- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Nationally known celebrities regularly appear on Sesame Street and often sing on the show also, so a compilation album like In Harmony is a natural.
The Greatest Music
Ever Recorded!
In Harmony (Various Artists) (1980): This I believe is the first Sesame Street album that was not geared strictly to young children; In Harmony 2 was released the following year, and each album received the Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children. Sesame Street had been around for over 10 years at this point and was universally recognized as being groundbreaking not only as a television show, but also as a novel way to approach children’s education altogether. Nationally known recording artists, actors, politicians, and other celebrities regularly appear on Sesame Street and often sing on the show also, so a compilation album like In Harmony is a natural. Most of these songs are newly written, especially for this album I imagine. The exception is the opening track “Wynken, Blynken and Nod”, a beloved children’s poem written by Eugene Field in 1889 that had been set to music by Lucy Simon in 1964. Lucy Simon is the producer of In Harmony; her better known sister Carly Simon was married to James Taylor at the time, and both of their families showed up in force, including Taylor’s brother Livingston Taylor and sister Kate Taylor, who sings the title song “In Harmony” with the “Simon/Taylor Family”. The Doobie Brothers performed “Wynken, Blynken and Nod”; other musicians appearing on In Harmony include Al Jarreau, George Benson, Dr. John, and Bette Midler. Linda Ronstadt and Wendy Waldman (my second Under Appreciated Rock post was about Wendy Waldman) collaborated on a song called “I Want a Horse” that details what is involved in fulfilling this common childhood dream, particularly by girls. Two of the Sesame Street characters, Ernie and Cookie Monster perform a song called “Share”. Remarkably, this is the German release of In Harmony, though the record label is still shown as Sesame Street Records. The old cliché definitely applies here: fun for all ages.