SATURDAY'S SINGLES : SESAME STREET and BOBBY MCFERRIN

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Good morning gang and welcome back to Saturday's Singles. First up in our stack of wax, we pay tribute to Mississippi native, puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker, Jim Henson. He was born on this day in 1936 and passed away May 16, 1990, age 53, from  toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. Today would have marked his 86th Birthday. we honor his legacy with this 1970 Columbia Book & Record Library release, Sesame Street by the original cast of Sesame Street. The 45 features the show's theme on side A, backed with the song "Hello". The songs were written by Jon Stone, Bruce Hart, Joe Raposo. According to the internet, this set also came with a 6 page book, but that book is long gone. Henson voices both Kermit the Frog and Ernie on the record. 

A The Entire Cast– Sesame Street Theme Song 
Written-By – Hart, Raposo, Stone

B The Entire Cast– Hello
Written-By – Hart, Moss, Raposo, Stone

CAST : 

Matt Robinson as Gordon

Loretta Long as Susan

Bob McGrath as Bob

Will Lee as Mr. Hooper 

The Muppets (also the Anything People)

Jim Henson as Ernie and Kermit

Frank Oz as Bert and Cookie Monster

Carroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar

and the voices of the kids:

Lois Winter, Ana Isa Otis, Clyde Otis Jr. , Althea Jackson, Todd Graff, Tom Spiro, Andrea Giglio, Christine Winter

Artwork [Visuals] – Brian Cranner

Directed By [Music Directed By] – Joe Raposo

Executive-Producer – David Connell

Executive director - Joan Ganz Cooney

Music Coordinator - Danny Epstein 

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Our second Saturday's Singles selection comes to us from New York born vocalist, producer, composer, and multi -instrumentalist, Bobby McFerrin. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was released in 1988 on the EMI-Manhattan label. The song, written by McFerrin and produced by  Linda Goldstein, was the first acapella song to reach #1 on the Billboard charts and it did so on this date in history (09/24/88). In addition to landing the top spot on the Hot 100, it also chart topped in Australia, Austria, Canada, Iceland, and West Germany. It's B-side is the title track to his 4th studio album, Simple Pleasures, and it's where both tracks hail from. 

Bobby McFerrin – all vocals
Chris Tergesen – engineer
Carol Friedman – photography
Henry Marquez – art direction

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