Whether your favorite is Big Bird, Oscar, or (most every child’s fave these days) Elmo, all of us who have grown up in the last 40 years have a collective memory of growing up with Sesame Street.

And pretty much all of us have this weird memory of an odd way to count to “12″ using a pinball machine because of THIS segment…

So I did a little research on the “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12″ pinball machine.  Turns out, there’s a cool backstory.  The animation was made in 1973 and made its debut in 1976 on the show.  To sing on the animation, PBS enlisted an R&B group that was still getting their feet on the ground:  The Pointer Sisters.  Yes, the ones who gave us “Jump,” “He’s So Excited,” and “Neutron Dance” among other great songs in the late ’70s and ’80s.  At the time, they had a few minor hits on the R&B charts, but hadn’t gained a lot of ground.  Suddenly, they’re on Sesame Street, they got signed to a new record deal, and BAM…their career is off and running!

It’s a pretty cool back story on a popular group, and a popular segment that I think we all remember — as trippy as it is!