I Want a Monster to Be My Friend

[minor muppetz]

I read a long time ago on the Yesterdayland message board from somebody who was told this by Christopher Cerf himself that this song was taken off the show because it caused kids to think that it's okay to talk to strangers, and it also made them think that it's okay for strangers to molest them. I don't know what would have misled them to beleive that, but that's also why it was taken off the re-releases of Monsters! and Born To Add. I guess it must have been lyrics that misled them and not just visuals, since it was taken off the album, yet it was later included in Elmopalooza (perhaps they changed the lyrics so that it didn't make them think that these things were okay).

 

[Barry Lee]

Yeah I have seen this before it has Betty Lou, Mauric Monster, a grey monster and Harvey monster very neat clip.

 

[MuppetDude]

Here's the original lyric that caused trouble:

"If I make friends with a friendly monster,
I'd let him bounce me on his knee.
I'd let him do whatever he wantster,
Especially if he's bigger than me!"

The new lyric:

"If I make friends with a friendly monster,
He'd be the best that a friend could be.
I'd let him do whatever he wants to,
And he'd always belong to me."

It's a little better, but it's a shame the show lost a great clip.

(On a funny sidenote, in the clip Maurice barely touches his piano; he's just wiggling his arms in front of it!)

 

[minor muppetz]

Here's the original lyric that caused trouble:

"If I make friends with a friendly monster,
I'd let him bounce me on his knee.
I'd let him do whatever he wantster,
Especially if he's bigger than me!"

Couldn't that line have just been cut from the reissues of the albums that originally featured the song? In a thread about Sesame Street Live, in the scans from the program book for Big Birds Totally Amature Talent Show, lyrics for this song were included. I'll have to check it again to see if this line was in that show.

I wouldn't be surprised if Noggin purposely chose not to air this clip. I do know that Noggin edited quite a few innapropiate scenes such as a scene from Everyone Likes Ice Cream where one of the kids says "You sissy!", and I've read that the first episode had a sketch with a grouo of kids that had many scenes where a black kid kept getting hurt, and that Noggin only aired the beginning of that skit.

 

[zns]

I never realized that this song was a bad influence on kids. It's no wonder it's almost never been shown.

 

[Fuzzy and Blue]

I never saw the original clip of this song, but I do remember when Elmopalooza! (the 30-year anniversary special) was released, and that particular song (sung by En Vogue, of whom I am not a fan) was being shown on a TV screen at the WHYY store of Knowledge about 6 years ago....

~Dana~