"I Love Trash" is a song with music and lyrics by Jeff Moss. It was sung by the

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...

character

Oscar the Grouch Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/ HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. Oscar's favorite thing is trash, as e ...

(performed by

Caroll Spinney Caroll Edwin Spinney (December 26, 1933 – December 8, 2019) was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on ''Sesame Street'' from its inception in 1969 until 2018. ...

) on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

''. The song was first sung in the first season of the series and has been re-taped several times. In the song, Oscar sings about the trash he so admires; he presents a tattered and worn sneaker that's covered with holes and has torn laces ("A gift from my mother the day I was born..."), a 13-month old newspaper with smelly, cold fish wrapped inside (a piece of waste that Oscar affirms he "wouldn't trade for a big pot of gold"), a defective clock, an old telephone, a broken umbrella and a rusty trombone. In the end, Oscar claims to be "''delighted'' to call them my own." In a Season 29 episode, Oscar sang "Grouches Love Trash" a variation of this song to his niece Irvine. In episode 3891, his old friend Felix the Grouch sang a variation called "I Love Cleaning" while Oscar sang "I Love Trash". Yet another variation occurs when Oscar's

Trash Can A waste container, also known as a dustbin, garbage can, and trash can is a type of container that is usually made out of metal or plastic. The words "rubbish", "basket" and "bin" are more common in British English usage; "trash" and "can" a ...

was grown to a larger size and the lyrics were adjusted to accommodate (a clip can be seen in ''Sesame Street All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!''). Oscar sang this song in ''Here Come the Puppets!'', accompanied by Bruno the Trashman on rollerskates. Oscar also sang the song during an appearance on ''The Bonnie Hunt Show''. On September 26, 2013, Oscar and

Big Bird Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skat ...

sang this song on

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...

and

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Other versions

k. d. lang K is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet. K may also refer to: General uses * K (programming language), an array processing language developed by Arthur Whitney and commercialized by Kx Systems * K (cider), a British draft cider manufac ...

sang this song when she guest-starred in ''

The Jim Henson Hour ''The Jim Henson Hour'' is a television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the Muppet characters. Nine of the twelve episodes produced aired on NBC bef ...

'' episode about garbage.

Grover Grover is a blue Muppet character on the popular PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a blue monster who rarely uses contractions when he speaks or sings. Grover was originall ...

, Telly and Zoe each sing a verse of the song (with changed lyrics to suit their interests) in the CD-ROM game ''The Three Grouchketeers''.

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frontman

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...

recorded a new version for the album release of ''

Elmopalooza ''Elmopalooza!'' is a ''Sesame Street'' special that aired on ABC on February 20, 1998. It was taped in the middle of the 29th season of ''Sesame Street'' and featured songs by celebrity guests. About the show The special begins with an announcer ...

''. This version is also included on ''

The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' is a 1999 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Gary Halvorson in his feature film debut. This was the second film to be based on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', after '' ...

'' soundtrack album. A brief portion of the song was also sung by a group of socks in ''Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic'', during Oscar's imagination sequence where

is turned into a vast garbage dump. On ''

Plaza Sésamo ''Plaza Sésamo'' ( en, Sesame Plaza) is one of the first international co-productions of the first preschool television program ''Sesame Street''. Its first season premiered in México in 1972, and the last season ended in 2018 during the ho ...

'', a Multimonstruo, who loves trash, performed a rock version of this song. At the Jim Henson's Musical World concert on April 14, 2012,

Elmo Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (born c ...

Bert Bert or BERT may refer to: Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert *Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname *Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album Here Comes a Son ...

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for hi ...

, Gordon, Bob, Susan, Leela, Gina, Alan and Maria performed the song. In an episode of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'', Meg sings a very off-key version of the song dressed up as Oscar. A ''Sesame Street'' segment features Oscar (now performed by

Eric Jacobson Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all role ...

) teaching

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Antonoff is the lead singer of rock band Bleachers, and is the guitarist and drummer in the pop rock band Fun. He was pr ...

(who comes in dressed as a "Grouch", wearing a tie with a tiny smudge) that Grouches like really messy, yucky stuff by singing this song. Oscar and

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

sang the song in an episode of '' The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo''.

References

{{authority control 1969 singles Novelty songs Sesame Street songs 1969 songs