TV REVIEW : ‘Sesame Street’ and Friends Sing of Joe Raposo

When Joe Raposo died in January, 1989, at 52, he left behind a worldwide legacy. Raposo wrote songs, thousands of them; you know his music, even if you don’t know his name.

Raposo, an award-winning composer for film, television and Broadway, wrote songs for Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Lena Horne, among others. But he was also the musical heartbeat of “Sesame Street.” Tonight’s “Sing! Sesame Street Remembers the Music of Joe Raposo” (8 p.m., Channels 28, 50 and 15), is rare television--a sincere and moving tribute to a remarkable creative force.

Raposo was part of “Sesame Street” from its inception, writing that instantly recognizable theme and those deceptively simple, happy, quirky, comical songs that both educate and entertain.

Friends, family and co-workers--among them Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, Jacques D’Amboise, Muppet creator Jim Henson, Children’s Television Workshop founder Joan Ganz Cooney--offer happy and wry remembrances. They describe his exuberance, the way he “lived on the very top of life,” the childlike quality that enabled him to write music from the point of view of a 3-year-old, hungry piglets and amorous rhinos.

A different facet of the composer emerges as Sinatra offers Raposo’s exquisite “You Will Be My Music,” Barbara Cook sings “Here’s to the Winners,” Ray Charles follows Kermit the Frog with his own haunting rendition of “Bein’ Green,” Patti LaBelle sings gospel Raposo and each guest puts an individual twist on Raposo’s “Sing.”

It’s an evocative profile of “that pleasant man at the piano” and the musical gifts he left us.