longer music numbers

[minor muppetz]

In the booklet that came with the Mupet Show 25th anniversary album, it was said that Jim Henson felt that it was pushing it to have any musical numbers that lasted longer than 2 minutes. I have noticed that many of the songs performed on The Muppet Show are shorter than when they were originally released, often shortening the number of times a verse is repeated and I guess shortening instrumental breaks. However, there are some numbers that feel like they are really long, and these numbers are usually really boring.

I feel like Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Number and Turn the World Around numbers are really long and boring (part of the reason for Turn the World Around feeling long could be because iot goes into the credits). While Banana Boat Song has humor in it, it still seems really slow. I can't believe that that episode was one of Jim Henson's favorites. I think all of Belafontes big numbers were boring, while the rest of the episode was great.

Zero Mostel's What Do The Simple Folk Do and Ben Vereen's Mr. Cellopane number also feel like they are way too long, and don't hold any interest for me (even if they were shorter).

Of course, all this is without keeping track of time, so I could be wrong about them seeming like they are longer than 2 minutes, but are there any numbers that you feel are longer than 2 minutes, whether you feel it's boring or not?

Interestingly, when I read that fact in the booklet, I noticed that many of the Muppet Show tracks on the album had their runtime longer than two minutes, taking me awhile to realise that the time was also accounting for introductions, Statler and Waldorf comments, and other spoken-word scenes between the songs.

 

[Baby Gonzo]

To each his own, but I love the Harry Belafonte numbers. Although I have never seen the full episode, I like to listen to "Turn The World Around" on a loop in youtube. And I can't wait to watch this episode on Season 3 when it is released!

Zero Mostel's "What Do The Simple Folk Do" is somewhat boring to me as well, but I think it's a matter of personal taste.


It just seems like society has become so accustomed to the sound bite culture that everything needs to be short and to the point. That works with the Muppets because they are so spontaneous, but I think they should be able to work either way.

 

[peyjenk]

"What the Simple Folks Do" is from Camelot, and it is too long and kinda boring in that context, as well. It is just so stinkin' repetitive. After the third verse or so, it's like okay, we get the point. STOP SINGING.

Even when Julie Andrews and Richard Burton sing it.

 

[David French]

I feel like Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Number and Turn the World Around numbers are really long and boring (part of the reason for Turn the World Around feeling long could be because it goes into the credits). While Banana Boat Song has humor in it, it still seems really slow. I can't believe that that episode was one of Jim Henson's favorites. I think all of Belafontes big numbers were boring, while the rest of the episode was great.

Zero Mostel's What Do The Simple Folk Do and Ben Vereen's Mr. Cellopane number also feel like they are way too long, and don't hold any interest for me (even if they were shorter).

The reason they seem slow is because...well, they *are* slow; by that I mean that their tempos are slow. Belafonte is more of a calypso-style singer, so his songs are always going to be more slower and ballad-like than some of the more contemporary songs that were being recorded at the time. What you really mean is that you can't identify with the style of song.

"Mr Cellophane" (from the musical "Chicago") is a sad, melancholy song about a person who feels that he is invisible to everybody else. You can't really rock that song up.

As for "What Do the Simple Folk Do", that's supposed to be a serious song which again you can't really make any faster. I think Mostel's incongruous over-acting and dance routine during that number are brilliant and the real highlights of that song.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if Jim Henson would have wanted musical numbers to be logner if The Muppet Show was produced today. It seems like songs are getting longer these days. Back in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s it seems like the average song was around 2 or 3 minutes, but now it seems like the average song is 5 or 6 minutes long. Back in the 1970s there were songs longer than 10 minutes long like Stairway to Heaven and In a Gadda Da Vidda, which I'm sure the lenght was a big deal at the time, but I think now if a song is longer than 10 minutes people might not care (of cours,e back in 1999 when Weird Al Yankovic released his 11 minute song Albequerque, I thought the lenght was a big deal, but didn't think so when he released his 13 minute song Trapped at the Drive Thru).