Man Or Muppet, written by Bret McKenzie.

Use this as a warm up for Muppets Most Wanted...which I'm seeing in New York tomorrow, a week before it opens  :)

Picture from Melodies Cafe's Muppet music tribute, in Ardmore, Pa, 3/21/2015. This audio is not from the performance.
- https://seejeffsing.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/melodiesmuppettribute-2/

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The instrumental track (without background vocals) was purchased at

http://www.karaoke-version.com/mp3-backingtrack/the-muppets/man-or-muppet.html

Licensing for karaoke-version.com is managed by Tency Licensing (tencymusic.com). I have written approval for posting covers in this manner.


Man Or Muppet, from The Muppets, 2011

My eight-year-old's valiant yet fruitless effort to sing along with "Weird Al" Yankovic's Hardware Store, while looking at the lyrics.

Recorded January 2015. Secretly (bwahaha). 

8-yr-old Super-Herbie, Valiantly, Hopelessly, Beautifully attempting "Weird Al"s Hardware Store

This is the song I sing every night to my 5-year-old. No, I don't sing it to him like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBklkd30XgI

Raw vocal (flac): http://aliteralmind.com/docs/singing/see_jeff_sing/raw_vocals/I'm%20Going%20To%20Go%20Back%20There%20Someday%20-%20jeff%20raw.flac

I'm Going To Go Back There Someday (Squeaky-Ana Jones' lullaby, a cappella)

Video and raw vocal track: https://seejeffsing.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/01csh03elyn/

Everybody Loves You Now (vocal track, Cold Spring Harbor, track 3, Billy Joel’s Disc. 3/121)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS7t9k1hjzQ

I sing One More Minute with my a cappella group, The City Line Singers
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be3ehDNPs0o
It is also, twistedly, the secondary lullaby for both of my boys. 8-yr-old Super-Herbie's primary lullaby is I Don't Want To Live On The Moon (Ernie on Sesame Street) and 5-yr-old Squeaky-Ana Jones' is I'm Going To Go Back There Someday (Gonzo in The Muppet Movie).

Over the course of eight months, I taught Squeaky how to sing the backup for One More Minute, which he calls "On My Face". Unfortunately it is not appropriate to be viewed by other children...although they'd probably not even realize!

5-year-old Squeaky backing me up on "Weird Al"s One More Minute

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMA_RvjXXH0

Easily my favorite song on Cold Spring Harbor. It's obviously a depressing topic, but I just learned last month, from Retolder Gail, that it is explicitly a suicide note. I spent the previous thirty years not knowing that.

"So Billy's staying in our apartment one night," Irwin [Mazur] says, "and I get up in the morning, and I go in the dining room, and there's a loose-leaf page Billy left there with what are obviously lyrics to a song. And I read it, and the title of the song is 'Tomorrow Is Today.' I think is state of mind would be pretty well summed up in his song. It was a suicide note." -- Page 64, Fred Schruers' biography

(I can't find the quote at the moment, but at a Masterclass, when this song was requested, Billy said, "That's one I can't do.")

Raw vocal track (directory containing flac): http://aliteralmind.com/docs/singing/billy_joel/discography/raw_tracks/01_csh/08_tt/

Here's another version with piano, in the original key:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxaJWogAIWY

It's a TOTALLY different song for me in the original key. I choose the lower key (which is two half-steps down).



Tomorrow Is Today (vocal track only, CSH#8, Billy Joel's discography 8/121)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZHtmzoEyFA

The recovery and acceptance after a failed suicide attempt. This and the much lighter Turn Around are my second favorites on this album, significantly behind Tomorrow is Today.

Raw vocal track (directory containing flac): http://aliteralmind.com/docs/singing/billy_joel/discography/raw_tracks/01_csh/10_gtba/

The keen-eyed observer will notice that I've skipped Nocturne. If you insist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js4Cgeif2pc

Got To Begin Again (vocal track, CSH#10, Billy Joel's discography 10/121)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW-y6kScxVI

Vocal-track only cover.

This is dedicated to Sophie Steiner and The Be Loud! Sophie Foundation. Sophie is a Billy Joel fan who succumbed to cancer in the summer of 2013 and left a ten page note specifically detailing the charity she wanted made in her name (she also left a lot of poetry). Her wish was to supply young patients with more of what they need while they're stuck in the hospital: Fun and creative outlets, access to alternative holistic therapies like yoga and massage, and easier ways to keep in contact with friends and family.

This letter was left to her best friend, Retolder Maddy Youngman, who worked closely with Sophie's family to make The Be Loud! Sophie Foundation a reality. Please like, support, and contribute.

https://www.facebook.com/beloudsophie
http://beloudsophie.org

Sophie would have turned seventeen years old last month.

Raw vocal (directory with flac): http://aliteralmind.com/docs/singing/billy_joel/discography/raw_tracks/02_pm/01_tp/


Travelin' Prayer (vocal track only, PM#1, Billy Joel's discography 11/121)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGajltN7_Ic

Vocal tracks only. One track lead, six tracks harmony (three parts, doubled in each speaker).

Raw vocal tracks (directory with flacs...*should* all be flacs): http://aliteralmind.com/docs/singing/billy_joel/discography/raw_tracks/02_pm/03_anc


Ain't No Crime (7 vocal tracks only, PM#3, Billy Joel's discography 13/121)

7yr-old Squeaky raps about the planets

My 12-year-old has been beatboxing quietly to himself for years. I am a classically trained singer, and he never fails to impress me with his sense of beat and creative sounds.

[THIS FILE IS AVAILABLE FOR REMIXING: http://ccmixter.org/files/aliteralmind/59210]

I've been trying to find an outlet for him, and finally remembered ccmixter. So here he is.

I hope he can be recognized for his talent and can find happiness in music, instead of the little hedonist insane crazy laughing in the moment 12-year-old stuff he's been doing his whole life. I mean, I know it's his job to be a kid, but it's my job to help him grow up just a little.

Enjoy.

12yr-old Super-Herbie improvisational beatboxing for five minutes

Greatest Hits of the 1990s

When I First Saw You (from Dreamgirls)

He’s at it again. The little bugger. This time he’s 13.

13-year-old Super-Herbie Beatboxing, July 22, 2019

This track can be found on ccmixter.org, here: http://ccmixter.org/files/aliteralmind/59210

12-year-old Super-Herbie beatbox improvisation, 1//27/2019

Classically trained tenor who loves Billy Joel and deeply profound schmaltz.

SeeJeffSing

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