Man, oh man. I love counting. Sometimes I do it just to do it. I know I'm often alienating some of my less-educated friends (toddlers) when I start spitting those numbers, but I can't help it! Counting is wonderful.In fact, the only thing I love more than counting is the sound of a breathy Canadian singer. Imagine my delight when I was sent this video of Feist singing a special version of her famous "1 2 3 4" (aka "That song from the iPod commercial where there's a chick in something blue and sparkly") with some lovable faces on Sesame Street (as we mentioned a few months ago).
I have no idea how many pre-schoolers actually recognize Feist, but the song is catchy enough to burrow itself into their tiny little brains for at least a day or two. If they're really into Muppets or penguins, perhaps it'll last even longer. Heck, you may even find yourself singing along.
To take on the next group of numbers, may I suggest bringing in Japanese surf rocker chicks, the 5.6.7.8's?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-17-2008 @ 7:50AM
missbanshee said...
If this doesn't make you smile, you have no soul. I didn't love this song before, but by the time the penguins popped up, I was hooked.
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7-17-2008 @ 8:08AM
Lou said...
That was SUPERB!
and it kept Feist's trademark of doing it all in one take. (except in this case, there was only one edit)
The song is a simple melody, but the elaborate video was accomplished in a single "start the camera and do it all in one" take. I don't remember how many takes the original video took.
Here the setup may have looked simpler, but when you figure they had to get the muppet performers in and out of the shot seamlessly, it's still mighty impressive.
Like I said, I only noticed one edit (in this case it looked like a crossfade) in the plce where she raises the little 4 above her head.
Still, very good and a wonderful song for kids
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7-17-2008 @ 9:41AM
JFTA said...
Love it! Can I get that for my ringer somehow?? What a good sport she is too for re-working the song.
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7-17-2008 @ 10:27AM
Usama said...
Wow, Sesame Street, good move. I enjoyed all of what they did for me when I was a kid but now I'm jealous of all those little guys watching. I too didn't care that much for the song before, it was catchy but not something I bought/downloaded, just enough to hear it on the radio whenever randomly. But this video's great.
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7-17-2008 @ 12:13PM
Argus said...
Awesome. That said, I'm getting a little tired of Jpop. You would be too if you were in Japan and constantly having to hear it on the radio... The music culture here is very flavor of the month and so alot of the music doesn't really have staying power or is a really sappy ballad. Thank god for the stores that play electronic stuff or some of the good bands that have been around for a while like Beat Crusaders, or.... I suppose the band you mentioned?
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7-17-2008 @ 12:14PM
Boomstick said...
It is obvious to me that Annie Wu and Johnathan Toomey are childless and have absolutely no immediate intentions of having children. What they have missed in this move by Sesame Street and Leslie Feist, is a connection between the generations. Obviously the original song was intended for older consumers. By reworking the song for the toddlers, not only is the tune catchy, but it allows parent and child to connect at a new level.
There are only so many times a parent can sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes before going insane. A toddler can sing that song all day long without any signs of relenting. By defining a new song, a song that the parent may be familiar with on a contemporary level, the parent and child can now connect thru that new song.
A song that will be burned and etched into that parents nightmares for many many months to come. grrrr
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7-17-2008 @ 1:14PM
Annie Wu said...
Well, even though it wasn't explicitly stated in the article, I think it's pretty obvious that this is the reason for most guest stars on Sesame Street. It'd be kind of ridiculous to think that people like Anderson Cooper or the cast of 'Law & Order: SVU' were brought in for the pre-schoolers.
7-17-2008 @ 12:15PM
Boomstick said...
You can use Audacity to record the audio from the Youtube video and upload it to your phone. I am certain that it violates every copyright law in every country tho.
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7-17-2008 @ 4:00PM
Thomas said...
I found it amusing that they're used this song since in the original lyrics she can't count at all "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 or 10".
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7-20-2008 @ 1:25AM
christy said...
Love Feist. Daughter loves Seasame Street. Perfect!
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