[Big Bird] The sun is in the sky and
Clouds are rolling by and
Today is gonna be one
Wonderful day
[Ruthie] Hand in hand together
[BB] We’ll be friends forever
[R] Sharing all the good times
[BB] Happy and free
[R] It’s gonna be so

[both] Easy going
We’ll laugh our cares away
On this easy going
Easy going day

[BB] We’re never in a hurry
Got no time to worry
We’ll take it nice and easy
Singing a song
[R] There’s never any trouble
[BB] We’re floating like a bubble
[R] La la-la la la la
[BB] Lighter than air
[R] Why should we care? We’re

[both] Easy going
We’ll laugh our cares away
On this easy going
Easy going day

Easy going
We’ll laugh our cares away
On this easy going
Easy going day

Written by Jeff Pennig, Jeff Harrington, and Steve Pippin

---

“Easy Going Day” from Follow That Bird

I loved this song as a kid. When I rewatched it this summer, I still liked it, but I found the lyrics a little simplistic and wasn’t as impressed.

And then the Very Bad Thing happened. A week later, I was still a wreck, but at least functional again. It was the Fourth of July, and we had guests over; my housemates’ family and partners coming over for the afternoon coincided with another friend of the house staying with us for a couple days. I was a bundle of frayed nerves and a black hole of grief held together with broken eggshells. All around me, the house was filled with joy. And, somehow, I was able to participate in it. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

I caught up with our out-of-town friend, and we watched several episodes of The Muppet Show together and cuddled. Seven or eight of us crowded around the dining room table and played the games Hoopla and Scrawl and I genuinely laughed. It was nothing short of a miracle. Then the table filled with bacon cheeseburgers and potato salad and hard cider and ice cream. The next morning, one of my housemates, their girlfriend, and our out-of-town friend took turns playing various songs on the piano, from classical to some geeky soundtrack I didn’t know to originals. I cried and smiled when they played and sang “Rainbow Connection,” but couldn’t bring myself to sing along.

When Big Bird reaches this farm, he’s going through something incredibly traumatizing. And somehow, in the middle of it all, he’s given this gift of an easy going day. Yes to frolicking on a farm with children, singing and watering flowers and looking at chickens and picking pears. Yes to Ruthie and Floyd’s loyalty in helping their friend escape the bad lady, lying to her face and crossing their fingers behind their backs.

Big Bird has been through a lot already, and it’s only going to get worse when he runs into the Sleaze brothers. I’m so glad that he has this brief reprieve. Ruthie and Floyd are unlikely names for kids these days, and even more unlikely names for angels of benevolence and mercy, but that’s exactly what they are.

On a tangentially related note: Has anyone ever cosplayed Big Bird hiding in a haystack? I would.