The Letter People :: Meet Mister S.

The Letter People. Those three words either mean something to you…or they don’t. If they do, you most likely have a fuzzy half-remembrance of the vinyl / 8-track set or the accompanying companion PBS children’s puppetry show. A sort of poor-man’s Muppets, these primitive creations were tasked with schooling the youth of the 70s/80s on the alphabet and its 26 accompanying sounds. Sounds boring, right? Actually, no, far from it.

Playing off contemporary sounds of the time (funk, country, r&b, top 40 pop, acid rock) each letter had its own character with its own, often bizarre, backstory (check out Tall Teeth).

Which brings us to Mr. S., the grooviest of consonants. First, that bassline – slow and low, I wore out the grooves on this one. A furtive tale of kid fears, one of being scared of the dark, Mr. S is a story of empowerment. In it, our narrator transforms from hiding under his bed sheets to slipping into his super-socks becoming “a super-sonic streak across the sky”… all thanks to his trusty super-socks. All this aided by the aforementioned bass line and blasts of brass straight out of Blood Sweat & Tears’ practice pad.

Additional letters weirdos: Mister C (sleazy lounge lizard named Cotton Candy — ALSO: Mr. S cameos playing a mean blues guitar solo) /   Mister H & his horrible hair / Mister T (country & western cowboy romp about his giant chompers) / Mister M (funk jammer about guy likes who likes to eat)

It’s no secret some of the best “children’s programming” often served the dual purpose of entertaining stoners. I assure you The Letter People were no exception.

Note: The vocalists differ between the recorded classroom version of Mr. S. and the PBS television show. Both versions featured in the above video.

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