This Frog vs. My Pollywog Ways

[minor muppetz]

I thought this might be a fun thread... Which late-1970s Kermit song do you like better, This Frog from 1977 or My Pollywog Ways from 1979?

I feel both songs are a bit similar in some ways. They are both sung by Kermit and are both from the late-1970s, both seem like good songs to perform live, and both are about pride (thoguh My Pollywog Ways is more about growing up). Also, both titles refer to a frog or type of frog.

I think I like This Frog better, but My Pollywog Ways isn't very bad at all. It seems This Frog is the better-known of the two. It's been released on a good number of albums, and seems to be one of Kermit's Sesame Street songs with the biggest amount of album releases (along with Bein' Green and African Alphabet). It's also the only of the two that's been released on video and available at sesamestreet.org (as well as Sesame Street's YouTube channel).

My Pollywog Ways, on the other hand, was only released on one album, has never been released on video, and Sesame Workshop hasn't made it available for online viewing. But I recall seeing this one broadcast quite a bit as a child, while I don't remember seeing any broadcast episodes with This Frog (as far as I know Muppet Wiki only lists two episodes with this segment, both of which come from print guides as opposed to anybody's copies of the episodes, though one of them is from the late-1990s so This Frog has been broadcast at least once in the 1990s). I feel they should have included the audio at least in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, considering all the praise given to Kermit (I could see the audio used for a montage of Kermit clips and images, illustrating the frog's rise to stardom).

I feel both songs are among Kermit's best and feel they are both classic yet obscure. This Frog seems more common in audio. I am a bit surprised that neither was remade for The Muppet Show (ditto for Kermit's other late-1970s song A Song From Kermit).

 

[dwmckim]

I'm on Team This Frog all the way. My Polliwog Ways is a good song but This Frog is just too-awesome-for-words outstanding. It's actually my fave Kermit song - moreso than Bein Green or Rainbow Connection and really wish it was as well known as the other two.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm going with "My Polliwog Ways" because I remember them showing the sketch all the time when I was a kid. Plus it's probably how I learned about frogs being tadpoles and all. I remember being scared of the pictures of Kermit "evolving" into a frog. Though today I'm not sure why, lol.

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm going with "My Polliwog Ways" because I remember them showing the sketch all the time when I was a kid. Plus it's probably how I learned about frogs being tadpoles and all.

That's also the earliest I knew of a tadpole being a young frog. In fact for the longest time the word "tadpole" was the only spoken word in that sketch that I could remember being said (and it's a bit brief, as he says "Then I was a tadpole, also known as a pollywog"). I remember when I got the "Jim Henson: A Sesame Street Celebration" cassette, there were many songs I didn't recognise by title, and at that time I couldn't remember the title or words to My Pollywog Ways, and at first thought "Tadpole" was the song (and then after listening to "This Frog" I wondered if that was it).

Speaking of This Frog, I wonder if the beginning was originally longer than on the copies we have access to. The version in both The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street and the copy Sesame Workshop made available online begin with a frog walking past Kermit's desk (it seems the version online is a few seconds longer... the frog gets out an extra ribbit than he does on the video release). But in the 40th anniversary book there's a page with several behind-the-scenes photos from the segment. One picture shows a mailman in Kermit's office. Makes me wonder if the sketch might have originally begun with a number of people in different professions walkign past Kermit and laughing at the sight of "a frog behind a desk doing office work", before the frog does, which would be a good punchline to the gag (but then again, Kermit doesn't really get frusterated with the frogs reaction to it, so maybe it didn't work as well). The only way we can really know would be if we saw the clip with that footage (or possibly saw a copy of the script). I wouldn't call it pre-roll footage if it had several characters walking by having lines.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Having watched that sketch again, I do think it's possible there was originally more to the beginning. It's very random the way it is now, lol.

 

[minor muppetz]

For those of you who haven't seen these sketches, here's This Frog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAv75mTimRc


And here's My Pollywog Ways: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67XSt4SwnbE

 

[dwmckim]

Speaking of This Frog, I wonder if the beginning was originally longer than on the copies we have access to. The version in both The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street and the copy Sesame Workshop made available online begin with a frog walking past Kermit's desk (it seems the version online is a few seconds longer... the frog gets out an extra ribbit than he does on the video release). But in the 40th anniversary book there's a page with several behind-the-scenes photos from the segment. One picture shows a mailman in Kermit's office. Makes me wonder if the sketch might have originally begun with a number of people in different professions walkign past Kermit and laughing at the sight of "a frog behind a desk doing office work", before the frog does, which would be a good punchline to the gag (but then again, Kermit doesn't really get frusterated with the frogs reaction to it, so maybe it didn't work as well). The only way we can really know would be if we saw the clip with that footage (or possibly saw a copy of the script). I wouldn't call it pre-roll footage if it had several characters walking by having lines.

If they did tape anything extra at the beginning, it didn't air on the show. What you see online is as it aired on SST.

 

[minor muppetz]

If they did tape anything extra at the beginning, it didn't air on the show. What you see online is as it aired on SST.

Something just hit me: The original Imagination sketch was supposed to begin with animated monsters scaring Ernie, but test audiences were more interested in the monsters than the message of the song, so it was reshot to the verison that aired. Makes me wonder if This Frog was a similar situation, with the beginnign shortened or changed because of test results.

One thing I wonder is whether This Frog was performed on the show first or on the album "Aren't You Glad You're You". That album is from 1977, This Frog is copyrighted 1977, and the earliest-known appearance of the song is a season 9 episode.

One thing of note is that the album version sounds a little different from the broadcast version (mainly the chorus; Kermit's vocals and the music otherwise sound identical to me). A number of songs that were broadcast first were rerecorded for album releases, and whenever a song that debuted on an album appeared on the show it was usually the original album track (at least when the broadcast verison had the same singer). I don't think there's many cases where a song was recorded on an album first and then it was performed on the show, by the same characters, with the audio rerecorded (considering the audio is usually recorded first anyway I wonder why the album releases need to be rerecorded).

I also wonder if these two songs would have been as good without the introductory sequences. it might have seemed random for them to start the music without the non-music introductions. My Pollywog Ways might have done fine without an introduction if the whole thing took place at the nightclub. Of course I've read that the only audio release of My Pollywog Ways doesn't include Kermit's introduction (it would have been too visual for an audio release), while every audio release of This Frog that I've heard includes a special introduction by Kermit.

 

[Oscarfan]

I prefer "This Frog", because:

a. It has a great message
b. I love songs good back-up vocals (for some reason)
c. I love songs that build up to a big finish

 

[beakerboy12]

I'm going with "This Frog"! I just love it! It sounds so good! I totally agree with everything Oscarfan mentioned! I like "This Frog".

Now, with SST currently doing science curriculums, I would have to say that "My Polliwog Ways" would fit right in with the show now... if Disney might allow the rights.