"Consider Yourself" is a song from the 1960 original West End and Broadway musical ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...

'' and the 1968 film of the same name. It was introduced on Broadway by Davy Jones and the ensemble. In the 1968 film version, it is performed in the market and led by Jack Wild's

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket and his nickname refers to his skill and cunning in that occupation. In the novel, he is the leader of th ...

. In all versions, Dodger sings it when he first meets Oliver, after offering to get the destitute and alone boy food and lodging. Lyrically, it is an enthusiastic gift of friendship from Dodger and his as-yet-unseen gang to Oliver, assuring him warmly he can consider himself "our mate" and "one of the family" as "it's clear we're going to get along". The 1968 film builds it to a spectacular extended song-and-dance routine involving the street crowd, market workers, policemen and chimney sweep boys.

In popular culture

* This song was sung in the 1969 premiere episode of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...

''. * It was broadcast on the BBC (to some criticism) on November 14th 1973 during coverage of the marriage of Princess Anne (now the Princess Royal) to her first husband Mark Phillips, to ‘welcome him into the royal family’ * In October 1975, this song was adapted into Japanese to welcome Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

, New York City. * In 1977, the song was sung by

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

on the seventh episode of the second season of ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

'' to its guest star

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (né Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio performer. He was best known for his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen ...

and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. * A rearranged version of the song was used as the theme of the ITV sitcom ''

Home to Roost ''Home to Roost'' is a British sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television between 19 April 1985 and 19 January 1990. Written by Eric Chappell, it stars John Thaw as Henry Willows and Reece Dinsdale as his teenaged son Matthew. The premise is tha ...

''. * The first couple lines of the song were sung by Carlton Banks and the Alagaroos in the 13th episode of the 1st season of ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

''. * In Christmas 2011,

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

used famous celebrities to sing the song for promotion. * During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

a rewritten version of the song was aired during trailer breaks in

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

and

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

programming, sung by cast members and presenters of TV shows aired on both channels and the objective of the song was wishing viewers well during national

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

. The tagline was "consider yourself part of our family". * A parody of the song titled "Conceive of Yourself" appears in the 2nd season of the 2020 reboot of

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American Animated series, animated Comedy television, comedy Musical film, musical television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Television Animation. It originally aired on Fox Broadcasting Company ...

, in the episode "Wakkiver Twist: Part 2", which itself is a parody of ''Oliver!'' * Part of the song is sung by Detective Charles Boyle (portrayed by

Joe Lo Truglio Joe Lo Truglio (; born December 2, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Best known for his role as Charles Boyle on the Fox/ NBC sitcom ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', he also was a cast member on the television series '' The State'' and '' Reno 91 ...

) in the season 1 episode of Brooklyn 99 titled " M.E. Time."

References

External links

''Oliver!'' Movie Clip of Consider Yourself
Songs about friendship Songs written by Lionel Bart Songs from Oliver! Pinky and Perky songs 1960 songs {{show-tune-stub