Sing After Me

Written by	Sam Pottle and Tony Geiss
Date	1977
Publisher	Sesame Street Inc.
First	Episode 1112

"Sing After Me" is a Sesame Street song that works in echo: one performer sings a line which is meant to be repeated by another vocalist.

It was first performed by Madeline Kahn and Grover in 1978. Kahn explains the concept to Grover, which he does not get at first. As the song progresses, Grover catches on, but he struggles to emulate Kahn's performance. After embellishing in two verses, Grover truncates her vocalizing; when she resumes, he gives up, calling her a "show off." Unable to copy Kahn's low baritone in the end, Grover finishes the song on a bombastic note.

Other versions[]

Image	Year	Description
	1979	Big Bird sings an a capella version of the song with Shields and Yarnell in front of an audience of children, in the television special On the Road to China.
	1982	Big Bird on Sesame Street Sing-Along! and The Best of Big Bird.
	1983	Led by Big Bird at the Cleveland Orchestra
	1983	Big Bird and the cast (Episode 1808)
	1983	Grover and Cookie Monster in Around the World. The two perform the song amid the Alps in Switzerland.
	1994	Ruthie and Marilyn Horne (First: Episode 3198)
	1994	Ruthie and Wolfgang the Seal sing the song in a talent show act called the "Laughing Seal Duet" (Episode 3213)
	1994	Big Bird, Ernie, and Bert in When I Grow Up and the revised edition, When Elmo Grows Up.
	1997	Celina and Telly Monster in Episode 3622
	1998	Ernie and Elmo (First: Episode 3802) This is a rare example of Elmo referring to himself as "I" and "me" instead of replacing the song lyrics to do so in the third person.
	1999	Bob and the Kids (Episode 3808)
	1999	Big Bird and Alan (Episode 3830)
	2000	Big Bird, Ernie, and the kids (Episode 3911)
	2000	Evening at Pops
	2001	Zoe and her jacket (Episode 3974)
	2002	Telly and Joshua Bell on the tuba and violin, respectively (First: Episode 3994)
	2002	Elmo, Zoe, and Bob (Episode 4020)
	2002	Elmo, Zoe, Alan, and Aladdin, played by David Alan Grier (Episode 4025)
	2003	Grover, Prairie Dawn, Bert, and Ernie on Play with Me Sesame
	2005	Elmo and Ieniemienie as "Wees Mijn Echo," Open Huis in Sesamstraat
	2007	Horatio the Elephant and Chris as "Dance After Me" (Episode 4136)
	2009	"Wees mijn echo" (literally Be My Echo) is sung by Ernst Daniël Smid and Ieniemienie. (YouTube)
	2009	Pancho and Isabel Lascuráin on Plaza Sésamo
	2010	Elmo, Zoe, Ernie, Bert, and Cookie Monster in Elmo Rocks!
	2012	Rachel Dratch and John Tartaglia at Jim Henson's Musical World
	2012	Elmo and Abby Cadabby at The White House Easter Egg Roll.
	2014	Big Bird during an appearance on BBC Radio 4.
	2018	Big Bird, Rosita, and Bret McKenzie at The Jim Henson Retrospectacle Live in Concert.
	2019	An animated version of Ernie and Elmo's performance from 1998.
	2019	Big Bird and Abby Cadabby at A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration
	2019	Big Bird and Bert at Tiny Desk Concerts
	2019	Big Bird performed a special version of the song at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con with lyrics altered to appeal to the audience of pop culture enthusiasts. [1] References include: "Cowabunga" from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Utini," a Jawa word from Star Wars "Na-na-na-na Batman" "Beam me up, Scotty" from Star Trek "Scooby-Doobie-doo" "Wakanda Forever" from Black Panther "Robots in disguise" from Transformers "Pow, bam, boom" "Wingardium Leviosa" from Harry Potter "Excelsior," popularized by Stan Lee
	2020	Daniel with Julia and Samuel, in a Caring for Each Other segment, "Sing After Me." Daniel also plays the song at the end of "A Park Problem."
	2021	Rosita, Elmo, and Cookie Monster performed a bilingual version of the song in a 2021 YouTube video. (YouTube)
	2021	Alan and Elmo sing it in the "Little Neighbors Launch" video. (YouTube)
	2021	Rosita and Sofía sang a bilingual version for Latinx Heritage Month. (YouTube)
	2022	Rosita and Stephen Fala sing the song in Sesame Street: The Musical.
	2023	Ernie, Elmo, and Abby Cadabby in Best Friends Band.