We have a new obsession at our house. It is a brand new, kind of weird, autotuned, Sesame Street dance number called “Elmo’s Got the Moves.” It is presented for your viewing pleasure here:
We listen to this song approximately four bazillion times a day, and each time is met with joy and dancing. Crazy dancing. Run around the room as fast as you can while head-banging, flailing and squealing dancing. It has reached number one on the Tenor Dad family charts.
This has happened with other songs previously of course. “Shakeable You” by the Imagination Movers, “Ice Ice Baby,” the theme song from Ponyo, and pretty much everything by the Doodlebops have all enjoyed lengthy stays at the Repeat Button Hotel, so this is nothing new.
The weird thing for me is listening to Big Bird autotuned. Elmo I can deal with. Elmo is a total sell-out and I expect this kind of thing from him, plus his squeaky voice sounds half autotuned anyway. Abby Cadabby I have no emotional connection to whatsoever, so who cares what she does. But Big Bird!? Big Bird is a favorite of five-year-old Tenor Dad, and is a constant and gentle reminder of the past. Big Bird singing autotuned messes with my head.
I suppose we all have to look to the future or be lost to the past, and Big Bird is no exception. And sadly, by the time of this writing, I am almost used to it. But it still grates on an emotional and spiritual level. Elmo may have the moves, but Big Bird just should not.
The thing that really bothered me the most was them switching Elmo into Cookie Monster’s place in the song Cookie originally shared with Ernie on the “In Harmony” album (Original version of “Share” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agdd_OaQHto)…
I was watching Sesame Street one morning with my step-nephews, and I literally burst into tears when it came on. It was just wrong, and I was so disappointed. There is a lot to be said for the Sesame Street of our childhood, and a lot less to be said about the modern version. At least kids are still learning, but keep the old bits. They’re as valuable as anything they are using now, and Elmo does NOT a Cookie Monster replacement make.
(Crappy ‘new’ 1998 version banished to the end of the post, because I can’t stand it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnD1t2O8vAE&feature=related)
This is a classic movie, and it will always be our favorite.