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One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)

"One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)" is the title song for one of the trademark segments in the children's television series Sesame Street.[1][2] In it, the adult actor presented four items, three of which matched, and one that was different.[2] The words of the song asked the children viewing the show to figure out which one "doesn't belong". At the end of the song, the actor presented the correct answer.

Invented by Joan Ganz Cooney, "One of These Things" appeared in the first-ever episode of the television show[3] and in the original 1968 proposal for the show.[2] It is one of the songs introduced by the founding musical director, Joe Raposo.[1] Raposo wrote the music, and Jon Stone wrote the lyrics.[4] It was once voted the 12th most popular Sesame Street song by Billboard.[5]

Concept

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Example[6]
   
   

In addition to being a song, "One of These Things" was also a classification game.[7] Early versions showed four letters or numbers on an easel; later versions used split screen technology to display videos.[2] During the first verse of the song, children are encouraged to look at the items and decide which one was different from the others, rather than passively staring at the television.[2][7] There is an eight-bar interlude followed by a verse asking whether they have guessed the answer.[6] At the end of the song, the actor would provide the correct answer and encourage the children.[2]

Children who watched the show regularly improved significantly in their ability to sort objects into like and unlike categories, and this improvement has been attributed in part to this song.[8]

Encouraging the children to think about which answer was correct before being told the answer was a significant strategy for meeting the educational goals of the Children's Television Workshop, and "One of These Things" is a clear example of this approach.[7] Presenting it as a puzzle to be solved by the children increased the amount of interaction.[9] It also fit into their intended target audience, which was children who were watching television without an adult present to actively engage them in educational activities.[2] Other segments on the show, including one in which James Earl Jones slowly recited the alphabet, also gave children an opportunity to repeat the correct answers given by the actors, or to give an answer and hear the actors confirm their correct choices.[2]

As the song became familiar to children watching the show, the Community Education Services program of Children’s Television Workshop recommended that volunteers and educators encourage children to sing along with it.[10]

The game was popular in the early decades of Sesame Street, but not in later decades.[11] It has been speculated that its absence is due to changing social views about rejecting or ridiculing things that seem different.[11] A successor was called "Three of These Things Belong Together".[12]

Cultural influence

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The song has been invoked to recommend comparison or classification as a method of thinking about a situation or problem.[13] This has been used in fields as diverse as public communications,[14] automobile repair,[15] philosophy,[16] healthcare,[17] and anti-terrorism planning.[18]

The song is sometimes used as a cultural reference to suggest that someone is trying to be different.[1] One actor reports that it was sometimes sung on movie sets, to signal that someone was out of place.[19] It has been quoted in rulings issued by American judges.[4] It has also been used to suggest that something has been judged inferior or improper, such as a poor decision in government,[20][21] and even the choice of guest performers on Sesame Street.[22]

Other uses

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The song has been used in auditions for Sesame Street cast members.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Dodero, Camille (8 October 2016). "From 'Rubber Duckie' to One Direction (but please, no Eminem): Questlove, Big Bird (!) and the creators of Sesame Street reveal the secrets behind the legendary show's music--stay away from controversial artists--which has yielded viral videos and a lawsuit from The Beatles". Billboard. Vol. 128, no. 25. p. 48.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Morrow, Robert W.; Morrow, Robert W. (2006). "Sesame Street" and the Reform of Children's Television. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 63–64, 104–105. ISBN 978-0-8018-8230-2.
  3. ^ Hopwood, Kate (10 November 2015). "Sesame Street ushers in new era for children's television". The Globe & Mail. p. A2.
  4. ^ a b Klingensmith, Mark W. (2019-11-15). Lyrics in the Law: Music's Influence on America's Courts. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-4985-9487-5.
  5. ^ Justice, Lenora Jean; Hooker, Steven D. (2019-05-17). "Instructional Design, Educational Technology, and LGBTQ Students: Which One of These Things Doesn't Belong?". In Blankenship, Rebecca (ed.). Critical Essays on the New Moral Imperative for Supporting Marginalized Students in PK-20 Education. IGI Global. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-5225-7788-1.
  6. ^ a b Davis, Michael (2008). Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. Penguin. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-670-01996-0.
  7. ^ a b c Reimer, Mavis Jeunesse (Summer 2013). "Tell me how to get to Sesame Street". Young People, Texts, Cultures. 5 (1). University of Toronto Press: 1–15. doi:10.1353/jeu.2013.0002. ISSN 1920-2601. S2CID 143473895.
  8. ^ Christakis, Dimitri A.; Zimmerman, Frederick J. (2006-08-22). The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids. Rodale. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-59486-276-2.
  9. ^ Sherry, John L. (January 2013). "Formative Research for STEM Educational Games: Lessons From the Children's Television Workshop". Zeitschrift für Psychologie. 221 (2): 90–97. doi:10.1027/2151-2604/a000134. ISSN 2190-8370.
  10. ^ Ostrofsky, Kathryn A. (September 2012). "Taking Sesame to the Streets: Young Children's Interactions with Pop Music's Urban Aesthetic in the 1970s 1: Taking Sesame to the Streets". Journal of Popular Music Studies. 24 (3): 287–304. doi:10.1111/j.1533-1598.2012.01336.x.
  11. ^ a b Migdalek, Jack (2014-10-24). The Embodied Performance of Gender. Routledge. pp. 162–164. ISBN 978-1-317-61019-9.
  12. ^ Fisch, Shalom M.; Truglio, Rosemarie T. (2014-04-08). G Is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. Routledge. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-135-66495-4.
  13. ^ Ward, Eric K. (Spring 2022). "'You're My Inspiration'". American Educator. 46 (1): 7. ISSN 0148-432X. All of us grew up learning how to sort our world. I remember being praised as a toddler when I fit different geometric shaped blocks into the corresponding cutouts in one of my earliest toys. I remember the Sesame Street jingle, One of these things is not like the others; one of these things doesn't belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish this song? Sorting is how the world is structured.
  14. ^ Gatchet, Roger Davis; Gatchet, Amanda Davis (2020-10-01). "One of these things is (not) like the others: Form, genre, and presidential portraits". Communication Teacher. 34 (4): 277–281. doi:10.1080/17404622.2020.1714069. ISSN 1740-4622. S2CID 214423257.
  15. ^ Anello, John (2018). "Sesame Street Diagnostics: A Visual Inspection may help you to Uncover when 'One of These Things is Not Like the Other'". Motor Age. Vol. 137, no. 2. UBM, LLC. p. 4.
  16. ^ Nickel, Ken (2017). "Properly Basic Theistic Belief: A Sesame Street Objection". Think. 16 (47): 45–56. doi:10.1017/S1477175617000203. ISSN 1477-1756. S2CID 171672321.
  17. ^ Giacomini, Mita (2005). "One of These Things Is Not like the Others: The Idea of Precedence in Health Technology Assessment and Coverage Decisions". The Milbank Quarterly. 83 (2): 193–223. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0009.2005.00344.x. ISSN 0887-378X. PMC 2690141. PMID 15960769.
  18. ^ Spagnoli, Linda (September 2008). "One of these things is not like the others: customizing terrorism preparedness to meet LA. County's unique needs". Law Enforcement Technology. 35 (9). Cygnus Business Media. ISSN 0747-3680.
  19. ^ Flint, Joe (20 November 1998). "Open 'Sesame'". Entertainment Weekly. No. 459.
  20. ^ "Flunking 'Sesame Street'". The Palm Beach Post. 26 July 2001.
  21. ^ Pan, Olivia (21 February 2020). "One of These Things Is Not Like the Others: Rush Limbaugh and the Presidential Medal Of Freedom". UWIRE. The fact that this individual was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an award whose past recipients include Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is not only disgraceful, but insulting to those past recipients. It also seriously brings to mind the old Sesame street song that goes, "One of these things is not like the others." A Sesame street child fan could figure this one out.
  22. ^ Falcone, Lauren Beckham (2010-09-23). "Do we need Katy Perry to rock Elmo's world?". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  23. ^ "Sonia Manzano (Performer/Writer)". Journal of Popular Film and Television. 48 (4): 183–187. 2020-10-01. doi:10.1080/01956051.2020.1833164. ISSN 0195-6051. S2CID 230795103.
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