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Sesame Street has a half-century-long tradition of legendary musical guests and innovative adaptations: from Stevie Wonder’s iconic performance in the early ‘70s to Tony Bennett retrofitting his timeless classic “Fly
Me to the Moon” to be a story about the show’s worm character Slimy on an expedition to the moon (“Slimy to the Moon,” of course); from theFugees’ inclusion anthem “Just Happy to Be Me” to blues legend B.B. King singing an ode to the letter that has meant so much to his career; from Smokey Robinson getting groped by the letter “U” for “U Really Got a Hold on Me” to — this writer’s personal favorite — opera legend Marilyn Horne trilling an orchestral version of “C Is for Cookie” on an elaborate mock-Egyptian set while wearing a tiara adorned with a bouncing cookie.
And some 57 years after the show premiered, its brilliant combination of education, musicality and humor continues: They have transformed Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go” into a potty-training anthem called “Got to Go” with inimitable lead vocals from the Cookie Monster.
It’s a note-for-note rendition too, complete with the song’s chanted middle section from guest vocalists Elmo and Abby Cadabby. And although we don’t get to see Muppets doing the world-famous hand-gestures spelling out the song’s title, instead we get singing letters spelling out POTTY.
Cookie Monster intones in his trademark broken English:
“Stop and listen to me body/ It’s saying that it’s time for potty,
There’s a growing feeling in my tummy, that me gotta go pee, me gotta go pee…
There they go again, now me legs are grooving/ There might be a mess if me don’t get movin’…
“P-O-T-T-Y, woah-oh, your body knows when you’ve got to go…”
Contacted by Variety, a rep for Chappell Roan said the singer had no comment. Indeed, none was necessary: Granting permission for her and cowriter/producer Dan Nigro’s song to be used in such an amusing and imaginatively instructive way — for young children, no less — is a statement in itself.
