It's the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street, the gorgeous children's series that gives "educational" a good name. With two kids, I still watch it; I've even been won over by nouveau Elmo, who is way weirder than I ever gave him credit.

But here's a clip I remember from when I was a kid, not one from Sesame Street itself but from the equally wonderful The Electric Company. Man, this seemed sophisticated to me! Funky and almost scary, with its stripped-down Jules Pfeiffer–y cartoon lady. It was also the first time I'd heard any reference to "the blues," which makes it the toddler equivalent of stumbling into some dive in Greenwich Village in 1971.