Things Average Jane Learned from TV & Music

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Sesame Street's 40th anniversary is this week, which got me thinking about the other PBS show that influenced me as a child: The Electric Company.

I recall that it was geared for a slightly older audience than Sesame Street, but it was still full of educational short film clips and skits.

One thing I didn't realize at the time is that two of my favorite grammar videos were written and performed by satirist Tom Lehrer, who is best known for songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," and "The Masochism Tango."

Lehrer was a favorite humorist of my grandparents and I was exposed to his albums early in life. I have the whole boxed set of his CDs that came out around 2000. In fact, it was my first purchase on one of my Amazon accounts.

Here are his classic Electric Company videos:

The LY Song

Silent E

Yes, there they are in all their groovy '70s glory.

As I've mentioned before, Tom Lehrer is also responsible for my passing high school chemistry class, thanks to his song, "The Elements." Here's a fun video of that song:

It's amazing how useful it was to have the majority of the periodic table memorized. The only thing that would have been better is if they'd been in order.

So that's my little walk down memory lane. Can you remember any songs from childhood that taught you something useful?

Comments

6 responses to “Things Average Jane Learned from TV & Music”

November 6, 2009

cagey

HEY, YOU GUUUUYS!
Oh man, I LOVED the Electric Company. My favorite bits were the quicksand ones with Rita Moreno. I believe they have a DVD set now and I will definitely be buying them for Team Chaos when they get older.

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November 6, 2009

MoxieMamaKC

I adored the Electric Company when I was a kid!! Did you know they have a new version? My daughter watches it and while it’s amusing, it’s no old school E Company.

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November 6, 2009

Rachel

I was a big Sesame Street fan but I kind of remember Electic Company. Another show (maybe it was just a special) I vaguely remember was some man in a bodysuit that taught you about all of the parts of the body. Don’t remember the song now, but I loved it as a child.

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November 10, 2009

Noisy Quiet

I really enjoyed these! Thanks for the trips down memory lane 🙂 (And I’ve bookmarked your cheesecake page! Lol! Going to have to try that and some of your other recipes.)

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November 13, 2009

Rozanne

Yeah, the Electric Company was great. My mom didn’t let me watch much TV, but since it was “educational” I was allowed to watch Electric Company. Did you realized that Morgan Freeman was a regular on that show? I think he played Easy Reader.

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November 13, 2009

Rozanne

I just watched the silent e video. It totally brought back memories. I had no idea that was Tom Lehrer. Very cool.

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