Seriously, Philip Glass? And all this time I thought his first project for children's television was the South Park Christmas Special. Now it turns out he did at a trippy composition for a set of animated color wheels. Did anyone besides the inventor of Trivial Pursuit see this when it aired?
And when did it air? The Muppet Wiki entry on Glass says it was created in 1977, but didn't air until the 1990's, as at least four separate 30-40 sec. segments. But I find it hard to believe that the same era of Children's Television Workshop that brought forth Elmo would show unabashedly abstract eye candy backed by America's droner in chief.
Whatever, they're here now. YouTube user and Street aficionado yootoobsuxx [classy] combined all four rather convincingly into one 2:40 clip.
Philip Glass - Sesame Street (extended cut) [youtube]
search youtube for Philip Glass Sesame in case this or that clip is removed [youtube]
Unfortunately, I can't view the youtubes from work, but from your description, I remember watching this as a kid. I was born in 1980, so that places my prime Sesame Street viewing between 1983 and um... a few months ago?
I definitely saw this one as a kid, and my SS days ended in about '78-9 (had a younger sis who was a watcher though, so may have seen 'second hand').
(shakes head sadly at the state of affairs on 'the street' today)
I'll third the inaccuracy from the Muppet Wiki, as I also remember getting all glassy-eyed (heh) while tripping out to these segments in my childhood. Looks like that information has already been removed from the entry, however.
g
I also have a definite memory of seeing this before, and would have been watching Sesame Street in the early 80s, although I did a lot of babysitting of my kid sister in the early 90s and could have seen it then.
No question I've seen this, and I have not seen SS sine the 80s.
I was born in 77 and religiously watched Sesame street as a kid. I lived out in the country and all we got was public tv (Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and some seriously hippy dippy yoga show all back to back. Anyone remember?) I know I saw this thing. Late 70s early 80s SS was seriously trippy.
The Muppet Wiki info is not inaccurate. The pieces were written in 1979 (not 1977) as confirmed by Glass's publisher. The episode numbers on Muppet Wiki are just the earliest known appearances on the show. But they first aired in 1979.