Other Voices

From Sesame Street's
Big Bird...


...to the Radioactive Chickenheads

Big Bird was the first of many recording artists to cover Barry's songs. In 1982, Sesame Street released an album called Grin and Giggle; Big Bird recorded Barry's song, I've Got a Dog and My Dog's Name is Cat. More recently, Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog has been featured in two different Sesame Street "Live" shows (see below).

Peter Alsop of Topanga, California recorded two of Barry's songs in 1983 on his first album for kids, Whaddya Wanna Do? Peter recorded "My Brother Threw up on my Stuffed Toy Bunny" and "I Wanna Be A Dog," introducing Barry's work to a whole new audience out west.

Charlotte Diamond, a Canadian Juno Award winner, recorded Barry's song "I Wanna Be a Dog in 1985 on her award-winning recording, Ten Carrot Diamond. This album went on to sell over 200,000 copies. Charlotte later included the song on her video, 10 Crunchy Carrots which came out in 1999 as well as a compilation CD.

Susie Crate of Durham, NC recorded Barry's song, "I'm A 3-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur" in 1986 on her recording, Songs and Stories for the Young at Heart.

Peter Alsop recorded Barry's song "He Eats Asparagus, Why Can't You Be That Way?" on his 1986 album,Take Me With You.Barry will always remember being in the audience at one of Peter's concerts and listening to the woman sitting next to him shouting out requests for Barry's songs. It was on Peter's recommendation that Barry performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in Alberta, Canada.

The Songsisters of Ann Arbor, Michigan recorded Barry's "I Wanna Be a Dog" on their 1987 release, Come Along.

Mary Miche of Berkeley, California recorded three of Barry's early dog songs on her 1988 recording of animal songs called, Animal Crackers. Mary recorded "Our Dog Bernard," I Wanna Be a Dog," and "I've Got a Dog and My Dog's Name is Cat."

Bev Boss and Michael Leeman of Roseville, California recorded Barry's "I Wanna Be a Dog" on their 1988 recording, Hand in Hand.

Dave Fry of Bethlehem, PA recorded "I Wanna be a Dog" on his 1988 recording, Aw Shucks.

Nan Hoffman of East Amherst, New York recorded Barry's song, "I Wanna Be A Dog" on her 1989 release, Special Request.

WETA Radio's Songs Jumping In My Mouth, a series of half hour radio programs designed for kids, featured Barry as a guest musical performer each week.

The Dignity of Risk, a documentary film on mainstreaming disabled children into the schools, featured the soundtrack by Barry Louis Polisar. Especially memorable were Barry's song lyrics in a totally new context: "I never thought I'd fall again, least not like this, with a giggle and a hug and a tickle and a kiss."

Caedmon recordings issued a sampler recording of Barry's older songs in their collection, Barry's Songbag. Caedmon specialized in recording poets reciting their work (W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Richard Wilbur) and was later sold to Harper and Row publishers which later merged with Collins Press and is now a division of Harper-Collins. This compilation recording is no longer in print.

Barry wrote the liner notes to Caedmon's 1981 release of Carol Channing reciting the poems of Gelett Burgess, the poet who wrote the poem, "The Purple Cow"(" but I will tell you anyhow/I'd rather see than be one").

We Like Kids Songbook published by KTOO radio in Juneau, Alaska included Barry's song "Oh No, I Like My Sister" in their songbook and CD release.

The Weekly Reader Book Club published two of Barry's songs as stories in 1985. Published were "I Don't Wanna Go To School" and "When the House is Dark and Quiet."

Noises From Under the Rug: The Barry Louis Polisar Songbook was published in 1985. This collection of Barry's earliest song lyrics with sheet music, chords and black and white line drawings by Michael Stewart is no longer in print. Many of Barry's better known songs--without the sheet music--have been re-issued as poems with full color artwork by David Clark in A Little Less Noise and a new revised edition of Noises From Under the Rug was published in 2005 to mark Barry's 30th year singing and writing for children and families. Seventeen of Barry's most popular songs are included along with sheet music, guitar chords and original illustrations.

Connor Prarie in Indiana, was the location for two half hour videos that Barry recorded in 1986 that were released the following year and earned Barry another Parents Choice Award. Songs from both of these videos later ran daily on The Learning Channel on weekday mornings.

Clare Norelle of Davis, California recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on her 1991 release Good Things Grow.

Peter Alsop included two of Barry's songs that he recorded in his music songbook, published by Music Sales.

Robert and Eddie Hiebert of Kansas recorded Barry's "I'm A 3-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur" on their 1991 release Ham-Pic-Sing.

Bonnie Phipps recorded Barry's song, "Tomorrow" on her book and tape release, Singing With Young Children.

Jay Stailey, a storyteller from Texas recorded Barry's "I Wanna Be a Dog" on his 1991 recording for children, Sittin' Together, Talkin' to Each Other, Sometimes Singing.

Peter Alsop included another one of Barry's songs in his second music songbook, published by Music Sales.

Bonnie Phipps of Denver, Colorado recorded Barry's song, "I'm a 3-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur" in 1992 on her Dinosaur Choir release.

Sandy Bradley and the Canote Brothers of Seattle, Washington recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on their 1992 recording Happy Jive Live.

Dave Fry of Bethlehem, PA included Barry's song "I Wanna be a Dog" on his new recording, I Like Peanut Butter.

Bethie's Discovery Music recording of 1993, Really Silly Songs about Animals included Barry's song, "I Wanna Be a Dog."

Johnny Kelleher of Boston, Massachusetts recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on his 1993 release, Party in the Park.

Rise Up Singing, The Sing Out Songbook, included two of Barry's songs: "I Wanna Be a Dog" and "Don't Put Your Finger Up Your Nose."

Fast Folk Musical Magazine distributed and sold by the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution invited Barry to record and sing his song The Apple of My Eye.

Mrs. Bush's Story Time featured the former first lady, Barbara Bush, reading some of Barry's animal poems from his book Peculiar Zoo in her weekly radio show on ABC Radio.

National Public Radio has featured Barry's songs and books many times through the years, but in 1979, Connie Goldman did a full hour long feature on his music in her Options in Education program. Portions of this show were also broadcast on All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Jack Prelutsky, the well known children's author and poet, used two of Barry's poems in his anthologies of funny poems for kids: "First It Bit My Behind" was included in the US edition of For Laughing Out Loud published in 1991 and also in the edition published in England.

Jack Prelutsky, also included Barry's Poem, "Emperor Penguins" in his animal anthology, The Beauty and the Beast published in 1997 in the US and England.

The National Wildlife Federation's Ranger Rick Magazine published artwork and poems from two of Barry's animal poems from Peculiar Zoo

The National Wildlife's magazine, Your Big Backyard. reprinted Barry's book The Snake Who Was Afraid of People.

The American Library Association's Library Video Network produced a video in 1994 featuring Barry as a host and tour guide on Barry's Scrapbook, a forty minute video look at how the library can be used as a resource to find out information on the world around us. From taking a group of kids on a tour of an art museum to interviewing individual artists in their studios, Barry can also be seen signing a number of songs in a library setting as well as singing the theme song he wrote for the program called "In the Library."

Tom Vincent of Baltimore, Maryland recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on his 1995 recording, Teddy Bear.

Mary Morlock of Nashville, Tennessee recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on her 1995 release. We can't find any cover art for this album.

Tom Sieling of Ithaca, New York recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on his 1995 release for kids A Good Life For All.

The Children's Literacy Initiative in Philadelphia commissioned Barry to do a series of radio interviews, swapping stories and songs with other artists who have worked with kids; Barry interviewed and sang with Pete Seeger and heard Oscar Brand tell the wonderful story of how Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street is named after him! Other interviews included Tom Glazer, Hap Palmer, Ella Jenkins and children's pioneer, Jim Copp.

Scholastic Books published Barry's poem on the Emperor Penguin in their Seasonal Poems for the Classroom series.

This American Life an American Public Radio production used Barry's song "Shut Up In The Library".

Instructor Magazine asked Barry to write an article on using music and poetry in the classroom which was published in their March, 1994 issue.

The Cockroach Chronicles by Marion Copeland, published by Reaktion Press, London, reproduced Barry's poem and illustration from his book, Insect Soup of...you guessed it: "The Roach."

Michael Lowenthal's novel for adults, Avoidance, describes a car ride where the passengers in the car suddenly break out singing "I Wanna Be a Dog."

Betty May, a Columbia, Maryland author included the lyrics to Barry's song, "To Mommy" in her 1977 movement and motion book for kids, Tickle, Snug, Kiss, Hug.

Peter Alsop recorded Barry's song, "My Brother Threw Up On My Stuffed Toy Bunny" on his professional CD on death education, entitled, Loss and Grief.

The Highsmith Company, a national supplier of educational materials for the classroom published a series of school art posters and children's bookmarks featuring the poems and illustrations from Barry's book, Peculiar Zoo.

University Publishing Projects of Israel reprinted the lyrics to Barry's song, "I Wanna Be a Dog" for it's KidWorld course book for teaching English as a second language within the Israeli State school system.

The Learning Channel featured song clips of Barry's songs in their morning programming and aired daily. Barry recorded a series of songs in 1986 which were later released as videos, winning a Parents Choice Award. You may not recognize the bearded 1986 Barry but the songs are unmistakenly his.

Field Trip! Barry hosted a children's TV show for the Washington ABC TV affiliate station in 1995-1997. These 26 shows were then broadcast nation-wide for a number of years; then put on Cable in the Classroom, an educational television network; then appeared overseas on the Armed Forces TV network and in clips on PBS. Some of the shows were turned into educational videos for the school and library market.

Prairie Patch of Saskatchewan, Canada recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on their 1998 release, Surprise.

The Canote Brothers of Seattle, Washington recorded a version of Barry's song, "I Wanna Be A Dog" on thier CD Thinga-Ma-Jig in 1998.

Barry's song "It's My Mother and My Father and my Sister and the Dog" was featured on National Public Radio's Car Talk radio program.

Nancy Cassidy recorded Barry's song "I Wanna Be a Dog" for Klutz Press in 1999, selling over 350,000 copies of the recording and accompanying songbook, KidSongs Jubilee. The song was also reissued on Klutz Press' KidSong Sampler tape and was beamed up to the astronauts on a shuttle flight, making this song one of the first children's songs to find an orbital audience!

Faith Petric of San Fransisco, CA recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on her 1999 release, When Did We Have Sauerkraut.

Seamus Kennedy of Annapolis, Maryland recorded two of Barry's songs in his 1999 children's release Seamus Gets on Everybody's Nerves. Seamus, who has a national reputation as an Irish singer, recorded "Don't Stick Your Finger up Your Nose" and "I Wanna Be a Dog."

Bill and Robyn Fisher of Olympia, Washington recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog" on their 2000 recording, Bagful of Beans. Barry got to meet Bill and Robyn when he performed in Olympia in 2002 at Lakefair and on a great tour sponsored by the Timberland Public Library.

Joseph Helfrich of Ohio recorded "I Wanna Be a Dog " on his 2001 recording, Make a Difference.

Joe and the Chicken Heads of Orange, California recorded Barry's song, "Underwear" on their rock and roll, punk-influenced mini-cd in 2002. Barry loves this version.....a real, great spirited rendition!

Muzak!!! BMI reports indicate that Barry's songs were "covered" by Muzak....oh no, Elevator music of....."My Brother Threw Up on my Stuffed Toy Bunny."

Sesame Street Live used Barry's song "I Wanna Be a Dog" in it's live US and European theater productions of 1,2,3 Imagine from 1996-2002. This production was revived in 2002 and is currently running in cities throughout the US.

Thaddeus Rex recorded Barry's song, "I'm a Three-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur" on his 2004 CD release, Martian Television Invasion. Barry got to meet T-Rex on his 2004 Midwest school author tour!

Earl Brady of Utah recorded Barry's song, "I Wanna Be a Dog, in 2004. We can't find any cover art for this album.

Charlotte Diamond of Canada included Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog in her songbook and compilation CD World of Music.

Themes and Variations of Canada included Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog in their Kindergarten Musicplay CD.

Click Magazine jointly published by Smithsonian Magazine and Cricket Magazine featured Barry's poem, Emperor Penguins on the inside front cover of their February, 2004 issue.

Eso No Se Hace, the Spanish edition of Barry's book, Don't Do That: A Child's Guide to Bad Manners, Ridiculous Rules and Inadequate Ettiquette was translated into Spanish and published internationally in 2004.

Kid Kazooey sang a verse of Barry's song, "I'm a Three-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur" on his wonderfully titled CD Gratuitous Van Driving. Kid Kazooey, (aka Kevin MacDowell, the Singing, Swinging Librarian of the Ballroom Roustabouts) told Barry that he grew up listening to Barry's songs as a child in Fort Wayne, Indiana....Barry is honored to be an inspiration to such silliness!

Alan King asked Barry to contribute a story for his last book, Matzo Balls for Breakfast and Other Memories of Growing Up Jewish published in December, 2004 by The Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster. The book is a collection of short pieces by noted Jewish authors, comedians, playwrights and other personalities on their experiences growing up in America. Barry is anthologized along with Billy Crystal, Neil Simon, Sid Caeser, Gene Wilder, Larry King, Daniel Schorr, Jerry Stiller and others....

Sneak Out!, an independent film released in 2005 featured two of Barry's songs on the soundtrack--I Don't Believe You're Going to the Bathroom and Me and You.

Charlotte Diamond has recorded Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog on her DVD release Ten Crunchy Carrots.

Jen and Wendy Bernard of Portland, Oregon, recorded and sing a version of Barry's I Wanna Be a Dog and even wrote a parody of Barry's original song, which they called I Wanna Be a Cat.

The Radioactive Chicken Heads (formerly Joe and the Chickenheads) released their debut CD Growing Mold in 2005 featuring two wonderfully inspired covers of Barry's songs--I Eat Kids and I Looked Into the Mirror (What Did the Mirror Say?). Is a tribute album really in the works?

Lee Cloud-Pitt from Seattle, Washington recorded Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog on his 2005 release entitled Heartwarming Songs for Kids and Everyone.

Teva Sandals used Barry's song Water in an animated commercial aired on the Outdoor Life Network during the summer 2005 broadcast of the Teva Mountain Games. The commercial features two petroglyphs dancing to Barry's song just before they hop into the river and paddle away singing.

Mr. Snail's Halloween Party included Barry's song Thump, Thump, Thump in this compliation Halloween disc released in October 2005. This CD features artists as diverse as Ego Plum, The Ghastly Ones, Rutherford B. Hayes Is Dead, The Dust Jackets, Hot Waffles, Mailbox, Romak and the Space Pirates, Nightmare of the Elf, the Metrolites, Haunted Cologne and more...sounds creepy!

Thaddeus Rex recorded Barry's song, "I'm a Three-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur" on his 2006 DVD release.

Free Prize Inside, a compliation CD released in 2006 of fifteen noted children's singers and songwriters includes Barry singing his classic song Early Sunday Morning.

The Hominy Mamas have recorded a version of Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog on their debut CD, released in 2006.

Charlotte Diamond has recorded a Spanish version of Barry's song I Wanna Be a Dog on her 2007 CD Todo el Mundo Come Bananas.

Children's Jukebox--a subject index of children's recordings by Rob Reid is published in 2007 by the American Library Association. Barry's audio recordings are highlighted in this book which indexes over 540 recordings for children and recommends Barry's CD Old Dog New Tricks as one of the outstanding recordings for children. Many songs from Barry's additional recordings are also discussed and listed as the author's Favorite Original Children's Songs in a separate chapter.

The American Library Association also published Rob Reid's Something Musical Happened at the Library in 2007. This book also highlights and features many of Barry's songs and recordings.

Eat Your Vegetables, a collection of fun songs for kids about nutrition, will include Barry's song I Still Don't Like Asparagus on their 2007 CD release.

Danny Rockett, has just recorded Barry's song Don't Put Your Finger Up Your Nose for his 2007 CD release entitled Ham and Burger. Danny tells Barry that he came to one of his concerts as a child and was inspired to perform, calling Barry "one of his earliest song-writing influences." Barry described his music as Frank Zappa meets Biff Rose while channeling primordeal jungle rhythms: frantic and manic and full of energy.

The Radioactive Chicken Heads have recorded a music video of Barry's song I Looked Into The Mirror, What Did the Mirror Say? which they covered on their debut CD in 2005. This video was recorded and released in 2007.

Fox Searchlight Pictures features Barry's song in the opening credits of Jason Reitman's new film, Juno, released in theaters in December, 2007. Barry's song All I Want is You is also on the soundtrack of this exciting new movie.

PBS aired Barry's song I'm a Slug in an episode of it's children's TV series, Dragonfly in the Spring of 2007.

Barry's song It All Comes Back To Me is featured on the soundtrack of Did You Know? This TV show, produced in 2007 for the WSSC's Patuxent River Watershed Conservation efforts, will also be used in the schools as part of the WSSC's environmental education programming.

Oscar Night and eight seconds of Barry's harmonica solo from All I Want Is You is played before thirty-two million people just before Diablo Cody wins an Academy Award for Juno...but Barry fell asleep about ten minutes before and missed it!

Rhino Records features Barry's song All I Want Is You as the first song in the soundtrack of Jason Reitman's new film, Juno, released in 2008.

MTV is airing a video of the opening animation from Juno featuring Barry's song All I Want is You. YouTube has a number of videos of people covering this song and other songs by Barry.

Juno B-Sides is released in April, 2008. This is a second compilation of songs from the Junoverse...the songs director Jason Reitman would have liked to have included in Juno. Barry's song Me and You from his first record released in 1975 is featured on this CD as is a cover of Barry's song All I Want is You (see below).

Kimya Dawson does a brand new cover of Barry's song All I Want is You for the new compilation album Juno B-Sides: Almost Adopted. Barry's original song from 1977 was used in the opening credit sequence in the film.

Hal Leonard Music is publishing the Juno movie soundtrack songbook featuring Barry's song All I Want is You. Juno. Juno. Juno.

Free Prize Inside II compilation recording includes Barry's song I'm A Slug on its follow up release in Spring, 2008.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show plays a sample of Barry's song All I Want is You while introducing Ellen Page as a guest in February, 2008.

Being John Harris a documentary film from England uses Barry's song Giggle Tickle Fiddle Little Wiggle Around.

Ian Jackson's Animal Portraits is published in England and sold internationally in August, 2008 and includes Barry's poem Emperor Penguins from his book Peculiar Zoo.

The Radioactive Chicken Heads have announced plans to produce and record a Barry Louis Polisar tribute album, to be released in 2008. This album will feature numerous artists and bands covering Barry's songs.