Gen X is sometimes referred to as “the Sesame Street generation,” a moniker many of us wear with pride. Sesame Street was a childhood staple, along with Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and The Electric Company. Countless Gen Xers owe a great deal of our early childhood education to those public television programs.
Decades later, Gen X still finds songs and phrases from Sesame Street indelibly imprinted on our brains. If you say to an avid watcher, “A loaf of bread, a container of milk…,” they’ll automatically add, “and a stick of butter.” But there may be no more recognizable clip from the show than this iconic pinball counting song:
One, two, three, four, five…
It’s the jazz-funk earworm that never leaves us, and people have been resharing it in a wave of nostalgia. Comments like these are popping up on social media shares:
“You never realize you’re missing something until you hear and see it 40 years later.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever counted to 12 any other way in my life.”
“Still my favorite way to count. I taught my daughters how to count like this & am now singing it to my granddaughter to teach her how to count. This has been stuck in my head my whole life.”
Some people were surprised to discover that the song was sung by The Pointer Sisters, whose 1980s hits included “I’m So Excited,” “He’s So Shy,” and “Jump (For My Love).”
“1. Love that song. Still sing it today, much to the annoyance of my family. I admit that sometimes I sing it, in fact, to be annoying. 2. Had no idea, at all, that it was anyone famous singing it. Until now.”
“Damn it saw the graphic and now the song will be in my head for 2 days lol. That said I didn’t know it was the Pointer Sisters so that’s pretty cool.”
“I have never forgotten and will always remember! But I did not know it was the Pointer Sisters! See, they are still teaching!”
Jack Black talks about the pinball countdown masterpiece
The brilliance of the pinball countdown lies in both the music and the animation. First, it’s so ’70s in the absolute best way. So very funky. So very psychedelic. But when you consider that the lyrics include only numbers—one to 12, plus whichever single number is featured—it’s amazing that it took such a permanent place in our psyches.
Actor Jack Black has talked about the influence this specific song had on him and his creativity as a kid.
“When I was a kid, I used to watch PBS,” he shared. “I’d watch Sesame Street, and I loved Jim Henson and all of his puppets. And all the people there were so funny and great, and I learned a lot. And one of my favorite things was this little cartoon that taught me how to count to…12.”
Then he sang the counting part with his signature Jack Black flourish.
“It was just really good music and really good animation, and it fired up my creativity like crazy,” he said. “And it inspired me.”
How the Pointer Sisters helped create one of the most iconic Gen X memories
The catchy little ditty was composed and produced by Walt Kraemer, whose company, Imagination, Inc., produced many animation pieces for the Children’s Television Workshop. He shared details of the 1976 recordings of the pinball countdown pieces in an email to blogger Matt Jones:
“Those were indeed the Pointer Sisters. All four of them. At the time only three were performing regularly and I recall budgeting for just the three when June showed up at the session with the rest. It was a bonus. The basic track was performed by San Francisco Bay Area musicians and since there were to be eleven pieces of animation I had the track structured to accomodate three different lead instrument overdubs to give the pieces some variety. On some numbers Andy Narell plays a steel drums solo, on others Mel Martin plays a soprano sax solo, on the rest… I forget. Much credit should go to Ed Bogas for interpreting my melody ideas and for the musical arrangements.”
“The concept and design was devised by our animation director, Jeff Hale. It was his idea that I create basic tracks then record as ‘wild-lines’ the Pointers shouting the various 2-11 numbers in different intensities and different compliments of voices. Then, each time the pin ball hit a selected number he would drop in these (off-key—couldn’t be helped) wild lines.”
He also said that he realized after the fact that he “may have stolen the first five notes of the Woody Woodpecker Song.” Pretty sure no one noticed.
… six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve
There were actually videos for numbers 2 to 12, not 2 to 11. If you want to see all 11 of the shorts, here you go. (Fair warning: you’ll likely never get the song out of your head if you watch them all.)
And why isn’t there a segment for the number 1, you may wonder? It’s a true Gen X mystery.
