Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the letter 'E' ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Does anyone else recognize the voice in this creative animated 'Sesame Street' segment of decades ago?



Listen to it again, folks.

Why, it's Casey Kasem - the king of music countdown shows!

Although the man in the cartoon looks nothing like ol' Casey, his hand gesture when the elephant leaves resembles that which Casey often used on his TV countdown program.

When I was about 10 or 11, one of my big goals in life was to hear Casey Kasem mention 'Sesame Street'. When I discovered that Ernie's "Rubber Duckie" had charted years earlier, shortly after Casey's radio show 'American Top 40' debuted, I figured there might be a glimmer of hope, if any old 'AT40' shows ever appeared in reruns.

But my goal was fulfilled when I least expected it. On 'AT40' one weekend, Casey mentioned that a certain legendary musician had "played in the band on 'Sesame Street'."

And so, my life was complete at long last.