The Lemmings - "Wuntafordy (1-40)" ORIGINAL VERSION

Before Sesame Street made the 1989 short of animated Lemmings jumping off a cliff, they made this beautiful piece of claymation. To achieve the effect, they start with a "loaf" of clay with colors and images all braided throughout, then slice off the end one piece at a time. No computer trickery.
This was made for Sesame Street's 1988-89 season, but never aired because the spinning numbers were deemed counter-educational. The animated version aired instead.

Sung by the Lemmings, a NYC a cappella group, with solo by Michael Winther. James Earl Jones guest stars on the number 30. Directed by Jon Stone.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• lemmings
• claymation
• sesame
• street
• counting
• song
• kevin
• weist
• james
• earl
• jones
• jon
• stone
• michael
• winther

[HeySplurge]

That was fascinating. A few questions:

1. Do you know what animation company did this claymation?

2. Did James Earl Jones also shout the final "Yeah" at the end?

Cheers!

[MJButterman]

@HeySplurge Sadly, the answers are no (Sesame St. commissioned it) and no (that was our bass singer). But glad you liked!

[tpirman1982]

@MJButterman Yeah, but the description said that James Earl Jones guest stars on the number 30. If that's true, how'd you get him to perform the number 30 in the lyrics?

[MJButterman]

@tpirman1982 We asked him nicely. He said yes. And then he said 30.

[Dekobee]

So, if this 'never aired', where would you happen to find this?

[MJButterman]

@Dekobee I'm one of the singers.

[Phildahl]

I want more. Also I remember seeing a variation of this when I was a kid...

[guysmileyiv]

This reminds me of Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" music video.

[Dekobee]

@loveforlogos This is the ORIGINAL version before the one with the jumping lemmings.

[loveforlogos]

@HeySplurge

The animation company that did this was Peter Wallach Enterprises.

[loveforlogos]

@MJButterman

The jumping lemmings short was from 1992, not 1989.

[tpirman1982]

@MJButterman Wow! That was awesome. I've seen James Earl Jones in some movies such as Coming To America, The Sandlot, and The Sandlot 2 and I remember he was once the spokesperson for Verizon on the commercials.