C is for Cookie (song)

"C is for Cookie" is Cookie Monster's signature song.
==Versions of the song==
The original version of the song featured Cookie Monster standing behind a giant letter C, with a black background that eventually lightened to reveal a chorus including Grover, Fenwick, Herry Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Billy.
In a Season 21 insert (1990), Candice Bergen paid a visit to the Fix-It Shop to have her radio repaired. To test it out, she lip-synced to the song, complete with some visual aids. A brief instrumental from the song also appears as the sketch's ending music button. 
In Season 25 (1994), a new operatic version was taped, featuring opera singer Marilyn Horne as Cleopatra and a chorus of Anything Muppets in an Egyptian setting, with a pyramid made entirely out of cookies in the background. At the end of the song once Cleopatra is carried away out of sight, Cookie Monster appears in Egyptian clothing and pulls a cookie off the pyramid, causing it to collapse with a huge crash. This version includes a brief introductory verse (titled "All the Sky Has Turned Gray"), written by Luis Santeiro and Dave Conner. ASCAP Work ID #312065977 
In Season 30 (1998), another new version was filmed, once again sung by Cookie Monster (re-using the original soundtrack), but this time standing in front of the giant C on a light blue background with fancy light effects. The chorus of monsters included Grover, Herry Monster, Elmo, Zoe, Telly, Rosita, and several AM Monsters (including Kermit the Forg and Max). 
A "mash-up" of the different performances is included on the DVD, C is for Cookie Monster. Similarly, a clip montage in Stars and Street Forever features clips from the original, Marilyn Horne's version, and the segment with Candice Bergen mixed together.
File:Sesame Street Cookie Monster Sings C is for Cookie|Original version
File:Sesame Street Marilyn Horne Sings C Is For Cookie|Marilyn Horne's cover
File:Sesame Street C Is for Cookie 2 with Cookie Monster|1998 remake
==Other appearances==
===Specials===
Clips from the original version of this song appeared in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, the Great Performances documentary The World of Jim Henson and Stars and Street Forever.
A brief clip from the opera version also appeared in Stars and Street Forever and the full clip appeared in Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration and The Street We Live On.
Cookie Monster sang a verse of the song in Elmopalooza as part of a medley of Sesame Street songs. The cast performs the song in another medley in their 2000 Evening at Pops concert.
The origin of the song is touched upon in the 2016 special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas. In a 19th century version of Sesame Street (as shown in a bedtime story for Elmo), Santa Claus tells Cookie Monster's great-grandmonster that he's been writing a song, "C is for...," and needs a hook. He and Cookie think for a bit and Cookie remarks, "Well, c is for cookie and that good enough for me." Santa passes on that idea, however. The tune is briefly quoted in the score as Santa Claus later gobbles down some cookies in Cookie Monster-fashion.
Cookie Monster and Joseph Gordon-Levitt sang a verse of the song in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration.
===Sesame Street segments===
The song has also been used and referenced in various episodes and inserts on Sesame Street.
*In Episode 0599, Biff exits Hooper's Store with his order singing, "C is for Coffee, that's good enough for me."
*A group of Grouches perform a variation of the song in Episode 1562 as Oscar the Grouch's campaign song, "O is for Oscar."
*Episode 3018 features Lillian singing the song, only changed to name foods beginning with the letter P.
*Baby Bear has periodically been heard singing a version of the song, "P is for Porridge," to himself in a number of episodes.
*In Episode 3518, Bob and Ruthie are seen singing the song as Bob plays it on the piano in Finders Keepers.
*In Episode 3564, the song is featured as "C is for Cuckoo," the cuckoo bird national anthem.
*In Episode 3804, Big Bird got the song stuck in his head after watching the newer clip of the song, and constantly tried to find ways to get the song out of his head so he could do other things (such as tell the viewers what the number of the day is).
*In Episode 4074, Telly received letters from his Letter of the Month club; whenever he pressed a button on his letter C, it played a brief audio recording of Cookie Monster singing "C is for Cookie." 
*Cues from the song have been used as background music in Episodes 4184 and 4197, and as a music button at the end of Adam Sandler and Cookie Monster's explanation of the word "crunchy".
*In Episode 4279, Gordon pulls a cactus from Big Bird's nest. He and Big Bird sing a short little song - "C is for Cactus."
*In Episode 4306, while looking for a song for the letter G, Super Grover (knowing only that he needs a letter song) suggests "C is for Cookie," singing a small portion of it.
*In a season 44 sketch demonstrating the letter H, Cookie corrals a trio of horses that hum the song.
===Other===
*Cookie Monster sings a verse of the song in Big Bird's Animal Alphabet.
*In the end of "Elmo's Deep Sea Adventure", Oscar looks through his underwater findings and sees a bag of damp macaroons and says, "I guess the sea is for cookies! Good enough for me!"
*In a Play with Me Sesame insert, Cookie sings the song with Grover as part of his "Move and Groove" segment.
*An instrumental of the song underscores Cookie Monster's appearance in Elmo's World: Mail.
*In a Plaza Sésamo insert, Pancho Contreras sings a version of the song, "C Es De Cebolla", singing in praise of his favorite food, onions. 
*Cookie also sang the song at the Jim Henson's Musical World concert on April 14, 2012.
*Pentatonix performed the song with Cookie Monster in a video posted to the SesameStreet's YouTube Channel in 2014. In a separate video (also featuring Cookie Monster), the group sings a mash-up of the song with "Rubber Duckie." Both videos were filmed in the Sesame Street green room.
*The first five notes of the song appear as the ringtone for Cookie and Gonger's tablet in Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck, as well as a doorbell in three celebrity segments.
*Cookie also sang the song in a Sesame Street medley during the Tiny Desk Concert.
*The Joyous String Ensemble included the song in a medley in episode 106 of The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. Ben Platt and Cookie later sang the song together in episode 109.
*Cookie Monster and some cookies (Chipowski, The Gingerbread Man, Figby, and Little Cookie) sing the song as a part of a "Cookie Monster songs" medley in a 2023 Best Friends Band video.
==Notes==
*Joe Raposo's original lyric sheet listed a fourth item compared to the shape of the letter C, a banana ("if it's all bent"). This would be said between the "donut" and "moon" lines.Original lyric sheet shown in Below the Frame, January 20, 2017
*The original version was filmed on November 24, 1971 and was directed by Jim Henson.Sesame Street Unpaved The Marilyn Horne version was directed by Lisa Simon.Ken Diego at Forever Young: A Celebration of 50 Years of Sesame Street, DGA Panel, April 2019 The season 30 version was taped on September 14, 1998, and was directed by Ted May.Documents provided by trusted source
*Puppeteers in the Marilyn Horne version include Rick Lyon.Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show Episode 94: Rick Lyon (50:13) March 5, 2023
*Puppeteers in the 1998 remake include Martin P. Robinson, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, Carmen Osbahr, Joey Mazzarino, Rick Lyon, John Kennedy, Kevin Clash, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, and Alice Dinnean.Sesame English "Rock On" credits
*The 1998 remake was originally released on Sesamestreet.org as it aired. When the site began upgrading videos in 2012, the video was changed to a different version, where Frank Oz's original vocal track remains, but a rerecorded music track is overlaid onto the existing audio. This new music track can also be heard in some parts of the "C is for Cookie Mash Up" in C is for Cookie Monster and the Sesame English episode, "Rock On."
*Outside Sesame Street, the song was translated in Italian and presented at the 30th "Zecchino d'Oro", i.e. a children's song competition program popular in Italy, in 1987 as "A come alfabeto" .
==Releases==
===Audio===
;Original version
*The Muppet Alphabet Album (1971)
*Muppet ABCD (single, 1971)
*C is for Cookie (LP) (1974)
*Sing the Hit Songs of Sesame Street (1974)
*60 Favorite Songs from Sesame Street (1975)
*25 Greatest Hits (1975)
*C is for Cookie/If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake (single, 1976)
*Muppet ABCD (single, 1976)
*Letters, Numbers and Signs (1977)
*Muppet Masquerade (1978)
*Sesame Street Treasury (1980)
*The Best of Cookie Monster (1983)
*Favorite Songs from Jim Henson's Muppets (1986)
*Cookie Monster and Grover: True Blue (1990)
*Sing: Songs of Joe Raposo (1992)
*Platinum All-Time Favorites (1995)
*C is for Cookie (CD) (1995)
*ABC (1996)
*Sesame Street Best (1997)
*Songs from the Street (2003)
*ABCs and 123s (2012)
*Lyrical Letters (2014)
*C is for Cookie! (2018)
*All-Time Favorites 1 (2018)
*Cookie Monster Mix! (2019)
;Live version
*Sesame Street LIVE! (1973)
*C is for Cookie/My Little Game (single, 1973)
*C is for Cookie (LP) (1974)
*Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree (1981)
;Cast version
*Bert & Ernie Sing-Along (1975)
*The Best of Sesame Street (1987)
;Disco version
*Sesame Street Fever (1978)
*C is for Cookie (disco version)/Has Anybody Seen My Dog? (disco version) (single, 1979)
;Opera version
*Sesame Street Celebrates! (1994)
===Video===
;Original version
*Learning About Letters (1986)
*Monster Hits (1990)
*Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years (1993)
*Cookie Monster's Best Bites (1995)
*Old School: Volume 1 (2006)
*Best of Friends (2012)
*Awesome Alphabet Collection (2019)
*50 Years and Counting (2019)
;Opera version
*Elmo in Grouchland: Sing and Play (1999—beginning edited, added on-screen lyrics)
*The Street We Live On (2004)
*40 Years of Sunny Days (2009)
;Remake
*Sesame English: Rock On (2000, edited)
*Alphabet Songs (2014)
===Online===
*Sesamestreet.org
**original: 
**remake: 
*SesameStreet's YouTube Channel
**original: 
**opera: 
**remake: 
===Publications===
*Sesame Street LIVE! (1973)
*Favorite Songs from Jim Henson's Muppets (1986)
*The Sesame Street Songbook (1992 and 2007 editions only)
*Sesame Street Unpaved (1998)
===Other===
*Letters (computer game) (released as audio)
*Elmo Loves ABCs app
==See also==
* Cookie Monster songs
==Sources==
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Sesame Street Songs
Category:Alphabet