1981 Soundtrack – In Harmony

In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record and In Harmony 2 are two Grammy Award-winning compilation albums of children’s music performed by various artists, released in 1980 and 1982, respectively. Of the two albums, only the first album charted, reaching #156 on the Billboard 200. The Doobie Brothers’ cover of “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” was the only single release to chart, when it reached #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. A second single, Al Jarreau’s “One Good Turn”, failed to chart. The first album was released on Warner Bros. Records while the second one was released on Columbia Records.

Only the first album has a direct connection to the popular children’s series Sesame Street, as it includes a song performed by the characters Ernie and Cookie Monster, while no Muppet-related content appears on the second album. However, the second album’s credits state that a “royalty is being donated to the Children’s Television Workshop and various children’s charities” from its proceeds.

Each of the albums was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children, at the 23rd Annual Grammy Awards and 25th Annual Grammy Awards, respectively.

Bruce Springsteen’s performance of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”, which appears on the second album, was recorded live at C. W. Post College in Greenvale, New York on December 12, 1975. Springsteen’s rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmastime for years; it has appeared on Billboard magazine’s Hot Singles Recurrents chart each year from 2002 to 2009 due to seasonal airplay. In Harmony 2 marks the first appearance of the recording on an album, although it was later released as the B-side of Springsteen’s single “My Hometown” in 1985 and has since been released on several other compilations.