"C Is For Cookie", by

Joe Raposo Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American composer, songwriter, pianist, singer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', for which he wrote the theme ...

, is a song performed by

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for hi ...

(

Frank Oz Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...

), a

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...

character from the preschool television series ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

''. It was first performed in Season 3, although it had been released on ''

The Muppet Alphabet Album ''The Muppet Alphabet Album'' is a ''Sesame Street'' Learning, learning album based on the children's television series. It was first released in 1971 by Columbia Records, Columbia, then reissued in 1976, and by Golden Music in 1990, and by Sony W ...

''. Along with Kermit's "

Bein' Green "Bein' Green" (also known as "It's Not Easy Bein' Green") is a song written by Joe Raposo, originally performed by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog on both ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'' (in the episodes "Peter Ustinov" and "Peter Seller ...

" and

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (born c ...

's "

Rubber Duckie "Rubber Duckie" is a song sung by the Muppet character Ernie (voiced by Jim Henson) on ''Sesame Street''. The song is named after Ernie's toy, a rubber ducky affectionately named Rubber Duckie. The song, written by Jeff Moss and arranged by Jo ...

", it is one of the show's most recognizable songs. The original version was made in 1971 and was one of the few Sesame Street sketches directed by

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

History

According to the Muppet Central articles on the "Songs from the Street Boxed Set, people really liked cookies. In 1971,

and his performers teamed with

Jerry Juhl Jerome Ravn Juhl (July 27, 1938 – September 27, 2005) was an American television and film writer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Biography Juhl was born in St. Paul, Minnesota; his family moved to Menlo Park, California, when ...

, Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss to write a sketch on each letter of the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

". ''C Is For Cookie'' derives from this project. Actress

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also kno ...

lip-syncs the song when she visited ''Sesame Street''. A version was included on ''

Sesame Street Fever ''Sesame Street Fever'' is a concept album made by the cast of Sesame Street in 1978. It follows the characters as a love of disco sweeps Sesame Street. The album heavily parodies '' Saturday Night Fever'', and the cover features Grover where ...

''. A 12" promo single included disco remixes by

Larry Levan Larry Levan (; born Lawrence Philpot, July 20, 1954 – November 8, 1992) was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern da ...

and Roy Thode. In 1993, a new operatic version was taped, featuring opera singer

Marilyn Horne Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the Natio ...

as Cleopatra in an Egyptian setting, with a pyramid made entirely out of cookies in the background. At the end of the song once "Cleopatra" is carried away out of sight, Cookie Monster appears in Egyptian attire and pulls a cookie off the pyramid, causing it to collapse with a huge crash while he eats it. Since then, several authorized and unauthorized versions of the song have been produced, including "funky" and "sweet" versions released on the 2003 record ''Cookie Monster & the Girls''. Laura Pace's review of the home video '' Elmo's World: The Street We Live On'' noted 'the bizarreness of "C is for Cookie" done in ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

''-style opera'. A short reprise of the song is also performed by Cookie Monster and the cast of ''Sesame Street'' on the 1975 album '' Bert & Ernie Sing-Along''. In addition, since the advent of YouTube, there have also been recordings of the song, regular and operatic, in reverse, under such titles as "C Is For Cookie Reversed" or "Cheese Good For Fleas" (which is what the phrase "C is for Cookie" sounds like dubbed backwards). Sheet music of the song has been published by the

Hal Leonard Corporation Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Curre ...

Sheet Music Plus Sheet Music Plus, also known as SheetMusicPlus.com, is an American online retailer of sheet music, located in Berkeley, California, United States. It was founded in 1995 by Nicholas Babchuk. From 2008 to May 2010, the CEO was Keith Cerny. From ...

, and others. The toy "Letter of the Day Cookie Jar" features Cookie Monster saying a short phrase about each letter. For "C", he says "C is for Cookie". He also adds that a donut is a 'C' if you eat part of it.

References

External links

* * Raposo, Joe
C Is For Cookie – lyrics
{{authority control Sesame Street songs Songs written by Joe Raposo 1971 songs Songs about language Cookies in popular culture