"Somebody Come and Play" is a song that originally appeared in Season 1 of Sesame Street, sung by its composer Joe Raposo. It was then recorded for The Sesame Street Book & Record by a children's chorus, and has been remade multiple times on the show. The singer implores for a friend to play and have fun with before the day's end.
Raposo's wife, Pat Collins, stated that the song was inspired directly from his youth as an only child. Collins said she sees it “not as a song of regret or self-pity, but a song about an only child looking to toss the ball around before the sun goes down. It's about begging for pals to hang out with, kind of saying 'If this day goes by, maybe we won't have another quite like it.'”[1]
A version of the song with Christmas lyrics is used in the 2022 Christmas special Sandy the Christmas Starfish, while the song itself plays in the Disney Sing-Along Songs video Magic Kingdom Fun at Walt Disney World and plays in the title cards of each short in the Trip to America story arc.
Lyrics[]
Somebody come and play
Somebody come and play today
Somebody come and smile the smiles
And sing the songs
It won't take long
Somebody come and play today
Somebody come and play
Somebody come and play my way
Somebody come and rhyme the rhymes
And laugh the laughs
It won't take time
Somebody come and play today
Somebody come with me and see the pleasure in the wind
Somebody see the time is getting late to begin (sometimes, this line is changed to 'Somebody come before it gets too late to begin')
Somebody come and play
Somebody come and play today
Somebody come and be my friend
And watch the sun 'till it rains again
Somebody come and play today
- ↑ Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, pp. 257-258.