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.
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