Muppet Covers Week, Day 2: The Muppet Movie

I loved The Muppet Movie as a kid and re-watching it is still a magical experience. The funny thing is watching years later and seeing the bevy of celebrity cameos: Mel Brooks, Bob Hope, Steve Martin, Milton Berle, Madeline Kahn, Orson Welles(!), Richard Pryor, and more! All the cameos fly over your head as a kid except one: Big Bird! The real stars, of course, are the Muppets themselves who appear in a very meta-narrative with the Muppets gathering in a movie theatre to basically watch how the Muppets all came together and ended up in Hollywood. While Kermit's Rainbow Connection is the most well known (and covered) song from the film, the whole soundtrack is full of great tunes including the rockin' Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem jam Can You Picture That?, the jaunty Rowlf & Kermit blues duet Hope That Something Better Comes Along, Gonzo's wistful I'm Going to Go Back There Someday, and the ultimate roadtrip song Movin' Right Along sung by Kermit & Fozzie Bear. All the songs were written by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher with both the music score and Rainbow Connection receiving Oscar nominations. The soundtrack also won a Grammy for best children's recording. Williams had previously been a guest host during the first season of The Muppet Show and also wrote songs for the Muppet TV special Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. We continue Muppet covers week here at Fong Songs with a selection of covers from The Muppet Movie.

Rainbow Connection
[originally performed by Kermit the Frog]
There are numerous Rainbow Connection covers, many of which were once posted by Kurtis when he guest posted here last year. I've chosen a few covers that he "missed", though posting every Rainbow Connection cover is a pretty futile exercise.

Sad Kermit - Rainbow Disconnection
A sombre acoustic version in a minor key by the appropriately named Sad Kermit, an internet parody that first made headlines with a suicidal drug addict Kermit covering Nine Inch Nails' Hurt a la Johnny Cash. Other "sad" songs covered include Radiohead's Creep, Nine Inch Nails' Something I Can Never Have, and yet another Hallelujah cover. The covers are actually quite wonderful and the Kermit voice is pretty spot-on. A cover of Elliot Smith's Needle in the Hay is accompanied by by a hilariously perfect if morbid music video, parodying a key scene from The Royal Tenenbaums. Though it's ostensibly a parody, listening to Kermit singing Needle in the Hay does in fact make me kinda sad. As it says on the Sad Kermit myspace site, "It's excruciatingly painful being green..."

Fifteen - Rainbow Connection
Not quite Me First & The Gimme Gimmes (who also cover it), but the singer for this punk band slightly alters the melody for his own purposes.

John Michael Higgins & His Symphony of Guys - Rainbow Connection
This cover is from the soundtrack to The Break-Up, in which John Michael Higgins played Jennifer Aniston's brother who happened to be in an a cappella group. You may recognize John Michael Higgins as a regular in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries including A Mighty Wind for which he arranged and performed songs as part of the fictional New Main Street Singers. He also had a hilarious recurring role on Arrested Development as pro lawyer, Wayne Jarvis.

DAT Politics - Rainbow Connection
This is the most drastic interpretation I've heard, a jarring electro cover by French group DAT Politics.



Movin' Right Along
[originally performed by Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear]
Always a lock for a good roadtrip mixtape, this song also inspires a bit of Canadian pride when Saskatchewan gets name-checked.

The Dead Hensons - Movin' Right Along
You can't do a proper Muppet cover week without mentioning The Dead Hensons, the first and only Muppet cover band. It's a shame that their recorded output is limited to one 4-song vinyl EP, a couple live mp3s, and a short demo album. I want a full-length CD! I think they still regularly perform live in the San Francisco Bay area.

Less Than Jake - Movin' Right Along
The inevitable punk cover of anything.

The Fantastic Leslie - Movin' Right Along
This cover from The Fantastic Leslie's first (and only) release 1999's A Tiny Mark, which was the first CD I ever ordered from overseas. I stumbled on the band while searching "Ben Folds" on a now defunct version of mp3.com. Every song from that EP could be downloaded for free except for Movin' Right Along, so naturally I ordered the CD (an early sign of my unrealized cover obsession). Guitarist/vocalist Andrew Hansen would later become more widely recognized as a member of the Aussie comedy group The Chaser, which explains why nine years later I occasionally get e-mails out of the blue from curious Australians about it. Apparently I'm the only person on the internet who advertised the fact that I had this mp3, which I posted in one of the earliest Fong Songs posts. The Chaser made headlines over here last year when members of the group crashed the APEC Leaders Summit in Sydney disguised as a fake Canadian motorcade and were arrested while filming an episode of The Chaser's War on Everything. Heh heh, we had a good laugh about that. As for the cover, some of the lyrics have been substituted with Aussie locales (no more Saskatchewan!) and the whole thing ends up as a We Are the World-type sing-along.



Never Before, Never Again
[originally performed by Miss Piggy]
Johnny Mathis - Never Before, Never Again
According to Muppet Wiki, Johnny Mathis was originally to perform this in the film before they decided Miss Piggy should sing it. In the movie, Miss Piggy sings this when she spots Kermit for the very first time in the middle of the crowd at the fair and imagines their future life together. To my knowledge, that original Johnny Mathis recording has never surfaced, though he did perform the song for the 1979 TV special The Muppets Go Hollywood, accompanied by Rowlf on piano.



Can You Picture That?
[originally performed by Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem]
Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot, and Animal. Best band ever.

The Dead Hensons - Can You Picture That?
Another Dead Hensons track. Man, I really want a full-length CD!

There - Can You Picture That?
This was a nice find, a rock cover by a Boston band called There. They're faithful to the shared vocals between Dr. Teeth and Floyd from the original (though no Janice) with the lead singer even affecting a bit of a Dr. Teeth-like growl. Nice extended solo in the middle too.

While The Muppet Movie brings back warm, fuzzy memories, the first of only two Sesame Street feature films, Follow That Bird used to freak me out as a kid. Mrs. Finch! AAAaaaugh! Re-watching the film brings back palpable feelings of dread whenever Mrs. Finch, the evil social worker bird appears on screen, particularly when Big Bird is hiding in the haystacks. In retrospect, she's not so evil but it sure seems that way when you're a toddler. I also used to have nightmares about Big Bird's adoptive Dodo family. Nightmares aside, it's a pretty awesome film. There's a lot of CanCon in this one with three SCTV alumni Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, and John Candy making guest cameos with the whole thing being filmed in Ontario. Alyson Court who played a little girl who befriends Big Bird would later go on to play Loonette on The Big Comfy Couch! Even Kermit stops by for a nice cameo as a reporter. While maybe not as classic as The Muppet Movie soundtrack, the songs are still great including Easy Goin' Day and Upside Down World. Unfortunately, I don't know of any covers of songs from the movie! Let that be a challenge to you.

Tomorrow: Songs from Sesame Street!

Muppet Covers Week, Day 1: It's Time to Play the Music...

Welcome to a very special week at Fong Songs...

It's a week of Muppet cover songs, yaaaAAAAaAAAAAAaaaay!!!

Several months ago, I was googling "Muppets in Space" (don't ask why) when I came across this interview with Jason Segel that made my jaw drop. Now I'm generally on top of most movie news, but somehow the biggest announcement of the year slipped by without much fanfare. Even with the success of franchise reboots like Batman Begins and Casino Royale, the brilliance of a Muppet movie reboot escaped me and now it's in the hands of Apatow cronies Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel, respectively director and writer/star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you saw that film, the puppet musical adaptation of Dracula may give you an inkling of Segel's passion for puppets. In fact, those were created by the Jim Henson's Creature Shop and partly performed by Henson puppeteers. Segel plans to go old school, a return to the early Muppet films when they weren't just doing Muppet re-enactments of other films/books. The most recent Muppet production was 2005's made-for-TV movie The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, though the last Muppet feature to hit theatres was Muppets From Space in 1999. Some new blood, just what Dr. Bunsen Honeydew ordered!

So, a week of Muppet covers, eh? This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time ever since I found out about this new Muppet movie. I've procrastinated for so long they've even announced a Fraggle Rock movie since then! We'll kick of Muppet week with covers of the main theme songs of The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock.

The Muppet Show Theme
[originally by Sam Pottle & Jim Henson]

Animal House - The Muppet Show Theme
This clunker comes from an out of print knock-off kids album from the 1970's with the unwieldy title, "Animal House Sings and Plays The Muppet Show Theme and other Hit Songs from the Muppet Movie & Sesame Street Show!", released by Peter Pan Records. While it's somewhat nice to find covers of some seldom-covered Muppet tunes, the results are fairly uninspired and pale imitations of the originals. Sadly of the Muppet Show covers that appear on iTunes, nearly all of them fall into this category.

Bowser & Blue - The Muppet Show Theme
According to their website, Bowser & Blue are "Canada's Musical Comedy Same Sex Couple" who have been performing for 30 years. From a live show, a mildly amusing cover of The Muppet Show theme as performed by Robert Plant.

Valley Junior High School Viking Band - The Muppet Show Theme
From a old WFMU post about records of high school bands found at thrift shops.

Dj TaMeiL - Muppets Theme
A sped-up, repetitive remix of basically just the instrumental intro. Some Pinky & the Brain samples sneak in near the end.

Alex H - Mupp It Out
Somewhat similar to the Dj TaMeiL mix but less haphazard, this basically makes a new instrumental track from elements of the Muppets theme.


Sesame Street Theme
[originally by Joe Raposo, Jon Stone, and Bruce Hart]
LWL - Sesame Street
BBQ Chickens - Sesame Street Theme
Lizards - Sesame Street Theme
Fall Silent - Sunny Days (Sesame Street)
As a cover rule, you can find a punk version of nearly any song (same goes for a cappella). In the next few days, we'll learn that this rule applies doubly for Sesame Street tunes.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Sesame Street
My favourite Tokyo ska band puts their distinct mark on the classic theme.

The Singers Unlimited - Sesame Street
Cotton Club Singers - Sesame Street
It's common to find covers of Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelejah rather than the Leonard Cohen original, but how unlikely is the idea of finding a cover of The Singers Unlimited take on Sesame Street? I first heard this jazzy vocal cover by Hungarian group The Cotton Club Singers, then was baffled to hear the Singers Unlimited version, which is almost the exact same. In fact, I played them both at the exact same time just be sure the weren't the same song (there are very minor differences). The Singers Unlimited version was actually released first in 1971 on the album In Tune with vocal arrangements by the group's leader, Gene Puerling. What I love about the cover is the awesome jazz piano arrangement and I was pleasantly shocked to find out that the In Tune album was a collaboration with Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson and his trio!

Harold Mabern Trio - Sesame Street Theme
A nice, if overlong instrumental jazz cover. The familiarity of the theme wears off as the song veers into pure improvisation.

Smart E's - Sesame's Treet
Apparently this remix reached number 2 on the charts in the UK in 1992!

Ursula 1000 - Sesame Street Theme Remix
This is an official remix from the Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music box set of Sesame Street music.


Fraggle Rock
[originally by Philip Balsam & Dennis Lee]
I don't remember watching Fraggle Rock much as a kid, though I know the theme well. It was awesome to learn that the theme was co-written by Dennis Lee, the Canadian children's author/poet responsible for the classics Alligator Pie and Jelly Belly. He's also credited with the story for Labyrinth!

Allister - Fraggle Rawk
Outside of youTube videos, it's slim pickings for Fraggle Rock covers except for this punk cover from 1999.

Stay tuned for more Muppet cover goodness all this week! Let me know if there's a good cover you think I missed or if there's a Muppet/Sesame Street song you'd like to see covered, I'll see what I can do. Tomorrow: covers of tunes from The Muppet Movie!

Greetings from Hong Kong!

Hi everybody! Just had to share a photo of a shop I found in Macau:


Ha! What are the odds of that, eh? I guess anything can happen in Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia. We stayed at the Venetian, supposedly the biggest casino in the world, which I don't doubt-- it's massive. I didn't gamble much at all, in fact just a couple hands of Blackjack at the Wynn casino just to say I gambled in Macau. Minimum bets at the Venetian were $25 Canadian per hand of blackjack! The game of choice appears to be baccarat, which I don't really understand even after skimming a wiki article.

I've got some covers here for you that I uploaded pre-China for an anticipated blog-post on Macau. A few variations on Motörhead's Ace of Spades:

Dino Martinis - Ace of Spades
Tarantulas - Ace of Spades
J.B.O. - Ace of Spades
Hayseed Dixie - Ace of Spades

I've been having a great time here in China. It's blown by so fast and I can't even begin to recount all that's happened. The most memorable adventure was visiting my dad's birthplace near the town of Heshan. The home village has barely changed in over 50 years (my dad lived here until he was 3 or 4 before moving to Guangzhou, Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, and eventually Canada when he was 7). I got to see the house, in fact the very room where he was born. Incredible. There was even a large lychee tree that he supposedly planted as a toddler, which would be about as old as he is.

I feel like I'm guest-blogging on my own blog here, ha ha. Tomorrow it's off to Beijing for 5 days, then a few more days in Hong Kong before heading home! A big thanks to Kurtis from Covering the Mouse for covering my blog while I'm away. I had a blast visiting Hong Kong Disneyland, which would be the, um, 5th happiest place on Earth maybe? Probably not, but I'm a sucker for the ol' Disney magic. I loved their Halloween glow-in-the-dark parade which featured the catchiest theme music. It sounded like the Men in Black theme mixed with a remix of Mussorsky's Night on Bald Mountain-- I hope to come across an mp3 of it someday. Nightmare Before Christmas 3D is playing here in Hong Kong, which is awesome since it never came through Edmonton last year. Unfortunately, it's all sold out for the next few days and I'm not sure I'll get to see it before I leave. :(

Be sure to check out Kurtis's previous post on Fong Songs featuring Rainbow Connection, a definite favourite of mine from the classic Muppet Movie. He uncovered even more covers than I have of it... I'll have to check when I get home to see if I have any to add. The music from the Muppet Movie is fantastic with other classics like Moving Right Along (which has spawned its own share of cover versions), Can You Picture That? (by the inimitable Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem), and Hope That Something Better Comes Along. Be sure to check out the Dead Hensons, a muppet/Sesame Street cover band that I discovered a couple years ago when researching one of my earliest posts on the Pinball Number Count from Sesame Street.

Even after I get back, Kurtis is welcome to post anytime he feels like a Disney break. On his own site he's been posting some Halloween-themed Disney covers lately including a cover of the Headless Horseman, a favourite of mine which I used to google regularly years ago to track down the original and any potential covers (note: Joe Satriani did not cover this song...). Here's one he might not have:

Richard Strange - The Headless Horseman (live)
Earlier this summer, Jarvis Cocker organized a night of Disney cover songs (oh my god!) in collaboration with Hal Willner called Forest of No Return. The guest list of performers included Pete Doherty, Bryan Ferry, Beth Orton, Nick Cave, Grace Jones, and many more. BOOM! That's my head exploding from the awesomeness potential of that night's affair. To my knowledge, there were no recordings released or even made of the show (prove me wrong please!!) except for numerous incomplete or poor quality youtube videos of Pete Doherty's Chim Chimeree. This recording of the Headless Horseman I found on Richard Strange's myspace video page before converting it to mp3.

Bing Crosby - The Headless Horseman
The original. I love it.

Kermit the Frog's Greatest Hits: Rainbow Connection

Hi everybody! It's Kurtis again from Covering the Mouse filling in for Fong while he is away in China!

Aside from Disney, I am also a huge fan of the Muppet Show and its various movies and spin-offs. One of my favourite songs in the world in the opening number for the Muppet Movie from 1979. It was written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher and performed by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog. If you don't know this song I urge you to listen to it now.

Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog

The song had surprising radio popularity and it reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 1979 and remained in the Top 40 for 7 weeks! It was also nominated for a "Best Original Song" Golden Globe Award! Not bad for a sung sung by a frog with a goofy voice!



There have been many covers of this song and I will be posting only a handful.

Rainbow Connection - The Carpenters
Rainbow Connection - Dixie Chicks
Rainbow Connection - Dresden Dolls
Rainbow Connection - Jason Mraz (This Jason Mraz cover is a really great arrangement of the song. Unfortunately, it is a live recording and pretty crappy quality.)
Rainbow Connection - Kenny Loggins
Rainbow Connection - Lea Salonga
Rainbow Connection - Peter Cincotti
Rainbow Connection - That One (I got this mp3 and it was credited to Rockapella and if you listen to it you will hear that it is most definitely not Rockapella. I believe it is a group called No Strings Attached, but I'm not sure. UPDATE: Thanks to Adam, it has been revealed that this is actually a group from the Utah State University called That One.)
Rainbow Connection - Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband
Rainbow Connection - Sarah McLaughlin
Rainbow Connection - Vonda Shepard
Rainbow Connection - Willie Nelson (This cover is one that is commonly mistaken for the original version, but that is not the case! The original was sung by a frog!)

UPDATE: Here is a way better quality version of Jason Mraz singing Rainbow Connection. He goofs in the middle but he's still great!



And I have a few more covers to post courtesy of Cover Lay Down's Boyhowdy!

Rainbow Connection - Loxley
Rainbow Connection - Asylum Street Spankers (The beginning of this track is not Work-Safe due to some vulgar dialogue)

UPDATE #2: I don't know how I forgot about this one but a reader left me a comment reminding me! Me First and the Gimme Gimmes recorded this for one of their many cover albums.

Rainbow Connection - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes