"Nasty Dan" is an American

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

written by

Jeff Moss Jeffrey Arnold "Jeff" Moss (June 19, 1942 – September 24, 1998) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright and television writer, best known for his award-winning work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street''. Early life ...

, who also wrote "

Rubber Duckie "Rubber Duckie" is a song sung by the The Muppets, Muppet character Ernie (Sesame Street), 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, writt ...

". It was first recorded and released by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

in 1975. A version of the song is on his album ''The Johnny Cash Children's Album''. Cash performed the song for

Oscar the Grouch Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. Oscar's favorite thing is trash, as eviden ...

on ''

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) a ...

'', telling The Grouch, "You'll like this." According to the song, Nasty Dan was a nasty man. He ate nails for lunch, never took a bath or laughed, and would jump for joy when a little boy would trip and fall. The only words he ever said were: I don't like you at all. He eventually met Nasty Pearl, a nasty girl, and they settled down and had a nasty kid. Moss included a poem of the same name in his book of poetry. The song became a No. 1 hit in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1976 for

Claude François Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (c ...

, who recorded it with French lyrics under the title "Sale Bonhomme".

References

{{authority control 1975 songs Johnny Cash songs 1976 singles American folk songs