"C Is For Cookie", by Joe Raposo, is a song performed by Cookie Monster, a Muppet character from the PBS television series Sesame Street. It was first performed on the show on March 28, 1972, although it had been released on record a year previously, on The Muppet Alphabet Album. Along with Kermit's Bein' Green and Ernie's Rubber Duckie, it is one of the show's most recognisable songs. The original version was made in 1971 and was directed by Jim Henson, marking it one of Henson's rare Sesame Street sketches he directed.
History
According to the Muppet Central articles on the Songs from the Street Boxed Set, people really like cookies and,"In 1971, Jim Henson and his performers teamed with Jerry Juhl, Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss to write a sketch on each letter of the alphabet".[1]C Is For Cookie derives from this project.
Actress Candice Bergen sang the song when she visited Sesame Street.
In 1993/1994, a new operatic version was taped, featuring opera singer Marilyn Horne as Cleopatra 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.
Since then, numerous authorized and unauthorized versions of the song have been produced, including "funky" and "sweet" versions released on the 2003 record Cookie Monster & The Girls.[3] Laura Pace's review of the home video Elmo's World: The Street We Live On noted 'the bizarreness of 'C is for Cookie" done in Aida-style opera'.[4] A brief reprise of the song is also performed by Cookie Monster and the cast of Sesame Street on the 1975 album Bert & Ernie Sing-Along. In addition, since the advent of Youtube, there have also been recordings of the song, regular and operatic, in reverse, under such titles as "C Is For Cookie Reversed" or "Cheese Good For Fleas"(which is what the phrase "C is for Cookie" sounds like dubbed backwards).
Concerned about increased obesity rates in children, PBS has announced that for its 36th season Sesame Street will have Cookie Monster promoting a more healthy approach to diet and nutrition. Cookie Monster listened to another character's song about cookies being a sometime food. At the end, Cookie Monster declared 'Now is sometimes!' and ate a cookie. This is nothing new however, as Cookie also did a rap music video called "Healthy Food" in the mid 1980s where he sings about healthy food like bread, fruits and vegetables with assorted muppets (most of whom are themselves singing, googly-eyed breads, fruits, and vegetables).[5]
Sheet music of the song has been published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, and others. The toy "Letter of the Day Cookie Jar" features Cookie Monster saying a short phrase about each letter. For "C", he says "C is for Cookie". He also adds that a donut is a 'C' if you eat part of it.
Persuasive Techniques
C is for Cookie can be regarded as a case study in persuasive oratory, emphasising the emotional aspect of public speaking. Cookie Monster builds excitement by answering his opening rhetorical question, "Now what starts with the letter C?" with the obvious reply, "Cookie starts with C!" He then challenges the audience, "Let's think of other things that starts with C," before quickly replying, "Oh, who cares about the other things?" casually dismissing a whole range of other possibilities as irrelevant. Thus, having ostensibly come for the purpose of covering the letter C in its entirety, Cookie Monster has already focused his agenda exclusively on cookies, employing the classic bait and switch tactic. Several times in his presentation, Cookie Monster emphasises what appears to be the central thesis of his remarks: "C is for cookie, that's good enough for me!" The appealing rhythm of this slogan appears designed to entrance listeners, swaying their emotions and making them instinctively want to chant along with him. After rousing the crowd, Cookie Monster systematically lays out the logical underpinnings of his pro-cookie ideology, comparing cookies to round donuts with one bite out of them and to the moon during its crescent phase, in essence using a straw man argument that implies his opponents would advocate the superiority of these competitors over cookies. In this sense, Cookie Monster may be proposing a false dichotomy representing cookies as the only viable choice to a group of obviously inferior alternatives. But before the audience has a chance to catch on, Cookie Monster launches into another round of repetitive chanting, "C is for cookie, that's good enough for me, yeah!" as young children sing along. Here, Cookie Monster uses a propaganda technique strikingly similar to that employed in George Orwell's Animal Farm by the pig Napoleon, who trained the farm's sheep to bleat, "Four legs good, two legs bad" on his cue. Cookie Monster then adds visual stimulation to his discourse by chomping into a large cookie, concluding his remarks with "Umm-umm-umm-umm-umm" and other chewing sounds.
Another very amusing addition (11 Jan 2006) to the C Is For Cookie page was the following subsection:
