The Best Sesame Street Musical Guests -- Part 1

Like its sister program The Muppet Show, Sesame Street has attracted an astounding array of performers from all over the world of music. Starting with legends like Lena Horne when the show debuted and spreading out into rock, R&B, country and pretty much every other branch of musical expression, a guest spot on Sesame Street was proof positive that you'd made it. Here is the first installment my favorites from the show's history, facilitated by the kindliness of YouTube. Johnny Cash - Nasty Dan The Man In Black sings a little tune about a no-good dude, his lousy wife and their crummy kid to a very appreciative Oscar The Grouch. Really shows how the program used to be a lot funkier and more emotionally complex than it is now.   Yo Yo Ma - Quartet for Honkers, Dinger and Cello Virtuoso cellist Yo Yo Ma has performed alongside all sorts of musicians, but the weirdest have to be his puppet compatriots in the Sesame Street Chamber Music Society. Starting off with some gentle wordplay, sparks really start to fly when the group gets going. Little Richard - Rubber Duckie What's better than Little Richard wearing a leopard-print jacket sitting in a bathtub? All of the aforementioned knocking out Ernie's bathtub anthem. A few points taken off for the dismal 80s synthesized backing band aren't enough to dislodge it from my list. Listen My Brother - Count To Twenty The late Luther Vandross (in the pink shirt) anchored this New York theater group, which appeared twice on the 1969 season of Sesame Street. This track is a great Stax/Motown breakdown from start to finish, culminating in an awesome fire escape raveup at the end.   P.S. Don't forget to enter to win our new Lullaby Renditions of Queen CD!