I Want a Monster to Be My Friend

[furryfella]

has anybody seen that clip on noggin? i remember the song on the Ss Monster Lp but never really saw the clip on the show!!:)

[Jeffrey Gray]

Well, Noggin only runs 65 episodes of SS Unpaved, and they edit them to fit commercials in as well. So the chances of finding it are quite difficult.

[furryfella]

OK thanks jeffery!! I just wondering if noggin did run that clip on the unpaved shows!! I know they showed the original Fur with the red & yellow monster!! ;)

[Jeffrey Gray]

I don't know if they do...it only comes on late at night and all episodes air out of order, so it will be hard to find out if it's there. I suggest you tape the show and find out yourself.

[furryfella]

Again thanks!!!:)

[dwmckim]

To add to your question, does anyone hear even REMEMBER the original clip? Nothing comes to my mind - i wonder if it might have been a song done for the album?

But anyway i did want to comment and say this is probably one of my ALL TIME fave songs from any of the Sesame albums - Marilyn Sokol does such a wonderful job vocally and the song itself is so much fun - if i can get some music for it, i might even consider using it as an audition song!

[Phillip Chapman]

Yeah, that's right DW. This song was done just for the 1975 album, "Sesame Street Monsters". It was never shown on the show.

[furryfella]

thnaks DW & phill!! Too bad it wasn't shown ON SS!!!:)

[MuppetDude]

Yeah, that's right DW. This song was done just for the 1975 album, "Sesame Street Monsters". It was never shown on the show.

Good news: I found out that this clip does exist! It's sung by Betty Lou (in a sparkly silver dress, white feather boa, and with a microphone), with the three background monsters from "Fur" on saxophone (fat blue monster), tambourine (lavendar), and piano (Maurice). It looks like it was taped in 1975.

[zns]

I heard the song on Muppet Central Radio, and it's a really catchy tune.:) It's 100 times better than the one in the video Elmopalooza.:attitude:

[minor muppetz]

I read a long time ago on the Yesterdayland message board from somebody who was told this by Christopher Cerf himself that this song was taken off the show because it caused kids to think that it's okay to talk to strangers, and it also made them think that it's okay for strangers to molest them. I don't know what would have misled them to beleive that, but that's also why it was taken off the re-releases of Monsters! and Born To Add. I guess it must have been lyrics that misled them and not just visuals, since it was taken off the album, yet it was later included in Elmopalooza (perhaps they changed the lyrics so that it didn't make them think that these things were okay).

[Barry Lee]

Yeah I have seen this before it has Betty Lou, Mauric Monster, a grey monster and Harvey monster very neat clip.

[MuppetDude]

Here's the original lyric that caused trouble:

"If I make friends with a friendly monster,
I'd let him bounce me on his knee.
I'd let him do whatever he wantster,
Especially if he's bigger than me!"

The new lyric:

"If I make friends with a friendly monster,
He'd be the best that a friend could be.
I'd let him do whatever he wants to,
And he'd always belong to me."

It's a little better, but it's a shame the show lost a great clip.

(On a funny sidenote, in the clip Maurice barely touches his piano; he's just wiggling his arms in front of it!)

[minor muppetz]

Here's the original lyric that caused trouble:

"If I make friends with a friendly monster,
I'd let him bounce me on his knee.
I'd let him do whatever he wantster,
Especially if he's bigger than me!"



Couldn't that line have just been cut from the reissues of the albums that originally featured the song? In a thread about Sesame Street Live, in the scans from the program book for Big Birds Totally Amature Talent Show, lyrics for this song were included. I'll have to check it again to see if this line was in that show.

I wouldn't be surprised if Noggin purposely chose not to air this clip. I do know that Noggin edited quite a few innapropiate scenes such as a scene from Everyone Likes Ice Cream where one of the kids says "You sissy!", and I've read that the first episode had a sketch with a grouo of kids that had many scenes where a black kid kept getting hurt, and that Noggin only aired the beginning of that skit.

[zns]

I never realized that this song was a bad influence on kids. It's no wonder it's almost never been shown.:concern:

[Fuzzy and Blue]

I never saw the original clip of this song, but I do remember when Elmopalooza! (the 30-year anniversary special) was released, and that particular song (sung by En Vogue, of whom I am not a fan) was being shown on a TV screen at the WHYY store of Knowledge about 6 years ago....

~Dana~