It's easy bein' green

Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's first and most famous Muppet (sorry Miss Piggy). First introduced in 1955, his hit, Bein' Green, was written in 1970 for the first season of Sesame Street.

It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

It's not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But green's the color of Spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like an ocean, or important
Like a mountain, or tall like a tree

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
And I think it's what I want to be

Kermit, who was performed by Henson until his death in 1990, is the spokefrog for many Muppet projects (most notably as the host of The Muppet Show) and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, commercials, and in public service announcements over the years.
 
Kermit also performed the hit single The Rainbow Connection in 1979 for The Muppet Movie, the first feature-length film featuring Henson's Muppets. Kermit was credited as the author of Before You Leap: A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons, which is an "autobiography" told from the perspective of the character himself.

Getting jiggy with Miss Piggy

jig·gy [jig-ee]
adjective, ‐gi·er, ‐gi·est. Slang.
1. nervous; active; excitedly energetic.
2. wonderful and exciting, especially because stylish. 

Momma been a fan of the Muppets since they first began so she couldn't wait to take Moi and my Big Sister to see the new Muppet movie which opened yesterday.

So who is Moi's favorite? Miss Piggy, of course.

(I shall admit to an unrequited fondness for Kermit the Frog, but I am not about to get into a tussle with Miss Piggy over him!)

Miss Piggy is convinced she is destined for stardom, and nothing will stand in her way. She is the essence of feminine charm, but can fly into a violent rage whenever she thinks she has been insulted or thwarted. Kermit is often the target of her anger or kisses.

Miss Piggy's first known appearance (who was noticeably nicer) was on a TV special Herb Alpert and the TJB, broadcast on Oct. 13, 1974.

She appeared briefly in the 1975 pilot special The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, in a sketch called "Return to Beneath the Planet of the Pigs." (An early version of Pigs in Space?) She was unnamed in that show and was a blonde, beady-eyed pig, but by the time The Muppet Show began in 1976, she was recognizably Miss Piggy with large blue eyes.

Miss Piggy soon developed into a major character. For awhile in the late '70s and early '80s she was the most popular of all the Muppets!

As for her name, in The Muppet Show episode 106, Miss Piggy is referred to by the full name "Piggy Lee." In episode 116, Miss Piggy says that Piggy is short for "Pigathius," which is "from the Greek, meaning 'river of passion.'" She later explains that her first name is actually the more feminine-sounding version of Pigathius, "Pigathia."

In a 1979 interview with the New York Times, Frank Oz outlined Miss Piggy's biography:

"She grew up in a small town in Iowa; her father died when she was young, and her mother wasn't that nice to her. She had to enter beauty contests to survive, as many single women do. She has a lot of vulnerability which she has to hide, because of her need to be a superstar."

I have to admit I like any woman who knows her own mind and goes for it.

Street-level democracy

Here I am being interviewed by Kermit for Sesame Street News Flash.

"I said nothing when the recession hit Wall Street. But when it hit Sesame Street, I knew something had to be done."

Basically, the participants of Occupy Wall Street have been protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and government lobbyists since Sept. 17, 2011.

 

About two weeks later it hit Sesame Street and I knew I had to get involved.

Are you among the 99 percent?

Remember, in a democracy, it's your vote that counts. On Sesame Street, it's your Count that votes.

Ah-ah-ah!