Music Routes Blog

Five

14 February 2009

First, watch Sesame Street's Lovers Of Five sing about their favorite number:

The Sesame Street video is a genius parody/homage—let's call it a pomage—to the Floaters 1977 hit "Float On". In the likely event that you are unfamiliar with the Floaters's television performance of the song, here it is:

Don't miss some of the amazing lyrics, especially this variation that starts at the 3:11 mark:

Take my hand!

Let me take you to Loveland!

Let me show you how sweet it could be,

Sharing your love with Larry!

You go, Larry!

Bearing in mind that they didn't have YouTube and VHS tapes in those days, it's pretty amazing how closely Sesame Street was able to emulate (or at least capture the spirit of) the Floaters television performance.

The Sesame Street "Give Me Five" song was a notable presence in my life a few months ago. I would play it on various instruments.  (The chords for both the Floaters song and the Sesame Street pomage are Gmaj7 and Dmaj7 repeated over and over, if you care to know.)  I would absent-mindedly sing lines from the song throughout the day.

At first, my girlfriend was amused by this. She loved "Give Me Five"! How could you not? But after many weeks of incessant "Give Me Five" in our apartment, she looked me in the eyes to let me know it was time for a heart-to-heart discussion. She said earnestly, "Honey, I love you, and I love the number five.  And for that to continue, this must stop."

She wasn't kidding.

I decided that I would go cold turkey.  I would neither play nor sing "Give Me Five" for five days.  I slipped up a few times, absent-mindedly singing, "Give me 1, 2, 3, 4, but if you love me more," and had to reset the timer.  But eventually I made it five days without any "Give Me Five" in my life.

It may have been the most difficult thing I've ever done.