Keep on the Sunny Side - Classic Sesame Street

[kalmanizer]

These girls did a FANTASTIC job!! I LOVE the remake of the original song!! This remake sounds VERY hyper. Hyper just like I am, rofl.

What other Country Songs does this Country Group sing?

Thanks for posting!! I might be a 27 yr old dude from Brooklyn, NY, but I still LOVE Sesame Street and Country Music is my FAVORITE genre of music!! :)

[75surfgirl]

These Ladies are excellent musicians-

i seen them live in Philadelphia in 1975 at a place called the main point. I wish someone would post "ONIONS" a very funny but good song. I had the pleasure to meet them and become friends with Pam--but lost touch over the years. Don't judge them on this song--find and listen to their other music and you will like it.

[ronaldt491]

It has to be played fast for the kids due to their short attention spans. Remember that this is Sesame Street, not the Grand Old Opry. I'd like to hear them go straight into Orange Blossom Special. I like these long hair styles of the mid 70s these ladies wore. I wish more ladies, not guys, wore these styles now. Oh, well!!

[slobomotion]

I had an album by them. This was the trad cut on it. I liked the song about eating an onion! "Onions, They Keep You Straight!"

[georgejonesfan93]

The Carter Family verson is better ffs these ppl are on something! >_>

[LesPaulXXX]

cool!  slightly scary. yet cool!

[lukalamps]

obscure maybe, but good.

[briansky10]

GO DEADLY NIGHTSHADE!

I remember these ladies were very popular when I was a kid. I remember Ann and Pam stopping by my house; I was about four. Wherever they are now, I wish them well. A most delightful, uplifting song.

[pamiami]

Hey, briansky10, this is Pam from the Deadlies, and actually we're playing again! We just took a longer break than usual between sets... about 33 years. Whatever, we're playing The Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, on May 24, and The Bitter End in NYC on June 4. And we're going to start both shows with this song; the years haven't slowed us down a bit. Thanks for the really nice comment... Btw: What was I doing at your house?

[quacka101]

i think these girls were tanked on the moonshine

[Dustpan04347]

nah, u cant strum that fast when ur shitfaced...

[loikmg]

Who were these ladies on sesame street.

[paultinsel]

i remember this band helen hooke still appeares around the ny nj area

[Cezafan66]

We are cheap and hard working

[cannonballsax]

Deadly Nightshade?

Interesting name for a group.

Also, I like the flowered fiddle.

[Starskylar87]

This will help

. The band consisted of members Pamela Brandt, Anne Bowen and Helen Hooke, who formerly performed under the name, "the Moppets.

[stringplayer07]

TOO FAST~!!!

[jeffkahl]

evidently you've never heard bluegrass versions of this.

[BeBopbrook]

The reunion is happening at the IMA in Goshen MA on Wednesday July 2 2008. This band is exciting and fun, well worth the time. Great musicians, feminists, refreshing. Can't wait to see the show.

[cromag74]

Darn! Wish I could have gotten up there, but there was just no way. By any chance is a recording of the performance available?

[stratocastergirl]

Hey, everyone is equally entitled to his/her opinion. One thing this band had was spirit! They made this song a "real-a toe tapper-a" as Lawrence Welk would have said. :>)

[tylerboobbabe]

They go it too fast. The original by June Carter Cash is a lot better in my opinion

[agingstoner]

Hate to tell you, but she didn't do the original. For that you have to go back to the original Carter Family, who recorded before June was born.

[GuitarSource]

I like it slower too.

[lissiness]

They hit it so hard right before the violin solo !

[zacandtaylorrule]

I totally remember this.  Thanks for the memory of a really awesome song.

[Zdaryn]

Brings back a lot of memories. I saw the Deadlies in more than a few places but I am betting yall remember the Lazy River in NoHo. Great times.

[pamiami]

Omigawd! Lazy River! Geez, yes, I remember it... Like a lot of the places we played, it could be a pretty tough place normally. But there weren't the customary Saturday night fights when we played. Well, not usually. I loved that joint. Btw: Helen and Anne and I are definitely getting together this summer for a few gigs. We're thinking out on the North Fork of Long Island and maybe Northampton around July 4. -- Pamela [Deadly Nightshade bass player]

[stratocastergirl]

Hey Pamela, have you thought of starting a web site like Fanny has done? It seems to be moving slowly but steadily in just a few months as more fans find it and word gets out. I lost your albums somehow, but still remember "Eat an Onion"--hilarious! And y'all were definately great! Chattanooga TN Debbie King

[tabistevens]

Blue Mountain Hornpipe/Onions is so funny and great--more of Ms. Hooke's fiddle playin'! There are too many funny lines in it to quote here, but nice rhyming with pit and another word, ha! Then of course, I will never forget "Nose Job." I appreciated the humor in Deadly's songs. I've never really been offended being called a chick--"No Chicken Today," but I enjoy those songs, and they survive on my i-pod. I'm glad to hear The Deadly Nightshade is still around and playing music.

[maritane]

Hi Pam,

It sure would be wonderful to see the band together again. Please keep us posted.

Mary from Boston

[kazap1]

Brilliant! Such a jolly fun song! She sings it

really well!

[kitcosby]

I would enjoy a clean MP3 of this song by y'all on myspace so i could have it on my page!

[kitcosby]

I LOVE THIS!

[tabistevens]

I'm so glad to finally see the Deadly Nightshade perform. I'm sure I must have seen that as child becuase I used to watch Seasame St. Ms. Brandt, I love your band. I had to track down the Deadly Nightshade albums in the early '90s after reading She's A Rebel: A History of Women in Rock by Gillian G. Gaar.

[headphone355]

An all-time bluegrass classic, this one!

[cromag74]

Both Deadly Nightshade LPs are pretty easy to find on the web -- esp. through Gemm or Musicstack -- and many of these places will burn a CD from any LP you buy. But converting to CD isn't too difficult, and there is software to help "clean up" the sound. Even the freeware works pretty good!

[MagzaPoppin]

I love this energetic version of the tune - so awesome to see some talented ladies rock out on my favorite show growing up, too! Thanks for sharing this clip!

[nudeone34]

i loved this band's two albums, i even have a one-sided promo record of them. they played a number of times on tv...even PBS feature of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. lots of honest energy. all my love.

[pamiami]

Hi, NudeOne 34. I'm curious about the Philly Folk Fest video. The main thing I remember about playing that was that I had a faulty mic connection and kept getting 220 volts through my lips. So I don't remember much. Where did you get the video?

== Pam Brandt (Deadlies bass player)

[nudeone34]

hi Pam...no, it's not a video...it's a cassette tape recording (remember those). it was on PBS tv. i thought you three were such radical folkies & feminists. i loved it. i think i saw you once on the morning show: the Today Show? all my love...Nudieguy...

[cromag74]

Too bad the audio and video are out of sync, but it's still a great clip and a lot of fun!

[pamiami]

I'm the Deadly Nightshade's bass player. Helen (the fiddle player) just found this clip on the site a few months ago, and sent a link to Anne (the rhythm guitarist/lead singer on this song). What a kick to watch it and read all the comments! You're right about the limberjack, which is also called an Appalachian dancing doll. Ours was just a particularly klunky, unbalanced, big-headed one that was less coordinated than most; it fell off the stick a lot.

[Jim5150jvc]

Thanks for posting!

When was the last time the 3 of you played together??? Also, do you guys forsee any future performances together?

[pamiami]

Helen just had a reunion of two old bands we were both in (the Deadlies and a larger group before that, Ariel), so she and I played together in October. Sadly, Anne couldn't get time off. The last time all three of us played was in the mid-1980s. I'd love to do a real reunion gig. That band was way more fun than most I've played with.

[Pilotpatty]

I had one of your albums when i was a young kid and I still remember alot of the songs! My favorite one was "Aint I a Woman" that was inspired by Sojourner Truth. Where can I find your albums now??

[pamiami]

Hi, Patty. Are you a real pilot???

Re. our albums, I don't think they ever got released on CD or DVD or anything else playable today. Every so often people tell me they see a vinyl thingie on eBay, almost always the first album, though; the second is the one with Ain't I A Woman. But Helen (fiddle) did, last year, get a copy of a video of us doing that song, and others, at a music festival in the mid-1980s, and if we can get the rights to post it online, we want to.

[Pilotpatty]

Hi, Pam. I, myself am not a pilot, but excuse me for sounding a bit off the wall here, my ic (inner child) is. Little Patty flies magic carpets, and in her/my mind, we are now beginning to really finally soar in life! I wish there was a way to get a copy of that Ain't I a woman song. I loved the album you put out. Your group seemed to be a cross between Blue-Grass, folk, soul, and a bit of country all in one with the variety of songs and genres you performed.

[pamiami]

Yup! We'd previously all been together in two kind of overly-complicated, rock bands, and got the Deadlies together as an unpretentious working bar band. So we played many genres, so we could work everywhere. Live, we were mostly a dance band (despite no drummer)-- lots of rock and old Motown. A real kick-ass version of the Dead's "Truckin'", too. Also very loud. My bass alone was once measured at 123 dBs, which is, I think, louder than a jackhammer.

[joepiecuch]

are you the same trio who played something (a counting song? an alphabet song? maybe the old macdonald thing mentioned here?), also on sesame street, that was filmed out of doors? this looks like the right bunch but i don't remember a fiddler and thought i remembered a drummer...but 30+ year old memories can be elusive and deceptive.

[pamiami]

Many people used to tell me they'd have sworn, hearing us from outside a club, that we had a drummer, Joe Pie. But we didn't. We just arranged very carefully, to emphasize the backbeat-- and also I had humongous taps on my boots to simulate a snare drum! As for the fiddler, she played lead guitar instead on many songs. And yes, a counting song was the first Sesame thing we dd. Later, we did the Old Macdonald re-write outside, in NYC and a New Jersey farm right near Hot Dog Johnny's.

[joepiecuch]

thanks for clearing up a mystery i've wondered about for quite a long time. in the early-mid-70s i was quite a bit older than the sesame street target audience; old enough, anyway, to have a bit of a crush on you ladies and your (especially YOUR) kickass moves. i sure hope someone puts those other clips up, those are some fond memories.

[soylent70]

this song was from the carter family

[rambam1204]

One of the earliest versions of this song was recorded in 1928 by the Carter Family—that famous "first family" of country music. I have that song on cassette. The song originated with somebody who always wanted to wheel her wheelchair on the sunny side of the street.

[drut1]

Yeah, better than the Dixie Chicks for sure.

[hahnbird]

The lead singer looks a little like Geddy Lee. :p

[JepsiMan]

Would love to see the clip from the show when Stevie Wonder was on Sesame street. They did "Superstition"

[shiroibasketshoes]

Ruling clip! Thanks! Yee ha! I have the Deadly Nightshade's album "F&W." It stands for "funky and western." It contains the theme from "mary hartman Mary hartman" and a cover of "Little Old lady From Pasadena."

[benvolio15]

I seem to remember a clip where they did a song with some kind of tap dancing wooden figure, and playing kazoos instead of singing; and then I remember them singing about how much more fun making music with two or three people can be.

[Jim5150jvc]

The wooden figure is known as a "limberjack". I remember that one too!!!! Anybody have it???

[33chiliken]

The one with the wooden figure is the one they did with some kids on Sesame Street. I can't recall the other one. The wooden figure was like a skeleton on a paddle board.

[pekoe]

kICK IT UP!!!!! MAN THESE CLIPS JUST KEEP ME IN A STATE OF AWE ALL THESE JUST JAR MY MEMORY...

[rubendeleeuw]

Yeeeeehaaaaaaw!!! great, thanx!!

[33chiliken]

Cool.  I remeber other Sesame Street skits with them too.

[sawing14s]

Really? Like what?

[33chiliken]

There was one where they performed something with some of the kids on Sesame Street and I think there was anothere one where they were in the city and said they were sick of all the noise and showed them going into the country performing a song with some other kids. I don't know the name of the songs.

[Jim5150jvc]

I remember that too! It was a version of Old MacDonald

[pamiami]

Yup. Hi, I'm the Deadlies' bass player. The song we used the doll on mostly was called "Dance, Mr. Big, Dance". But that theme was a little adult for 3 year-olds-- the doll was a shithead boss-- so for Sesame Street we re-cast Mr. Big as an urban Old MacDonald.

[jeffkahl]

it's too bad the visual isn't in synch with the audio but it's still a cookin version. the bass player is especially hot! :-D

[MattHatter]

I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THIS CLIP!!!  Man I love when I get my mind blown like this! Dang it! I don't know who this group is either! Is it The Roches?

[sawing14s]

I just updated the description - now we know who they are.

[MacLeaper]

yeah! They sound way better than the Dixie Chicks!