I can see for kilometers and kilometers

Learnin' the metric system!

Why is The Man keeping Roosevelt Franklin down?

Roosevelt Franklin was screwed from the start.
As the token black muppet on the early days of Sesame Street, he was made to carry to weight of the entire race on his spindly, turtlenecked shoulders. Wee Roosevelt, who said his first name first and his second name second, was always getting into trouble. He hung out with his brother, sister, main man Mobity Mosley, and some Mexican kid.

"Roosevelt Franklin Counts"

This album, a 1974 reissue of 1971's "The Year of Roosevelt Franklin", is voiced by Matt "Gordon" Robinson. Someone saw fit to make a front cover that looked like a mugshot from clown jail. Roosevelt lasted only a few years on the Street. Apparently, complaints were made that Roosevelt was a bad negro stereotype and a poor example for children. I'll let you be the judge.

"The Skin I'm In"


Matt Robinson as Gordon, with an orange Oscar.

Roosevelt music is funky, jiving step up from the usual Sesame Street fare. We can only guess what he might have done with a disco album.

Mobity Mosley meets Surfin' Bird on "Mobity Mosley's Months"

Roosevelt & Abeceto sing about sharing on "Halfies"

Safety is the theme with "Safety Boy Blues". "A city street is like a beehive... where the bees have gone out of their minds"

Back to learnin' with "Roosevelt Frankin's Alphabet"


Wikipedia on Roosevelt Franklin.
Matt Robinson died of Parkinsons disease in 2002.

Strange children's songs from Thomas Moore

There's a thrift store I go to that always has tons of Children's records. Especially those newer 80s-90s ones with lots of dull songs about obeying your parents and respecting other cultures. I usually only buy them if there's something unusual there, like maybe a song about how to pee or perhaps a cover of "I Am the Walrus". Anyway There were several records (all signed on the back) by a guy named Thomas Moore... The others were slickly-made things with the usual themes about exercise and hygiene, but one stood out for its craptacular home-made cover consisting entirely of ball-point pen X's. A friend was over inspecting my day's finds, and she said "I wanna listen to this one." Puttin the German disco records aside, I put on "Thomas Moore sings The Family". Holy crap.

"Don't Feel Sad"

Basically, it's "Don't feel sad, if you're whole family is dead." I suppose its not the message that's bad (unlike the singing, songwriting, and piano)... But it is a bit shocking right off the bat. Other songs include "The New Baby At My House", "Look What I did This Morning", "I Get Mad", and "I'm a Special Kid". My favorite however has to be "The Family Jog"... Perhaps the greatest ode to jogging ever performed. Or the only one.


So I immediately went back today to get the other records. They don't seem to be quite as crazy as "The Family", but there are some good songs like "I Like Water" and "Bus Driver".

Mr. Moore, according to the liner notes, holds college degree in music, and a Ph.D. in child development. He has been an Education professor, and apparently now is an education columnist for the Charlotte Observer.

These recordings are available on CD (and cassette, wouldn't you know) from Dr. Moore's website.