Jerry and Louise’s Duets

Jerry and Louise’s Duets

Ever since they first joined forces on The Muppet Show, Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold have been a rather special Muppet singing double act, each brilliant individually together they make for a certain magic. Over a space of eighteen years between 1977 and 1995 they performed in many duets together on: The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and, The Secret Life of Toys, as well as contributing their combined singing talents to a number of Muppet films.

Here are listed, as many of their duets that can be clearly defined as such;. Several Muppet musical numbers which although ensemble efforts are clearly led by this talented pair, plus some which are largely solos but notable contributions. And finally a bunch of musical numbers where it is unclear just who the singers are, but on occasions there have been suggestions that the lead singers might be Jerry and Louise.

Duets

The Cooperation Song (A Song For Two Will Make Us One) (from Sesame Street) – starring Louise Gold as a Girl Who Needs Help and Jerry Nelson as Herry Monster. The girl could well be Louise’s singing, and it definitely looks like her left-handed puppetry.

Henrietta’s Wedding (from The Muppet Show, Dom DeLuise episode)- Starring Jerry Nelson as Cowboy Jerry and Louise Gold as Lou-The-Jugband-Lady. This was the first proper Jerry and Louise duet ever performed. They had sung together before on several musical numbers on The Muppet Show, but this was the first number where they really performed as an equal vocal partnership. The song appears on ‘The Muppet Show Music Album’ where they are simply credited as “Jerry and Lou” (the characters names or the puppeteers names? well both) very fitting.

I Can Sing Anything When I Sing With You (from Sesame Street) – starring Louise Gold as Louisey and Jerry Nelson as Herry Monster. Possibly the best ever duet this musical twosome have ever done. A song which perfectly sums up the musical partnership that is Louise and Jerry. It fits them like a pair of gloves. This is one duet where they each seem to do everything they are good at as singers, and very fittingly the characters are named for them.

I’m Going To Tell On You (from The Secret Life Of Toys) – starring Jerry Nelson as Bratty Rat and Louise Gold as Raisin. A particularly memorable duet, not least because while in most of the duets Louise and Jerry are a very equal partnership as singers, in this number Jerry seems to have practically upstaged Louise! Rather unusual, since usually in duets with just about anyone else it’s Louise who usually has the tendency to upstage whoever is partnering her in duets.

Me And My Gal (from The Muppet Show, Deborah Harry Epsiode) – starring Jerry and Louise as a pair of Muppet Gargoyles.

Monsterpiece Theatre Presents: Inside And Outside (a parody of Tonight from West Side Story) (from Sesame Street) – starring Louise Gold and Jerry Nelson with two other puppeteers as cats. Although unconfirmed this does seem to one of the duets.

Your Feet’s Too Big (from The Muppet Show, Carol Channing Epiosde) – Starring Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold as a pair of pink muppet monsters with large feet.

Sort of duets

Borneo (from The Muppet Show) – featuring Cowboy Jerry And Lou-The-Jugband-Lady, with the Jugband – well it’s probably supposed to be a number for the whole Jugband, but with their strong voices, it seems to have turned into a Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold duet, with Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, and, Richard Hunt more or less as backing vocalists. The song has found its way on to several albums. It seems to be typical of what would often happen with that Jugband.

Chanson De Amour (from The Muppet Show) – featuring three girl singers all voiced by Louise Gold (who was Triple Tracked with herself), along with Crazy Harry performed by Jerry Nelson. This number actually formed part of Louise Gold’s audition for The Muppet Show, so in a way it was a foretaste of things to come.

It Feels Like Christmas (from The Muppet Christmas Carol) – featuring Ghost Of Christmas Past with cast (Jerry Nelson with: Louise Gold, Karen Prell, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Brian Henson, Mike Quinn, David Rudman, and, Frank Oz). Well it’s probably supposed to be Jerry Nelson backed by the company, and some of them do get some nice solo lines. But Louise Gold, with her glorious voice does rather dominate the ensemble. So that although it is not really a Jerry and Louise duet, at times it almost becomes one.

Mad Dogs And Englishmen (from The Muppet Show, Cleo Laine episode) – performed by three er Mad Dogs. Really it was a trio with Jim Henson (as Rowlf), but somehow Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold as Baskerville and Afghan Hound can’t help dominating it.

Old Man River (from The Muppet Show, Steve Martin episode) – just a smidgen of the song mostly sung by Louise Gold as Mary-Louise, with a small input from Jerry Nelson as a frog friend.

Swannee River (from The Muppet Show, Steve Martin episode) – just a smidgen of the song mostly sung by Louise Gold as Kerry-Louise, with a small input from Jerry Nelson as a frog friend.

Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree (from The Muppet Show, Steve Martin episode) – just a smidgen of the song mostly sung by Louise Gold as Terry-Louise, with a small input from Jerry Nelson as a frog friend.

Who? - Zelda Rose and her singing Owl (from the album The Muppet Show 2) - Originally sung on The Muppet Show by Abby Hadfield, for contractual reasons it was recorded for the purposes of the album by Louise Gold. The lead singer is accompanied by a singing owl voiced by Jerry Nelson.

You’re No Good (from The Muppet Show, Alan Arkin Episode) – Starring Louise Gold as an Angel, with Jerry Nelson as The Devil to whom she is referring to in the song.

Possible Duets or Sort of Duets

I Could Have Counted All Night (from Sesame Street) – starring Louise Gold as The Countess, Jerry Nelson as The Count, with Fran Brill as The Countess’s Mother {The album The Count’s Countdown credits Louise Gold as singing The Countess, however, there are some questions about that. Is it possible that the characters singing voice , speaking voice, and puppetry could all be different people? Muppet fan TW says that Julianne Buescher puppeteered it with Fran Brill’s vocals. Your webmaster reckon’s the puppetry isn’t Ms Gold’s – but the concensus among some of the puppeteers has been that she probably sang it on the album). So this is a bit of a mystery as to whether it is a ‘Sort of duet’ or not.

I Love You More Or Less (from Sesame Street) – starring Louise Gold and Jerry Nelson, supported by David Rudman and Marty Robinson as the carrier men. (unconfirmed though your webmaster thinks it sounds like a Jerry and Louise duet, and the puppetry looks like it could be Louise’s)

Indian Love Call (When I’m Calling You) (from Sesame Street) – starring Louise Gold (date unknown) the voice makes it obvious the puppetry is difficult to tell because of having an assistant. Also one of the lyrics has a clue that the girl could be Louise Gold (the lyric refers to the girl’s brown eyes). Is the word YOU (in green letters) performed by Jerry? It seems a likely choice, but who can tell, some Muppets fans reckon it could be Kevin Clash.

Silent Night, Holy Night (from the album John Denver And The Muppets A Christmas Together) – Who were the two solo voices on this? Your webmaster reckons the woman was Louise Gold (because her voice is so strong), but who was the man? its not clear.

Something Always Comes Between Us (from Sesame Street) - some Muppet fans seem to think Louise Gold and Jerry Nelson did it, some don’t. Your webmaster thinks its possible but isn’t sure. While RL reckoned it is probably Stephanie D’Abruzzo and Marty Robinson. However SD confirmed that is it definitely not Stephanie D’Abruzzo.