John
Denver & The Muppets
Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Louise Gold sang as a Muppet Performer background
vocalist in 1979
Catalogue number: (45 RPM
Record) PB-11767
Cast (all
uncredited)
John Denver – as himself
Jim Henson – as Kermit The Frog, Rowlf, Dr Teeth
Frank Oz – as Miss Piggy, Animal, Fozzie Bear etc
Jerry Nelson – as Robin, Floyd etc
Richard Hunt – as Scooter, Janice etc
Dave Goelz – as Gonzo, Zoot, Beauregard etc
Also
featuring The Muppet Performers – Louise
Gold, Steve Whitmire, and, Kathryn Mullen
Production Team
Produced by – Milton Okun, for RCA Records
Track Listing
Side A PB-11767-A
1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – John
and Rowlf (John Denver and Jim Henson)
2. We Wish You A Merry Christmas – John,
Miss Piggy, Animal, The Great Gonzo, Kermit, and, Floyd and the cast (John
Denver, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jim Henson, and, Jerry Nelson, with, Richard
Hunt, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen
Side B PB-11767-B
1. A Baby Just Like You – John Denver
As stated on the record itself the songs on this
single are from the album John Denver And The
Muppets A Christmas Together, or specifically 33 RPM record AFL1-3451,
which was also produced by Milton Okun.
Parts of this later turned up on the albums Christmas
For Kids, and, John Denver Christmas.
The Eight
Muppeteers singing on this album were the eight main puppeteers from The Muppet Show, on which John Denver had been a guest star.
The Muppet Show
Eight (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt,
Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold,
and, Kathryn Mullen) featured in the
documentary Of Muppet And Men. They went
on to puppeteer on The Great Muppet Caper,
and, The Muppets Go To The Movies.
Their recording credits include The
Muppet Show Music Album, The
Great Muppet Caper (Soundtrack Album), Favorite Songs From Jim
Henson’s Muppets, Muppet Music Sampler,
Muppet Hits 1, Muppet
Hits 2, Muppet Music Mix, and, Music Mayhem And, More.
The Big Five (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Dave Goelz), plus Louise
Gold represented The Muppets on The Royal Variety Performance
(1977). Their recording credits include The Muppet Show Music Hall, The Muppet Show 2, and, Jim Henson Presents Silly Songs.
Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz,
and, Louise Gold’s recording credits
include For What It’s Worth.
Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Louise Gold,
Steve Whitmire, and, Kathryn Mullen appeared in “a burlesque show with some of the
Muppet-Company”.
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire,
Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen went on to puppeteer on The Dark Crystal, for which Jerry Nelson did some voice-work.
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire,
and, Kathryn Mullen went on to
puppeteer on Labyrinth, some of them can be seen on
the documentary Inside The Labyrinth.
Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Louise Gold, and, Steve
Whitmire went on to puppeteer on Tale Of The
Bunny Picnic.
Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and, Louise Gold’s recording credits include Jerome Kern The First 100 Years.
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt,
and, Louise Gold’s recording credits
include Elmo’s Lowedown Hoedown.
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz,
Louise Gold, Steve Whitmire, and, Kathryn
Mullen went on to puppeteer at Jim
Henson’s Memorial Service.
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire,
and, Louise Gold went on to
puppeteer on The Muppet Christmas
Carol, and, Muppet Treasure Island,
their recording credits include The
Muppet Christmas Carol (Soundtrack Album).
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Louise Gold,
Kathryn Mullen, and Steve Whitmire went on to puppeteer
together on Sesame Street.
Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Louise
Gold’s recording credits include Born To Add.
Dave Goelz, Louise Gold, and, Steve Whitmire went on to puppeteer on The
Animal Show, on which Frank Oz
did a guest puppeteering appearance.
Jerry Nelson, and, Dave Goelz went on to do voice work for
the British outer-space segments of the international Fraggle
Rock.
Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Louise Gold’s recording credits include The Count’s Countdown, although there has
been some debate as to whether Louise
Gold actually sang on it.
Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, and, Louise Gold went on to puppeteer together on The Secret Life Of Toys.
Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and, Louise
Gold’s recording credits include A
Green And Red Christmas, on which Steve
Whitmire sang Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
Louise Gold, and, Richard Hunt went on to puppeteer
together on The Ghost Of Faffner Hall
Review
by Emma Shane, 13
October 2007
Probably
the worst 45 single I have come across involving Louise Gold. Although the quality of the physical record doesn’t
help in this respect. Actually the songs themselves are quite fun, and in a
very Muppet style. However this single is something of a rarity, and all three
songs can be found on the complete 13 track versions of the CD of the original
LP John Denver And The Muppets A Christmas Together. And this is one occasion
when wrestling with vinyl doesn’t seem to be worthwhile.
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is a lovely song, and John Denver actually sings it rather well, perhaps not Judy Garland, but nevertheless pretty
good. The only problem with it is Jim
Henson singing it as Rowlf, I’m not too sure the song really suited Rowlf’s
voice. If he had done it as Kermit, I think it would have been much nicer. I’m
beginning to see why it was cut from some issues of the CD. To be honest I
think this actually sounded much better when Steve Whitmire did it on A Green And Red Christmas.
We Wish You A Merry Christmas is one of my favourite Christmas carols
anyway. I’ve always loved the song, and as sung by a cheerful bunch of Muppets,
well it’s just great. Done with such verve and enthusiasm. However, playing it
on a scruffy old vinyl single doesn’t do much for it. I think I’d rather hear a
nice clean CD of it.
A Baby Just Like You is sweet and Christmassey if you like this sort of song, at least it
would sound sweeter on a CD, rather than a battered vinyl 45.
Unless
you’re a completeist when it comes to collecting recordings involving John Denver or The Muppets, this single isn’t really worth bothering with, when
there are many versions of the CD around.
Critics Comments
.
Links about John
Denver & The Muppets: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, We Wish You A
Merry Christmas
