Muppet Musicians of Bremen
March 10, 2013 8:19 PM Subscribe
"You may have noticed that the heroes in this story are all animals, and the villains are all people. I hope none of you take that personally."
The Muppet Musicians of Bremen (1972) (Part 1 2 3 4 5 6).
Based on the traditional folktale, and hosted by Kermit the frog it was the third Muppet TV special in the “Tales from Muppetland” series following on from Hey Cinderella! (1969) and The Frog Prince (1971). (Previously)
Based on the traditional folktale, and hosted by Kermit the frog it was the third Muppet TV special in the “Tales from Muppetland” series following on from Hey Cinderella! (1969) and The Frog Prince (1971). (Previously)
Props to the Muppet band from Louisiana playing actual NOLA-style jazz, not that I'm surprised. Thanks for sharing: so good for a Sunday night.
Damn, this both reminds me that 1) I need to listen to more jazz 2) watch more Muppets and 3) get my ass back to New Orleans.
posted by smirkette at 8:34 PM on March 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Damn, this both reminds me that 1) I need to listen to more jazz 2) watch more Muppets and 3) get my ass back to New Orleans.
posted by smirkette at 8:34 PM on March 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
I remember this airing for a few years around Thanksgiving when I was a kid. It was my favorite Muppet special. I had the story/music album on high rotation the rest of the year.
Later, I bought a Laserdisc copy off eBay and digitized it for my kids. They don't take to it as much as I did, but if I find myself with nothing to do on a Thanksgiving evening, it's comforting to watch again. I wish they'd put out a quality version on DVD.
posted by pashdown at 9:27 PM on March 10, 2013
Later, I bought a Laserdisc copy off eBay and digitized it for my kids. They don't take to it as much as I did, but if I find myself with nothing to do on a Thanksgiving evening, it's comforting to watch again. I wish they'd put out a quality version on DVD.
posted by pashdown at 9:27 PM on March 10, 2013
"I'm a traveling musician. Doncha love me all to crazy?"
posted by hippybear at 10:30 PM on March 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 10:30 PM on March 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is one of those childhood favourites for me. When you're young and haven't been exposed to many different genres of music - something like this was a real eye-opener. As always it's that muppet humour that really puts it into classic territory.
Here's a scan of a TV Guide article from 1972 with some neat behind-the-scenes photos of Henson and co. in action.
posted by Start with Dessert at 12:51 AM on March 11, 2013
Here's a scan of a TV Guide article from 1972 with some neat behind-the-scenes photos of Henson and co. in action.
posted by Start with Dessert at 12:51 AM on March 11, 2013
Long live Bremen! (and Jim Henson's memory)
posted by readyfreddy at 2:09 AM on March 11, 2013
posted by readyfreddy at 2:09 AM on March 11, 2013
Bremen, Louisiana cracks me up. That's just perfect, somehow.
posted by muckster at 3:38 AM on March 11, 2013
posted by muckster at 3:38 AM on March 11, 2013
The Town Musicians of Bremen was my favorite fairytale as a child, hands down. I loved the story of the animals nobody wanted finding each other and forming a family. I loved how they each had their own strengths and used them to defeat the robbers--especially the rooster crying "Cockle-doodle-do!" and the robber thinking the rooster was a judge!
I have so many fond memories of my father reading the story to me. He raised game fowl, and he did a great imitation of the rooster's crow. Then the Muppets version came out, and despite my dad's insistence that Bremen was in Germany, I remained convinced Bremen was in Louisiana for years.
Crap...now I'm sitting her at work trying not to cry because I want to show this to my dad and he's in a nursing home with dementia and wouldn't understand it anyway....
posted by magstheaxe at 10:02 AM on March 11, 2013
I have so many fond memories of my father reading the story to me. He raised game fowl, and he did a great imitation of the rooster's crow. Then the Muppets version came out, and despite my dad's insistence that Bremen was in Germany, I remained convinced Bremen was in Louisiana for years.
Crap...now I'm sitting her at work trying not to cry because I want to show this to my dad and he's in a nursing home with dementia and wouldn't understand it anyway....
posted by magstheaxe at 10:02 AM on March 11, 2013
WHOA. We lip-synced to this in my third grade class as a little "show" to which our parents and the principal were invited. WE WERE SO NERVOUS.
posted by mynameisluka at 10:17 AM on March 11, 2013
posted by mynameisluka at 10:17 AM on March 11, 2013
I've been to Bremen, Germany. They have this statue there. I have an actual film photo of it someplace in my possession.
(Also, the plot summary for the story on that Wikipedia page surprised me -- I thought that Henson had taken a lot more liberties with the story than he did. It's been ages since I actually read the Grimm version.)
posted by hippybear at 3:13 PM on March 11, 2013
(Also, the plot summary for the story on that Wikipedia page surprised me -- I thought that Henson had taken a lot more liberties with the story than he did. It's been ages since I actually read the Grimm version.)
posted by hippybear at 3:13 PM on March 11, 2013
Oh, this is perfect! My band just got booked to play a month-long European tour based in Bremen, Germany this summer. We will in fact be the traveling musicians of Bremen!
posted by platinum at 10:10 PM on March 12, 2013
posted by platinum at 10:10 PM on March 12, 2013
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j/k...this is awesome. KERMIT!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:29 PM on March 10, 2013