Songs with the Sesame Street chord progression

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Inspired by the thread on Petula Clark's "I Know a Place", what songs out there have that basic chord progression perhaps best recognized in the Sesame Street theme song?

Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness" and Frank Zappa's "Big Leg Emma" are two that come to mind...also some of Brady Bunch's "It's a Sun Shiny Day" (the "just can't stay inside all day..." part)

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 13 January 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

XTC "Ball and Chain"

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:20 (twenty-two years ago)

"Outtasite Outta Mind" by Wilco ALWAYS reminds me of the Sesame Street theme song. I'm not sure it's the progression, tho

― Adam A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Early takes of the chorus "Good Vibrations" -- immortalized on the Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 15 set -- sounded a lot like the beginning of the Sesame Street song.

― Phil (phil), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

...chorus TO "Good Vibrations", rather.

― Phil (phil), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Aaarrggh there's some Francoise Hardy song that sounds exactly like this but I can't ... remember ... the name. Anyone?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

there's a margo guruyan one too

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

"Blue Money" by Van Morrison

During the chorus, if i recall.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Jonathan Richman's got one...Important In Your Life, I think....

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The Ad Lib's "Boy from New York City"

― James Blount, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Jonathan Richman one is Morning of Our Lives....

― Andrew Ormsby, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)

"Nine Times Out Of Ten" - Muriel Day (1969 Eurovision-Northern Soul crossover shock!)

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:30 (twenty-two years ago)

jefferson airplane's "wild tyme (h)"

― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

both musically and in the 'lost my way, can you help ?' ambience, "permafrost" by magazine

― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Margo Guyran's "What Can I Give You" has a suprisingly Sesame-street like chord progression and general mood!

― marianna, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 11:47 (twenty-two years ago)

second the margo guryan comments - maybe the forbidden planet soundtrack as well? bahahaha.

i have a cd with the free design covering the theme - would that count in the whole/overall/mono-bleak scheme of things?

― doom-e, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"Problem Child", brought to you by the letters A,C,D,C

― dave q, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not very good at recognising shared 'chord progressions' even when they are pointed out to me, but the Sesame St theme sounds a bit like 'You're In A Bad Way' by Saint Etienne. Am I right?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Nope. Though you can sing New Musik's "Living By Numbers" over the top of "You're In A Bad Way" quite comfortably.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

No I can't!

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Red Sovine "truck drivin' son of a gun"
...at least it does to me.

― chad (chad), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Someone needs to find a song with the same chord progression as that unbelievably awesome "1-2-3-4-5" pinball song.

― dleone (dleone), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

"Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight" from Kinda Kinks, all the way home.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

T. Rex - "Groove A Little"
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Tiger in A Spotlight"
Tim Hardin - "Don't Make Promises", "Ain't Gonna Do Without"

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 8 June 2003 05:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Not an exact mapping, but the New Pornographers's "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism" certainly sounds like it for the first 30 seconds. I want Neko and Grover to do a duet of this track.

― Sean Thomas (sgthomas), Sunday, 8 June 2003 05:54 (twenty-two years ago)

twelve years pass...

Been trying to remember the name of this song. It sounds like the Sesame Street theme and there's some "doo-oohs" around the chorus. I don't know any of the words.

Anyone?

I was hoping it the was the Marvin Gaye song. It's from that era.

― afriendlypioneer, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 18:16 (nine years ago)

Plowing through charting hits from the '60s over the past several months, I came to realize that there are a lot of examples of this from that era, particularly the era just before the inception of Sesame Street. I thought a lot of people were ripping off the theme song but I fear it may be the other way around.

― I Pith On Your Quip (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 18:21 (nine years ago)

Some of the more uptempo covers of Searchin' have that Sesame Street groove.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxtPVieW0sA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgkc4QgxaYs

― wk, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 19:07 (nine years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OKAlBC-XWQ

― MarkoP, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 19:40 (nine years ago)

I was actually thinking of starting a thread for records that have the Sesame Street theme *sound* because I love the arrangement and production.

― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 23:09 (nine years ago)

German "Sesamstrasse" theme tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_QG_yf1IKU
"wer, wie, was,
der, die, das,
weshalb, wieso, warum,
wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm"
=
"who, how, what,
the, the, the,
why, why, why,
who asks not remains stupid"

― massaman gai, Thursday, 14 April 2016 05:29 (nine years ago)

"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"? (as in the Blue Brothers cover, at least)

― MatthewK, Thursday, 14 April 2016 05:52 (nine years ago)

five years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9780cdjI4DY

― When the Pain That You Feel is the Bite of an Eel, That's a Moray (Old Lunch), Sunday, 20 March 2022 11:26 (three years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYy4c4kVUxg

― city worker, Sunday, 20 March 2022 12:44 (three years ago)

Tim Hardin's variations on this pattern (pre-Sesame Street) are mentioned above; he said he derived it from Tommy Tucker's "Hi Heel Sneakers", where the pattern comes and goes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bmbSC9c2ys

The chord voicing is also similar to the "Louie Louie" pattern, though of course with a different rhythmic emphasis.

― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 20 March 2022 16:10 (three years ago)

Doo Wah Diddy

― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Sunday, 20 March 2022 16:54 (three years ago)

Big Boss Man by the Grateful Dead

― BrianB, Sunday, 20 March 2022 18:48 (three years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAaKS3IiIbI

― When the Pain That You Feel is the Bite of an Eel, That's a Moray (Old Lunch), Sunday, 27 March 2022 10:49 (three years ago)

Bonzos, "You Done My Brain In"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isDTI8gEPkQ

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Sunday, 27 March 2022 11:50 (three years ago)

nobody in this thread understands what a chord progression is

― budo jeru, Sunday, 27 March 2022 14:42 (three years ago)

How about "Now I got a witness (like uncle Phil and uncle Gene)" by the rolling stones?

― Mark G, Sunday, 27 March 2022 14:54 (three years ago)

nobody in this thread understands what a chord progression is

I think we were starting from the intent of the original post, what do you feel would be better terminology budo jeru? No-one seems to think that the thread is trying to locate examples of songs that emulate the harmonic progression of the Sesame Street theme throughout.

― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 27 March 2022 15:27 (three years ago)

you're right, and i don't want to derail the thread with a terminology debate which nobody wants. but i would call this an ostinato fwiw

― budo jeru, Sunday, 27 March 2022 15:47 (three years ago)

Yes, sometimes it's just an ostinato (or riff) around one chord, sometimes it's actual chord changes over a pedal bass.

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 28 March 2022 14:09 (three years ago)

Tim Hardin's variations on this pattern (pre-Sesame Street) are mentioned above; he said he derived it from Tommy Tucker's "Hi Heel Sneakers", where the pattern comes and goes

About half of the songs he wrote when he started out (pre-Tim Hardin 1) were built on that riff. This one is typical:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktI_rze8Aag

― Lee626, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 18:14 (three years ago)

Miles Davis's "All Blues" is kind of this progression in 6/8

― J. Sam, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 19:27 (three years ago)

The middle eight of How Sweet To Be An Idiot by Neil Innes is basically this (1:35 in the clip)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_OPpfaFlUI

― "Spaghetti" Thompson (Pheeel), Tuesday, 29 March 2022 20:04 (three years ago)

five months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wmAwimQXOM

― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Thursday, 8 September 2022 22:03 (three years ago)

six months pass...

A bunch of these came up on Andrew Hickey's podcast recently (well, on the episodes I just got to anyway):

The Ikettes - Peaches and Cream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5F33FuidNw

The Ad Libs - The Boy From New York City
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TPYmeSqLjc

The Beach Boys - Carl's Big Chance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW1buIwzW_M

― enochroot, Friday, 31 March 2023 01:47 (two years ago)

"Walk Right Back" by the Everly Brothers, loosely.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 31 March 2023 15:11 (two years ago)

two years pass...

Roger Miller - Chug-A-Lug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh-4IYSXbvM

― llurk, Thursday, 7 August 2025 00:26 (two months ago)

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