James Maury "Jim" Henson, was one of the most widely known puppeteers in American television history. He was the creator of The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, and the leading force behind their long run in the television series Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and films such as The Muppet Movie and The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Jim popularized rubber ducks in 1970, performing “Rubber Duckie” which was sung by Jim’s character Ernie on Sesame Street. This track was actually the throw-away b-side and the theme to Sesame Street by The Kids was the a-side. The song is named after Ernie's toy, a rubber duck affectionately named Rubber Duckie....The song had two follow-ups, "Do De Rubber Duck" and "D.U.C.K.I.E," and Ernie frequently spoke to his duck and carried it with him in other segments of the show. On a special occasion, Little Richard would perform the song with Ernie.
Little known facts about “Rubber Duckie”:
The ‘famous’ rubber-duck-squeaking solo in the original version of the is squeaked by the song’s creator, Jeff Moss.
The toy rubber duck is considered a percussion instrument by the Boston Pops Orchestra who have played this song on occasion - they only allow the percussionists to play them.
There are several versions of this song, including a cover by Little Richard and a five-version CD in German, containing a “dance remix”.
“Rubber Duckie” is a bona-fide hit. In 1970 it made the Top 40 charts and stayed on for 7 weeks, peaking at number 1 in some parts of Australia! Nationally it ranked at #10.
Ernie's Duck's birthday is on January 13th.
Joe Raposo who worked with Henson and The Sesame Street Kids was responsible for the song "Sing...Sing A Song" which was a hit for The Carpenters around 1973.
Here for download is the original mono vinyl single of “Rubber Duckie” but extended to 3:00 mins by Tom Mix. For those lucky enough to find this track on CD you'll notice the stereo orchestration is slightly buried under the vocals unlike than the original mono single.
http://rapidshare.com/files/269952297/ernie_-_rubber_duckie__extended_tom_mix_.mp3
I had a vinyl record that I thought was called Looney Tunes. It had Rubber Duckie, Witch Doctor, Hello Muddah Hello Faddah, Funny Farm, Tip Toe Throught the Tulips, plus many more. Have you heard of such an album, and if so, do you know where one could be found?
ReplyDeletec_elisha@yahoo.com
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteTry this link -
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/various_artists_f2/looney_tunes/buy
: )
-Chris