YouTube can be a great time-waster if you know where to look. I spent the better part of an evening last week just browsing through the videos for a really old TV show I used to watch. I sent a few clips around to folk on MSN, but then realized I had way too many to send without annoying people. Hey, that’s what these website things are for, yeah?

I distinctly remember from the old apartment, Gregg often mentioning this guy who was always trying to sell letters, fine art, and other hard-to-find paraphernalia, but it didn’t really ring any bells until I saw him again for myself.

Sesame Street (from which these clips are taken) had a talent for making learning fun, and long-lasting. Almost without fail, each of these clips evokes a sort of visceral response; even if I don’t quite remember them now, I know that I used to remember them at one point, a long time ago.

The music sketches were perhaps the most memorable. It wasn’t until I hit high-school that I learned that “Let It Be“, “Hey Jude“, and “Hip to be Square” were actual, non-Muppet-based songs. The original (cameo-filled) Put Down the Duckie was an instant classic in my book, so it always confuses me when I hear people (my own wife included!) saying they’ve never heard of it before. And despite having no real conscious memory of these, my subconscious seems capable of letting me sing along with The Word is No and Monster in the Mirror (wubba wubba wubba wubba, woo woo woo!). And yes, that was Ray Charles you saw in that last clip.

The animation, colours and general whizzbangery also made otherwise dreary things like learning your numbers a bit more enjoyable. Almost everyone my age knows of the pinball/numbers song, and something about the crunching noises made in this gumball sketch evokes a very strong feeling of familiarity.

There were some other, more esoteric bits, that I might not recognize if you tried to describe them to me on the street. But seeing and hearing them again, I feel like I’m in kindergarten (or primary, for you mainlanders) again. There’s The Alligator King and his seven heirs to the crown, Uncle Ned’s 20 pickle pie (why is it called “20 Pickle Pie”, you ask?…), and the Yo-Yo Master and some kid lost in the city.

Two of my favourites, and I can still laugh at both of these after however many years, are Heeeeeeere Fishy Fishy Fishy! starring Ernie and Bert, and the one and only Teeny Little Super Guy.

I know that was a lot of linkage, and it took me a while, but I actually watched each of them at least once. For any child of the 70s or 80s, it’s an easy way to get back in touch with your childhood. And for a final quick flashback across the years, this A-Z montage scene is a nice finisher.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 10:29 pm and is filed under General, Links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.