Pigs singing the Happy Wanderer

[MartyMuppets]

Thanks Erin. I can picture what it must have looked like in my mind now.
Actually now that you've explained it to me I think I do have somewhat vagueish memories of those Far Side comic gags. I never followed them devotedly but I did come across some of them occasionally. Maybe in a newspaper.

 

[MartyMuppets]

WOW
I just looked at the statistics and I have 190 posts in here and currently 1990 times has my thread been viewed.
Isn't that remarkably poetic?

 

[Skye]

I just remembered that one of John's classic songs is good old "Rocky Mountain High." Do you suppose this could have provided some slight subtil inspiration for the Pigs' mountain-climbing sketch in at least a small way?

And if so maybe those pigs threatened to sue Mr.Denver since he had inadvertently given the show's writers some little measure of idea for their bad misfortune. Unless as Skye and I speculated in a previous quirky exchange that the events of the sketch may have been enjoyable for muppets like them. In which case they probably wanted to thank John Denver instead.

Ha... well, I think John's love of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains certainly did influence this sketch quite a bit! That whole episode is really based around John's love for nature, the outdoors and everything. And I'll bet the pigs would thank John for that... it is always fun for Muppets to go tumbling down a mountain!

Erin, that Far Side comic sounds awesome. I was never big on the Far Side, but that one does sound very cute.

And congrats, Marty, on the popularity of this thread! It's now been viewed over 2,000 times... very cool!

 

[MartyMuppets]

Thanks Caroline. I'm so very, very, very happy

 

[Skye]

If you can verify that the music starts before they appear that'd also be appreciated but i'm wondering about something regarding the rope sequence in the second chorus.
I can't quite make it out on YouTube but I think I remember when he sings "Val-de-ri" and holds up the rope presumably his buddy nods at it because he can feel how firm and secure it is as it is gently stretched taut around his belly. And I think I recall from an old tape off television I used to have that there is a piece of rope hanging down from the lead pig's hand presumably what is attatched to them. But after he lowers his hand so his buddy can sing "Val-de-ra" and he raises his hand again to sing the next part of the chorus, if my memory is correct again that piece of rope has disappeared implying that the goat has chewed it off and his buddy is preparing to sing "Val-de-ahahahahaha" with gusto so he doesn't realize it has gone slack in the split second before he in turn is butted off his balance. Can you verify this sometime please? Much obliged.

Hey, I got these answers for ya now!

So, the first one is: no, the music does not start before the pigs are on screen. It starts as soon as they're shown climbing up the mountain.

And, actually no, I didn't see that with the rope thing. The pig does hold it up, and puts his hand down, but as he lifts his hand again, the rope is still there. Would've been pretty cool if it was the way you thought, though!

 

[MartyMuppets]

Hey, I got these answers for ya now!

So, the first one is: no, the music does not start before the pigs are on screen. It starts as soon as they're shown climbing up the mountain.

And, actually no, I didn't see that with the rope thing. The pig does hold it up, and puts his hand down, but as he lifts his hand again, the rope is still there. Would've been pretty cool if it was the way you thought, though!

Thanks for that Caroline.
I couldn't precisely remember the exact time the music began since they made that cut on the television stations. Wish I could somehow see your tape so that I could hear exactly what the music sounds like at the beginning. It's very unique kind of music since the tune is mostly played in brief harmonic toots on something that sounds like a tuba or a french horn with some other pretty wind instrument going "tra-la-la-la" at cues in between the lines of the verses and choruses.

Yes it would be cool if it was like I thought, but the evil goat had to presumably have bitten through it at some point. But I do know for sure that a very small piece of rope does sinisterly hang down from him trailing along the mountain side however
While he starts to nervously resume his climb it's as clear as day and does look like it could be what's left of the rope after the goat has done his sneaky little snip-snip

 

[MartyMuppets]

I was thinking about what William said earlier regarding my comment about how goats might tragically knock people off mountains in real life being part of their own in-built nature

But another reason a goat might do that is to defend his territory or it might be scared and trying to defend itself

With that thought in mind I can imagine how the other two pigs can be said to have brought their own hilarious fate upon themselves by their own un-natural actions after their best friend is pushed off.
Consider if the goat had noticed those three invaders approaching his home and came down to get them to stop climbing upwards to it. He bit through the rope and sent the first one tumbling down to scare the others into backing off. But they kept coming up.

That's very true Marty. And logically you're right, they would've kept climbing in silence, or they may have decided to stop and just go back down to be and mourn by their friend.

If they had gone back down to grieve the goat may have been satisfied but I can picture him thinking, "What? Still coming up to my territory? I'll strike another blow then." And chews through the rope again sending the second one tumbling down. As I pointed out before the shock of losing both his best friends in this way should have persuaded the last pig to try to climb back down to save his own life if at all possible. But he didn't.

Ha, that is a very good point you have, Marty. Going back down after losing his buddies would most likely be the natural, normal response for most. But then again... the Muppets were never quite "normal" were they?

They certainly were as far from normal as you can possibly get. And by this time the goat was probably so brazenly annoyed that the last pig kept climbing in the direction of his home that in a fit of rage he raced up ahead and shoved two great big boulders from his place down upon the last one. At least then he was able to relax in peace and solitude.
And certainly those muppet pigs were completely un-normal.
After all Caroline and I believe they enjoyed their experiences in the end HA HA HA

 

[Skye]

They certainly were as far from normal as you can possibly get. And by this time the goat was probably so brazenly annoyed that the last pig kept climbing in the direction of his home that in a fit of rage he raced up ahead and shoved two great big boulders from his place down upon the last one. At least then he was able to relax in peace and solitude.
And certainly those muppet pigs were completely un-normal.
After all Caroline and I believe they enjoyed their experiences in the end HA HA HA

It does make sense for the goat to try to be defending its territory and/or itself. That could very well be why he just kept chewing through the rope the way he did.

I wonder... if they had found out the goat was there when the first pig went down, would they have continued going up or would they have hurried back down? After all, if they did indeed enjoy their experience, they still would've kept going, right?

Hmmm... so, Marty? Since you and I believe they enjoyed their experiences so much, we've gotta be just as un-normal as the pigs were! Then again, quite a few Muppet fans could be described as that, huh?

 

[MartyMuppets]

It does make sense for the goat to try to be defending its territory and/or itself. That could very well be why he just kept chewing through the rope the way he did.

I wonder... if they had found out the goat was there when the first pig went down, would they have continued going up or would they have hurried back down? After all, if they did indeed enjoy their experience, they still would've kept going, right?

Well obviously none of them enjoyed it at the time. The first one acted like he was uncomfortable being up such a great height before he fell. And his two pals (let's have a change from the words friends and buddies) said in effect, "We'd better watch where we step." They certainly didn't want to share their pal's fate, did they?

It's only our thought that they may have been able to survive and even could have enjoyed it in retrospection because muppets can survive being eaten by muppet monsters, being blown up by Crazy Harry etc. so why should the piggies demise have been any more or any less permanent in this instance?

Just imagine if they had made their way down whether they had realized there was a goat or not, their pal might have said, "It's all right. I'm alive. We muppets are exactly the same as toons. Drop a piano on our heads. Throw us down a cliff. Whatever. We always bounce back up."
"That's right." the others realize. "Let's go back. It'll probably be most thrilling."
"Yes it is. I'll come with you. This time I'll climb ahead so you two can get a turn before I go again."

it is always fun for muppets to go tumbling down a mountain like that...exactly, it was just another big, fun, exciting adventure the three piggies shared together

 

[Skye]

True. Or they realized how much fun it was on the way down. After their screams, they thought, "Hey, this is kinda fun!" And then when the last two landed, they were happy they were still alive and that their other pal (good word ) was still alive. And they probably had that great conversation that you came up with there, Marty, and just had to try and do it again!