What Baby I Love You I Love You I Love You Actually Is
It is a song. Specifically, a disco track recorded by Thelma Houston for the 1979 album Sesame Street Disco. The writing credits go to David Maser and Bob Esty, who were working contractors at the time — not Sesame Street staff. The track became one of those background pieces every parent had on repeat in the late seventies and early eighties, and it resurfaced periodically whenever someone needed a nostalgic clip for a video edit. There are a few reasons. Some want the original vinyl pressing for audio restoration purposes. Others need a clean stereo source for sampling or remix work. A smaller crowd just wants the song for personal use and doesn't want to deal with YouTube compression. The actual audio file you end up with depends heavily on where you pull it from. If you are looking for the highest quality version, you want the original album master or a well-managed CD transfer. The Sesame Street Disco album was issued on RCA Records, and those pressings tend to have less harsh limiting than the later reissues. I spent months tracking down a clean copy for a project once. Streaming services were compressing it to oblivion, and the YouTube rips I tested had phase cancellation issues in the left channel around 1.2 kilohertz that ruined any attempt at remastering. I ended up buying a sealed copy of the original RCA LP from a seller in Ohio, digitized it through a Rega turntable into a Focusrite interface at 24-bit/96kHz, and that is the version I still use.
Here is what I learned from that process, and what you should keep in mind if you go down this road.
Source Priority List
The order I recommend goes like this: Original 1979 RCA vinyl pressing, digitized from a clean record. This usually takes about twenty minutes of cleanup if the Grooves are decent, and the result sounds noticeably more open than any digital reissue I have heard. CD transfers from the 1988 Sony reissue work but introduce a slight high frequency roll off that you have to compensate for. MP3 rips from YouTube or similar platforms are generally not worth the effort unless you just need a quick reference copy. Digital purchases from Apple Music or Tidal give you lossless files but they are mastered from whatever source the label uploaded, which for this album tends to be the CD version.
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The Phase Issue Nobody Talks About
The stereo mix on the original recording has a fairly wide separation between the left and right channels. When I was working on that project, I initially thought the album had a defect because the vocal track sounded thin when I summed it to mono. It was not a defect. It was intentional production. The workaround is straightforward: do not sum to mono until the final export stage, and use a mid-side EQ approach if you need to glue the mix together. I applied a gentle 3dB cut at 2kHz on the side channel only and that resolved the thinness without destroying the stereo width. This is the kind of thing that takes you a while to figure out on your own. This track is under copyright. Any legitimate download should come through an authorized music store, streaming service with offline capabilities, or a vinyl purchase. I have seen people share direct links to ripped files in forums, and while I understand the temptation, distributing copyrighted material is not something I recommend. The original album is available through major streaming platforms, and the vinyl can be purchased from Discogs or independent record stores. A used copy in good condition runs anywhere from twelve to forty dollars depending on pressing and. The most frequent error I see is assuming that a higher sample rate automatically means better sound. It does not. A 24-bit/192kHz rip from a compressed source is still a compressed source. Always check the original format first. Another mistake is ignoring playback equipment quality. I have heard people complain that the song sounds dull, and nine times out of ten the issue was their monitor setup or DAC, not the recording itself. Run a frequency analysis before you blame the source.
The track runs approximately two minutes and forty-seven seconds on the original album. There is no extended dance version or alternate mix that I am aware of. If you find a longer version online, it is either a bootleg edit or a different recording entirely. I encountered one forum post claiming there was an unreleased stereo master floating around, but the person who posted it never produced a verifiable source. That claim persists in various corners of the internet even now. Ignore it.
