon's cooing is heard. In a later version of the song, Bert is on stage at a pigeon convention in Peoria. There is no pigeon footage, so there is no reference to Ernie to start any film projector. However, the song and dance remain the same.

Bert has traditionally been performed by Frank Oz, the same individual who does the voice for Yoda in the "Star Wars" films.

Answer: Count von Count

The Count was inspired by Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula and was voiced for most of his existence by Jerry Nelson, who performed The Amazing Mumford, Herry the Monster, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Sherlock Hemlock as well. Count von Count is so obsessed with counting anything and everything that he annoys everyone else around him. For instance, once Kermit the Frog could not leave an elevator because Count von Count refused to quit counting floors as the elevator passed them. Often, The Count is seen in his own castle, which is filled with cobwebs and flying bats.

He also has a cat named Fatatita, which a viewer or listener can hear "meowing" pathetically at different points in the song "Nothing to Count", which was composed by Jeff Moss and appeared in a 1983 episode of "Sesame Street".

Answer: The People in Your Neighborhood

"The People in Your Neighborhood" was first performed in 1969 during the very first season of "Sesame Street". It became a popular frequent song, and while Bob Johnson sang it most of the time, usually with the Anytime Muppets (an assortment of characters who had no specific names or roles), it was also sung by other human adult characters like David, Olivia, and Maria. Sometimes it was performed by specific Muppets, such as Ernie or Placido Flamingo. Occasionally, Bob sang the song with guest celebrities, such as Martina Navratilova, Barbara Walters, and Ralph Nader.

The version of the song heard most frequently on different compilation albums is the one about the postman and the fireman. The chorus in all of the versions usually consisted of the following words: "Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood? / In your neighborhood? / In your neigh-bor-hood? / Say, who are the people in your neighborhood? / The people that you meet each day".

Bob Johnson is the human adult who lives on Sesame Street in an apartment above Mr. Hooper's store. He is a music teacher, and is often referred to as "Bright Eyes" by Oscar the Grouch.

Answer: The Ladybugs' Picnic

"The Ladybugs' Picnic" was written and animated by Bud Luckey with the lyrics written by Don Hadley. The song was sung during its premiere by Jerry Nelson. William "Bud" Luckey went on to bigger and better things with Disney and Pixar. He has provided the voices for several Disney animated characters, including Eeyore, and has been responsible for the design of several characters from the films "Toy Story", "A Bug's Life", "Finding Nemo", "Monsters, Inc.", and several others.

The song began with a counting from one through twelve, which led to the words "ladybugs came to the ladybug picnic" followed by three sounds from a kazoo.

Answer: Bein' Green

"Bein' Green", which is sometimes referred to as "It's Not Easy Being Green", was sung originally by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog and was composed by Joe Raposo although the family of writer/director/producer Jon Stone insist that Stone had a tremendous role in the song's composition as well. Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Van Morrison have all famously covered this song, which has grown to be a powerful inspiration to various people of color and many others who feel discriminated against or dismissed by others. Kermit sang the song three times on "Sesame Street", once quite famously with Lena Horne.

Originally, the song was going to be called simply "Green".