Pigs singing the Happy Wanderer

[MartyMuppets]

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!

I can almost feel sorry for the nasty, wicked goat. No matter how many times he butts them down or crushes them with boulders the persistent happy wandering pigs will just never leave his territory alone.
And before he realized it the poor, distressed animal had sent all his personal large rocks that had formed the basic structure of his home rolling right to the very bottom. He must have been driven completely insane

 

[Kiki]

Hey-ya Marty! I'm sorry I was so-totally late replying to this groovy thread but this is something funny I thought I'd share with you.

Pfft, call me crazy, but I ask my German teacher if she knew what 'valderie' meant. She acted vair vague about it all -since she's not actually German, she just teaches the language- but she *thought* it would mean kinda singing... if you know what I mean, like 'la la la' or something. Heh, just thought it would be something to share w/ you guys.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Nice to hear from ya Katie. And thanks for sharing that.
It does sound like the explanation could make sense. Just singing Val-de-ri Val-de-ra in the same way we sometimes sing Tra la li Tra la la or Dooby Dooby Doo, Hum de Dum Dum or absolutely whatever

I'm so pleased you think my thread is groovy. Would you care to mention which of the silly, funny things said between me and Caroline (Skye) in particular may be your favourites perchance?

 

[Skye]

I can almost feel sorry for the nasty, wicked goat. No matter how many times he butts them down or crushes them with boulders the persistent happy wandering pigs will just never leave his territory alone.
And before he realized it the poor, distressed animal had sent all his personal large rocks that had formed the basic structure of his home rolling right to the very bottom. He must have been driven completely insane

Oh yeah, completely insane is right! Plus, say he's taking a little nap one day and suddenly bursting through the silence is "Valderiiiiii, Valderaaaaaaaa...!" Wooo, that oughta give you a start!

It does sound like the explanation could make sense. Just singing Val-de-ri Val-de-ra in the same way we sometimes sing Tra la li Tra la la or Dooby Dooby Doo, Hum de Dum Dum or absolutely whatever

I think that's awesome! And it does make a lot of sense. Very, very cool thing to have in the song. Watch me start doing that now instead of "La, la, la's."

 

[MartyMuppets]

The Happy Wanderer

I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

Chorus:
Val-deri,Val-dera,
Val-deri,
Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-deri,Val-dera.

My knapsack on my back.
I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun,
So joyously it calls to me,
"Come! Join my happy song!"

I wave my hat to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev'ry green wood tree.

High overhead, the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home
But just like me, they love to sing,
As o'er the world we roam.

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh, may I always laugh and sing,
Beneath God's clear blue sky!


http://

Have you ever noticed Caroline how out of the five verses of the Happy Wanderer the three that are used in the sketch have such a fittingly cute re-curring theme within them at every third line?
Quoting the pigs themselves as follows:

All three: And as we go, we love to sing

Remaining two: But just like us they love to sing

Last one: O may I always laugh and sing (heh heh)

That is remarkably conveniently cute, isn't it?

 

[Skye]

You know, I had never noticed that before. But now that you mention it, you're so right... it is incredibly cute! This song has such a positive and upbeat feel to it, that message in those lines seems to come through very clearly, too. Of course, with that upbeat and positive feeling in this song, it's pretty ironic that there were so many unsure and nervous moments that the pigs felt in it.

 

[MartyMuppets]

And thinking about the plurality of the verses compared to the traditional singular words if the other two pigs hadn't suffered any further misfortune or if all three of them hadn't fallen at all I suppose they would have sung the last verse thus:

O may we go a-wandering until the day we die
O may we always laugh and sing (with no heh hehs) beneath the clear, blue sky.

Maybe the pig on the end might have even gotten over his little fears by then.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Speaking of the plurality as against the usual singular, recalling how I speculated that the sketch may have been just one climber originally I have an idea in my mind as to how that would have gone.

If there had only been one whatnot climber, pig or otherwise, he probably would have sung all three of the verses used happily while slowly climbing up to where the last of the three is squashed by the boulders. During the first verse he may have even carefully turned around to show off his back to the camera when he sang "my knapsack on my back."

And after reaching that spot up above and preparing to conclude his number he probably would have simply lost his footing tragically with no boulders or even said evil goat as he sang "beneath the clear, blue skyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

In this format it would have been an example of one of those seriously played Muppet Show numbers with a comedic end twist to it. I don't think they would have worried about trying to film him tumbling over and over at all. They would have just simply had him drop down backwards out of sight screaming out the final word of the song. Thereby leaving the sight of his long, dreadful fall up to the audience's imagination.

While this would have been enjoyable I think Caroline and most of everybody else will agree with me that we're very glad they expanded the idea out. What we do have is far, far better, Isn't it?

 

[Skye]

You have really cute ideas, Marty! I like how you came up with this here, and you're right... it could have worked with just one piggy climbing. I do think that it would've been kinda cool with this scenario, too. Though, having the three pigs and the evil goat is much more interesting and much more fun!

 

[MartyMuppets]

Yes it is much funnier Caroline with the trio.
It's interesting though to think how it may have slowly changed to the format that was used from just one to maybe two. Having two of them singing merrily for one or two verses then one falling off. And the other one thinking out loud to himself as it were. "Uh-oh. I'd better watch my step." And falling anyway after his last verse or verses.
I can imagine the Muppeteers discussing this with the writer(s) saying things like:
But wouldn't the two of them have been tied together like climbers generally do?
Yeah. What happened with the rope?
Thus the inspiration for the goat. And finally the trio concept to make the dialogue more simpler and natural instead of one talking to himself and all the rest of it fell into place.

Pretty amazing, huh?