Sesame Street 1-20 raga

[uofmrules1]

They did this in English and Spanish. did any of the other foreign SS's borrow this and translate it?

[jfpinell]

I've never been able to figure out...is that guy at the start an Egyptian pharoh or a Buhddist Monk, or what? He kinda' looks like something along that line. I'm surprised someone hasn't taken offense to that in today's over active P.C. country!

[anomalogue]

@jfpinell I'm guessing he's a Hindu ascetic of some kind. So far I haven't gotten any complaints except for one nut who thought he saw satanic codes embedded in the psychedelic awesomeness.

[jfpinell]

@anomalogue Not that *I* mind at all. I like this one. I'm trying to figure out why he has 4 hands though. I think I seen the "666" comment here somewhere, but I can't see it anywhere.

[anomalogue]

@jfpinell It is a humorous allusion to the four-armed deities of Hinduism.

[jfpinell]

@anomalogue The what and the where?

[jfpinell]

@anomalogue Do you know where that supposed satanic code is? I'm not sure what he was refering to. I sure don't see anything. You're talking about the 2nd set of counting, right? -The one with what looks like changing wallpaper (to me at least)....?

[anomalogue]

@jfpinell I think he was seeing those orange and blue interlocking spirals as 6s.

[jfpinell]

@anomalogue You mean on 15? I wonder what tavern he was in before watching this? :)

[jfpinell]

@SEHANO A who or a where?

[brokenfunnybone12]

I love love love this, and have ever since I saw it as a preschooler, but its nowhere near as freaky as watching the foreign language version they used to run with it.

[calmtides]

i loved that you wrote the "lyrics" LMFAO

[14DaveHunter]

Seeing the four armed Hindu always freaked me out.

[MrLazerdick]

That's fucked up shit!

My eyes!..

How did I watch this when I was 5, I remember being scared of this clip :(

[kurt52073]

Mind blown

[gayboymotown]

I wish I could play this song at Thanksgiving when my relatives get up for more food. lol

[WWEChampion16]

I bet George Harrison liked this since it has Indian culture.

[MasterEiji]

anyway.. I also remember a spanish version too.. anyone seen it?

[MasterEiji]

amazing how they had to do this the HARD way... "morphing" wouldn't be invented for almost another 10-15 years

[HookahSmokingAlice]

haha you know this video was fucked up when your still thinking about it 14 years later

[begrackled]

Amalie has returned my box. I am a blubbering wreck.

[t40onbass]

GREAT MELODY!

How could ANY kid be frightened or disturbed by such an imaginative video?

Gosh, I wonder if they're emotional wrecks now...there's enough people in the world that are these days!

[txmystic]

I can see why lots of kids were freaked out by the multiple arms, but I loved it, both then and now. I bought the "Old School" DVDs for my 4-year- old son and he currently watches little else.

And his preschool teacher pulled me aside to comment on how his number and letter recognition have made an astounding leap, so the psychedelic cartoons work IMHO.

[MrKokos69]

oh  fuck man

[naserah1962]

thank you for the memories!!!

[killerbru123]

Wonder what they have smoked to come up whit this

[SEHANO]

The memories the memories- thanks for the memories :-) I'm four years old again. 

[yyyihad]

Man, the screenplay writers were high.

[TheNoisePolluter]

This video made me think Hindu people turn into flowers

[burger414]

Does anyone know the lyrics in spanish?

[jpryding]

@burger414 haha! best post here, nice one burger :D

[norgeskuespiller19]

I remember watching this, plus many other things I looked up here on YouTube, such as Six Soccer Socks and the King of 8.

[anomalogue]

@norgeskuespiller19 I love King of 8. It is great. It is a clip I do not...

[2meninachair]

Rasist basterds lol

[jvgsjeff]

I can't explain it, but this video has me under its spell.

[5Nina]

This segment terrified me as a young child. I don't totally know why. Whenever it came on, I was so freaked out that I felt as if I couldn't even move to leave the room. I just sat there petrified, hoping it would be over soon.

[thomasjaffray]

0:07

OH SHIT!

[anomalogue]

@thomasjaffray Satori?

[thomasjaffray]

@anomalogue

what? I'm surprised he has those four arms

[thomasjaffray]

disturbing

[blodachia]

@Cuteblondie1972 That hindu guy used to creep me out too.

[Klowmie]

Awww this song is so nice and chill................for Sesame Street

[TheTallMan35]

Sounds like Joni Mitchell singing this.... or perhaps it's Maria Muldaur.  Comments please.

[jeanpiersol1]

@TheTallMan35 Music and Sarod: Darby Slick. Vocal: Jeannie Piersol.

[ViperSRTnACR]

LoL Lyrics: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10......

[timmcnutt2]

i was afraid of the guy at the begining too many arms-lol!

[valeo626]

zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance comes to mind for some reason

[DocWyoming]

Thanks, I've been looking for the lyrics for years.

[bombergal1]

I watched this song on shrooms and MAN WHAT A TRIP!!

[aveyowyns]

i love how you add the lyrics... LOL

[acawhales]

you make my child think people have more than 2 hands :(

[oldies1976]

It's the Maharishi from the Beatles!! WOW

[murielsartre]

I would love it if some of the beautiful patterns that show up during the 2nd count were available as fabric. Or tile flooring.

When I was little, I'd try to do a side-to-side head pivot to the music a la Barbara Eden. I'm sure I looked silly.

[oldies1976]

@murielsartre Or wallpaper from the late 60's!!

[dreaddog]

Inspired by Numbers and LSD ^_^

[dreaddog]

Inspired by Numbers and LSD ^_^

[dreaddog]

Inspired by numbers and LSD ^_^

[armageddon2419]

THIS SUCKS.....I CANT COMMENT

[armageddon2419]

Is it me....or does this sound like something The Beatles would have done on REVOLVER in 1966....CLASSIC....You can just hear Lennon singing this with The Ravi Shankar influenced George Harrison on the SITAR....The Greatest song The Beatles never wrote...

[anomalogue]

I completely agree with you.

[Mattteus]

@armageddon2419 that's because it's a classical indian style

[Iza123321123]

Du ju ej tin

haha

[marinagipps]

Sesame Street is my higher power...

[noomsby]

Best song ever, I love the harmony.

[dullsvillain]

I am healed by the 20 step program!

[anomalogue]

Is Sesame Street your higher power?

[TheNasamonkey]

:36 symbolizes 666, the blue shapes thats curve around each other

[anomalogue]

It looks more like 3-3-3 to me. Is this a personal interpretation, or have you seen this symbol somewhere before? I'd be interested to see your sources.

[baikinmon]

@anomalogue :35 - if anything it's 6666, but it's the number 15, but the flowers all have 12 petals, but.... BTW, great upload.

[anomalogue]

@TheNasamonkey :36... it's even worse than 666: It's the SS three times over. Or maybe it's a cry for help: SOS. SOS. SOS. What we see probably depends on what kinds of things we get the most pleasure seeing.

[TheNasamonkey]

:28 is a masonic symbol

[anomalogue]

The double spiral or the mandala? I don't doubt the masons used those symbols (esp the double spiral), but you can be sure they did not invent them. Every religion has some analogue of the double spiral. A proper understanding of the truth of that spiral is what prevents religious truth from turning inside-out and tangling up in scientific styles of thinking, leading to bad science and even worse religion: "fundamentalism" (the misnomer of misnomers). See Renee Guenon's _The Great Triad_.

[rexjaru]

Needed to escape way back into the past today,

and this lovely little piece animation helps one heck of a lot. Very calming and I've always loved it.

[aeriel69]

I remember this! This actually explains my curiosity about Indian music.

[Glynn008]

This is a very nice counting clip.... I loved this one when I was a kid.... They should bring it back...

[TheGreatOldOnes]

sesame street in the 70s was probably a favorite of acid freaks. lol

[fashnek]

Thank god you posted the lyrics. I was so confused there.

[straub11]

thank you for posting the lyrics. i wasnt sure about them.

[djnforce9]

@straub11: Thumbs up to you. best comment ever!!!

[jeanpiersol1]

I also recorded gladys for chess records in the 60's gladys piersol on youtube take a listen. JP

[anomalogue]

Do you have any more recordings of her?

[jeanpiersol1]

on ebay you can still find old 45's

your sweet inner self on chess records gladys also on chess records

JP

[adjusttint]

LOVE the last one, the factory, does anyone know who did that

[Begeru]

Lyrics are hard to memorize but I almost got them down.

[LadyHawke78]

Shit's amazing. Great music and beautiful animation. I'm 30 yrs old and totally remember this from my childhood. (Wow. I just said "totally." Yeah. I grew up in the 80's...) Also Ralph Bakshi is a GOD of animation. Very much ahead of his time.

[KJAnsia]

Right? I was quickly taken back a quarter of a century to when the world was still warm and safe.

Sincere.

[cwegers1]

Not if you lived in Saigon.

[KJAnsia]

Yeah, uh...yeah.

Sure.

[fireemblem1992]

@KJAnsia

You wouldn't want to be living in South East Asia during the 60's and 70's, that's for sure.

[MrPisster]

Ever talk to an animator? Ever heard of Ralph Bakshi ?

[HenryMuldrow]

Beautiful way for children (and adults) to become familiar with Indian music.

Thanks.

[MrPisster]

back then you only got into animation because you were an acid head.

[LuShadow357]

i would so blast this from my car lol. it's that awesome!

[YodaBannon]

back in the day when SS was cool! I am a 37 year old with a child inside!

[wcduke]

That child inside hates the adult you've become.

[michigandon]

I'm planning on buying a MAHINDRA truck when they become available here, and then I'm going to put my ROYAL ENFIELD motorcycle in the back and cruise up and down the road with this blasting away out of the Ipod. ;)

[NADIESpunk]

tyyytytyty

[honeymarmalade36]

dude i think im troppin out ova this shit

[andrewreb27nc]

That is so groovy

[CoughSuppressant]

LOL

Thanks for posting the lyrics.

[matero30]

Our generation should sue for restitutions. Look at the experimennts they did to us all!!!

[Sib592]

I don't know why, but in my distant memory, I remember something like this was given on a similary program in and different language other than English or Spanish. I think it was in arabic or german...

[VenusMonkey]

They did it spanish too, you're right. That's how I learned it by singing it in my head..lol

[xxxredmoonatnoonxxx]

oh ya... I remember the drugged up versions of abc's and 123's.

[cheerdown87]

wow, what memories-this and big blue marble are stuck in my head like a mantra from another lifetime....

[metalhowl666]

what??'

[Karlfalcon]

I vaguely remember this. I haven't seen it for ages though.

[sha1om]

Whoa.

I never saw this in color before. It's just not the same in b&w.

[LUVZEP77]

anyone know what year is this from?

[2coin]

early 70s...

[PinkChocolat07]

This is like taking drugs without the side effects.

[slowloris]

I agree, this video is as close as you can get to an acid trip. And it was for Sesame St. :) Hare Krishna!

[MrWeyes]

Geee! Thanks for the lyrics, I've been looking for those for a minute! lol

[rallenstuff]

Whoa! FAR OUT! ;-)

[NameNotaNumber]

I wonder which came first - the animation or the music? The music, I suspect. I love when the numbers come out of the machine and they count up to 10 in double time then slow it down again for 11-20. Lovely.

[uofmrules1]

I think I used to not like that originally, but it's alright now.

[youtubbs67]

Wow. This what people grew up on. I wish something like this came on when I was really young.

[cadenmccann2]

haha very zen!

[gopconservative78]

where are the drugs

[anomalogue]

Drugs? This *is* the drugs.

[07raul10ronaldinho80]

I'm FREAKING OUT !

[psychomushroom123]

hahaha that was so cool

[vivaladiva2001]

I LOVED THIS! My brother and I used to act it out. He'd stand behind me and be the extra set of arms. hehe

[HTownCountryFan]

LOL!

[zeelik]

This freaked me out when I was five, and it still does.....

[uofmrules1]

I always remembered being a little annoyed at the sped up 1-10 during the assembly line part, then they slowed back down. Hey, anybody got the spanish version of this one?

[funkmike]

Gee, thanks for printing the lyrics.

[LuShadow357]

i remember this. all my life after i stopped watching the show i sang this song and kinda remember where i got it from but not really, until now... i was like holy SH** THIS IS WHERE I GOT IT FROM!!! rock on to the person who uploaded it.

[RSG2006]

The musicians on this clip...

Jeannie Piersol -Vocals

Darby Slick - Guitar

Peter Vangelder -Sitar

All three had been in the '60s San Francisco band The Great Society, Grace Slick's pre-Airplane group (though Jeannie was in them for only a short time, real early on.)

[anomalogue]

Thank you!

[blujazz3000]

I simply can't get enough of this melody. The raga has a mesmerizing major melody which resonates beautifully off of the droning Db. Thank you!!

[kll510]

LOL Thanks for posting the lyrics, I don't think I could sing along without them. Hehehe sarcasm. Seriously though that was funny you posted them. I love this one, the backround music is so pretty and soothing.

[thedonvespe]

this is one of my favorite segments from sesame street

[raggedyanarchist]

Thanks for posting the lyrics! Finally everyone can sing along! :)

[DianaDeLuna]

I know I posted this a long time before, but I can't get over the clarity of your vid compared to all the other "1-20 Raja" copies out there. It's great being able to see every flower stem when the guru transforms, and every cog in that Rube Goldberg machine. It's seriously amazing. Thanks!

[spiritualwitch01]

Thank you! This has been in my head since I was a little. :)

[hanniballecturer]

thanks, i've been looking for the lyrics for this song for a long time

[gmcg923]

Dude, you have the driest sense of humor. That's awesome.

[Beck436]

Can you say Boards Of Canada? They must have been all over this.

[anomalogue]

For real. Boards of Canada quoted this song in its entirety in "Aquarius". They did a pretty good job with it. I also liked how they expanded on the theme--at least up to "36". I'm no poet but I felt like "44" didn't ring. I actually worked on it a little, to see if I could improve it. Here's what I've got so far: 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 When I get some time to work on it I'll post some more.

[Beck436]

Really? Aquarius is one of my favourite tunes by BoC, but never knew exactly what Sesame Street clips they sampled. So this is one of the sources, eh? (wonder where they got the others, such as the woman saying "orange"?)

[anomalogue]

No, I mean Boards of Canada lifted the lyrics verbatim.

[Mannex17]

I don't think that the lyrics of increasing numbers are all that specific. They probably just made it up themselves.

[anomalogue]

I don't know if I agree with you. I've been looking at the pattern, and I get what they're doing. Basically, they begin with a seed value ("x") and run it through a formula (x=x+1), which is fed back into the formula iteratively.

If you believe two different lyricists would arrive independently at setting the same iterative mathematical procedure to music--beginning with the same seed value!--I guess I can't talk you out of it. But, frankly, to me that seems pretty far-fetched.

[anomalogue]

More evidence "Aquarius" was derived from "1-20 Raga": In the "1-20 Raga", the x=x+1 pattern applies throughout the whole song. In "Aquarius" they hold to it up to 20, but within 14 more iterations they completely lose the pattern, as if their intuitive grasp of the pattern failed them. That is further evidence BoC was been using "1-20 Raga" as a model. This would also explain why both, out of an infinite number of possibilities, started with the same arbitrary seed value.

[enantiodromia]

u made me laff, thanks. srsly tho, where do the BoC samples come from? anyone know?

[bugsycline]

ahhhhhhhhhhh what a breath of fresh air!

[BlueToronto]

Ooommmmmmm...Ooommmmmmmmm

[NewtHarvest]

Wow, I had totally forgotten about this one. I love the vocal melody of the song, especially when she hits the teens.

Funny that the "psychedelic" aspect of these early Sesame Street cartoons is enhanced even further when you watch them 30 years later, since the whole process of uncorking a childhood memory is, in itself, "mind-blowing."

Whoa ... heavy, man.

[adamnorten]

Thank you, thank you for posting this! I have wanted to see this one for a long time. I probably haven't seen this one in 30 years!!

[harrystrongwood]

I like the fact that you wrote the lyrics down. I've been looking for them for the longest time.

[anomalogue]

I have to credit RocketGuy3. For a while we had only the first two verses, but he supplied the third, and that's why we now have a complete set.

[cootmaster]

y seen this in hebrew on Rahov sum sum

[cootmaster]

OMG is that machine inside the Indian

I LOVE IT

[TattooedVenus]

I love this video! (In both the English and Spanish versions.) I still walk around singing the "song" occasionally, which causes my children (almost 7 and almost 9) to look at me strangely and say "Mom? What *are* you singing?" I had despaired of ever seeing it again.

[davevontexas]

Thank you, Amalie, for my shoebox.

[davidpar2]

been a long time since i've seen this one

[microbusss]

heh pretty cool effects tho prolly from the 70s by the way the 2nd verse of counting looks

[RocketGuy3]

You forgot one verse of the lyrics.

[anomalogue]

Where?

[RocketGuy3]

They count to 20 a third time...

[anomalogue]

Oh, wow. Thanks. I thought I knew that thing by heart.

[anomalogue]

Fixed. Good catch.

[microbusss]

hehe the others said thay maybe the SS writers were on acid when they did this clip LOL

[kjsw143]

Does anyone remember the spanish version of this?  I still sing it when I try to remember my spanish I counting!

[windfall]

I came on here in a search for old Sesame Street. But this one I completely forgot about, and I just had the most incredible flashback. What an utterly beautiful clip- visually, and musically. Thank you so much for posting it.

[elwoodey]

This was a favorite 30 yrs ago.

I still love it.

Maybe even more now.

[bugsycline]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

[anomalogue]

You're right--I forgot to post the lyrics. Thanks for the reminder.

[Enicmon]

Beautiful :) I recall it!

[Rrock86]

ocultismo

[DrFishstix2]

the numbers were like morphing

[DianaDeLuna]

I thought I mentioned this weeks ago, but I guess not: Thanks for the *clearest* copy of this clip I've ever seen online! <3

[bugsycline]

this is one of the most beutiful melodies I've heard in quite some time.

[anomalogue]

I know! This video is not just a nostalgia trip--it's genuinely gorgeous.