Do You Remember Which Popular Band Sang The Pinball “12” Song On Sesame Street?

YouTube surfing can take a person on quite a nostalgic journey. Sometimes it triggers a memory about something you completely forgot in a movie, song or television show.

What many people remember as the "12" song on Sesame Street (which was insanely catchy and took place in an animated fantasy pinball machine every kid wanted to play) first aired in 1977. The proper titles for it include "Pinball Number Count" or "Pinball Countdown", according to Wikipedia. It was aimed to help children learn how to count.

But do you remember, or did you even know, the popular band brought in to sing the lyrics? It was the R&B group The Pointer Sisters, and they recorded the vocals for it just before their popularity exploded in the late 1970s and early 1980s with hits like "Fire", "He's So Shy", "Jump (For My Love)", and "I'm So Excited". According to Songfacts, The Pointer Sisters were asked to record the series for Sesame Street because at the time, their records were in the style of '40s doo-wop, funk, country, and a little bit of rock. They were eclectic enough to be the ideal artist for the recordings. The music was recorded by several jazz musicians from the San Francisco area.

The song was actually quite complex musically, using unique rhythms and changing time signatures throughout. It paired well with the accompanying psychedelic videos of the pinball defying physics while exploring colorful themed worlds inside the virtual pinball machine. There were eleven one-minute versions of the videos and song representing the numbers 2 through 12, each with their own theme. For some reason, they did not make a video for the number 1. It truly is, the loneliest number, isn't it?

So if you want something stuck in your head for the rest of the day, or maybe even the rest of the week, watch the video below and sing along "1 2 3 4 5... 6 7 8 9 10... 11 12!"