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John Denver/Muppets Xmas Special

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AnimalEatDrum

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I saw the John Denver/Muppets Xmas special way back in the late 70's (I think) when it first aired. My favorite song was the Electric Mayhem's version of the Beach Boys "Little Saint Nick" - Janice and Animal's vocals were particularly funny!

Well, recently I saw a tape of the show and that song wasn't on it - a CD being sold now doesn't have it listed either!

Do any of you know why this song has been edited?
 
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murgatoad

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Originally posted by AnimalEatDrum
I saw the John Denver/Muppets Xmas special way back in the late 70's (I think) when it first aired. My favorite song was the Electric Mayhem's version of the Beach Boys "Little Saint Nick" - Janice and Animal's vocals were particularly funny!

Well, recently I saw a tape of the show and that song wasn't on it - a CD being sold now doesn't have it listed either!

Do any of you know why this song has been edited?
Click to expand...
It's either because of money or copyright concerns or both. Whenever a copyrighted song is used in any type of production - TV, movie, live performance, etc. - permission from the song's creator and a nominal sum must be paid to ASCAP, an entity that works to protect and collect usage sums for songwriters' creations. In order to include "Little Saint Nick" in the Muppet CD (not sure about the video), Henson would have to obtain permission and be willing to pay money for it. So I'd assume the reason the song is not on the CD is because Henson was refused permission to use it or was unwilling to pay the fee.

BTW, all of the above is what you'd call an educated guess. :wink:
 
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TravellingMatt

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The new CD reissue also cut two other songs which surprised me--"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (since it was used in several other Muppet-related Christmas shows), which was a duet between John Denver and Rowlf--probably one of the few times Rowlf did ANYTHING serious. THe other song that was cut (and this one's a shocker) was "When The River Meets The Sea". I would expect there to be few copyright problems, seeing as how this song was written especially for a Muppet Christmas show!
 
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