One of These Things

"One of These Things" was a song regularly used on Sesame Street for sketches where viewers would be shown a group of four items, one of which was different from the other three, and they would have to identify the item which didn't belong. A similar sorting song that asks the inverse question is "Three of These Things."
The game has been used in segments starring William Wegman's dogs, and in animated form, melody only, with footprints. It was also the basis for a game in one "Journey to Ernie" segment. A line of the song is included in the theme for the "This Is the Game Today" segments from Season 37, and some of the games from "This Is the Game Today" include this song.
==Versions==
Picture	Singer 	First Appearance 	Subjects
 	Susan 	Test Show 2 	First round: 3 and three W'sSecond round (sung as "One of These Shapes"): Three triangles and a circleAccording to research documents, the children complained when the camera zoomed in on one item at a time.
 	Susan 	Episode 0001 	W and three 2s
 	Susan and the kids 	Episode 0011 	Clothing items and a fish
 	Susan and Oscar the Grouch 	Episode 0013 	Ice cream cone sizes
 	Bob 	Episode 0030 	Three small and one large O, three big and one small hand, three long and one short pencil, and three fat wedges and one thin wedge of cake.
 	Susan 	Episode 0043 	Shoe sizes and ball sizes
 	Susan 	Episode 0078 	Letters and a tree
 	Bob 	Episode 0094 	Abstract shapes
 	Susan 	Episode 0123 	Capital and lower-case Rs
 	Susan, Bob, and Grover 	Episode 0131 	Circles
 	Susan 	Episode 0133 	Letter combinations
 	Susan 	Episode 0138 	Abstract shapes
 	Susan 	Episode 0139 	Groups of squares
 	Susan 	Episode 0152 	Circle patterns
 	Cookie Monster 	Episode 0174 	Number of cookies on each plate
 	Bob and the kids 	Episode 0207 	Ds
 	Susan 	Episode 0216 	Three small Qs and a small P
 	Susan 	Episode 0260 	First round: Three small capital As and one big capital A. Second round: Three identical large elephants and a small one.
 	Maria 	Episode 0280 	Oscar's trash
 	Mr. Snuffleupagus 	Episode 0291 	China plates and a cup
 	Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus 	Episode 0298 	Three cut-out drawings of Snuffleupaguses and a cup
 	Bob 	Episode 0309 	Images of blob-like shapes
 	Jay and the kids 	Episode 0319 	Sidewalk chalk shapes
 	Luis 	Episode 0337 	Raggedy Ann dolls
 	Maria 	Episode 0352 	Cookies
 	David 	Episode 0354 	Squares
 	Gordon and the kids 	Episode 0378 	Carrots
 	Brynne 	Episode 0378 	Chairs
 	Susan 	Episode 0382 	Books
 	Bob and the kids 	Episode 0393 	Gloves
 	Gordon 	Episode 0394 	Three uppercase Es and one lowercase E
 	David 	Episode 0399 	Squares
 	Maria 	Episode 0400 	Pavas (Puerto Rican hats)
 	Rafael 	Episode 0400 	Roosters (in Spanish)
 	Bob 	Episode 0405 	Trucks
 	David 	Episode 0407 	Blobs
 	Luis 	Episode 0410 	Insects
 	David 	Episode 0415 	Trash cans
 	Gordon 	Episode 0437 	Beds
 	Susan, Shola, and John-John 	Episode 0441 	Numbers of circles on dice
 	David 	Episode 0457 	Hats
 	David 	Episode 0448 	Three Js and one H
 	Maria 	Episode 0448 	Leaves
 	David 	Episode 0465 	Capital M and three lowercase Ms
 	Maria 	Episode 0475 	Three rubber balls and one alphabet block
 	Susan 	Episode 0514 	Happy and sad faces
 	Gordon 	Episode 0530 	Three baby elephants and one mother elephant
center 	Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus 	Episode 0533 	Three circles and one square
 	David 	Episode 0536 	Three starfish and one crab
 	Bert 	Episode 0559 	Pigeons
 	Big Bird 	Episode 0573 	Big and small bowls of birdseed
 	Bob and Maria 	Episode 0592 	Three triangles and 23
 	David 	Episode 0613 	Pencils
 	Bob 	Episode 0657 	Three regular lightbulbs and one flame-shaped lightbulb
 	Biff and Maria 	Episode 0660 	Dump trucks
 	David 	Episode 0669 	Beans
 	Bob and Count von Count 	Episode 0711 	Three small birds and Big Bird
 	Maria, Luis, and Count von Count 	Episode 0751 	Jars
 	Big Bird 	Episode 0763 	Quantities of telephones
 	Maria, David, Luis, and the kids 	Episode 0797 	Campaign buttons
 	Bob and the kids 	Episode 0806 	Doorbells
 	Bert 	Episode 0827 	Pigeons
 	Bob 	Episode 0828 	Bs and a D
 	Count von Count 	Episode 0831 	Icicles
 	The Amazing Mumford and Susan 	Episode 0845 	Fire helmets and Mumford's magic hat
 	Herry Monster 	Episode 0846 	Different sized weights
 	Bob and the kids 	Episode 0931 	Three rubber duckies and a toy boat
 	Luis 	Episode 0939 	4s and an H
 	The adults, Gladys the Cow, and the kids 	Episode 1056 	People and a cow
 	Bob and the kids 	Episode 1600 	Three kids and a Honker
 	Bob, David, Gordon, and Slimey 	Episode 1904 	Four dancers
 	Bob, Susan, and the kids 	Episode 2132 	Three lemons and one fish
 	Forgetful Jones 	Episode 2180 	Three Birdketeers and Forgetful (a cowboy)
 	Simon Soundman, Susan, and the kids 	Episode 2306 	Three Honkers and a bird
 	Olivia 	Episode 2323 	Three birds and a fish
 	Uncle Wally and horses 	Episode 2578 	Uncle Wally and a singing group of horses
 	Gina, Telly, and Elmo 	Episode 2699 	Boats
 	Luis and Baby Natasha 	Episode 2707 	Three wingnuts and a bolt
 	Gordon, Gina, Oscar, and Ernest 	Episode 2720 	Shapes
 	Bob and The Great Blechini 	Episode 2730 	Dogs and a rabbit
 	Sydney 	Episode 2755 	Three cans and one cup
 	Telly Monster 	Episode 2889 	Three big plates and one small bowl
 	A penguin 	Episode 3145 	Four penguins - one of which has a clown nose on its beak, and one of which is Wolfgang in disguise.
 	Mr. Handford 	Episode 3277 	Three square sandwiches and a bowl of porridge.
 	Joey and Davey Monkey 	Episode 3293 	Three pineapples and a lamb
 	Gordon 	Episode 3366 	Ruthie, Davey, Joey, and Gordon
 	Davey, Joey, and Telly 	Episode 3373 	three faux-bananas and a real one
 	Carlo, the kids, Elmo, and Telly 	Episode 3432 	Three number 15s and one letter O
 	Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear 	Episode 3534 	Three bears and a chicken
 	Big Bird and Gordon 	Episode 3540 	The Squirrelles and a rabbit
 	Humphrey 	Episode 3662 	A picture of himself and his three siblings
 	Elmo and Zoe 	Episode 3872 	A number 1 and three socks
 	Susan 	Episode 4039 	A hat, a sweater, a shoe, and a basketball
 	Louie 	Episode 4809 	Vegetables and meat
 	Oscar the Grouch, Rosita, and Herry Monster	A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration 	Instruments and Grouch instruments
 	Susan and Bob 	Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration	Three number 50s and an LIncidentally, L is the Roman numeral for 50.
==Notes==
* Sesame Street Unpaved (page 151) claims that one version of the song featured John-John pretending to be Bob and Bob pretending to be John-John.
==Feet animations==
A series of animated segments from season 4 featured an instrumental of the song over visuals of footprints or shoes in a graph.
2941-Shoes.jpg|#1 - One Foot
1092-24.jpg|#2- Big Foot
ExcuseMe.jpg|#3
==Releases==
;Audio
*The Sesame Street Book & Record (1970) 
*One of These Things/Up and Down (single, 1970)
*Somebody Come and Play (1974)
*60 Favorite Songs from Sesame Street (1975)
*25 Greatest Hits (1975)
*Susan and Bob Sing: One of These Things/What Are Kids Called (single, 1976)
*10th Anniversary Album (1978)
*Platinum Too (1997)
;Video
*Play-Along Games and Songs (Cookie Monster version)
*Old School: Volume 1 (in episodes 0001, 0131, 0276, 0406, and 0536)
*Old School: Volume 2 (in Episode 1056)
*Let's Play Games (kids with umbrellas version) (on bonus CD-ROM)
*40 Years of Sunny Days (Cookie Monster version)
;Publications
*Sesame Street Songbook Vol. 1
*The Sesame Street Songbook (1971, 1992, and 2007 editions)
;Online
*YouTube (Cookie Monster version) 
==Mentions==
* This song was included in a 2004 Subway commercial, where it was called "One of These Subs."
* Dave Grohl, from the Foo Fighters, admits that he was influenced by "One of These Things" while writing the song "The Pretender." 
* The Mindless Self-Indulgence song "Unsociable" has the line: "One of these shapes is not like the other holes," which is very similar to this song.
* In the tour Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, Peanut comments on Jose Jalapeno calling Jeff "Senor Heff" and then "Senor Cheff." Jeff Dunham says it's the same thing and Peanut replies "No it's not! Didn't you watch Sesame Street?" Then he sings a short clip of "One of These Things" singing "One of these things just doesn't belong here." Then he parodies the end of the show by saying that "this show was sponsored by the sound CH."
* Taylor Swift's song "ME!" references the song in the lyrics. 
* On an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation titled "99 Problems, Pt. 1," while discussing the scarcity paradigm, Riley says, "Look, there's Jess T, Jess M, Jess B, and then there's Fiona," to which Drew replies, "Wow! One of these things is not like the others."
* After prematurely declaring an election win, Donald Trump received the Sesame Street treatment with a parody of the song, in the November 4, 2020, cold open of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 
==External links==
* Lyrics
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Category:Sesame Street Songs