Do De Rubber Duck

Music by	Christopher Cerf
Lyrics by	Norman Stiles
Date	1986
Publisher	Sesame Street, Inc., Splotched Animal Music Company
First	Episode 2304

Sesame Street Do De Duckie With Ernie

Ernie and friends sing "Do De Rubber Duck."

"Do De Rubber Duck" is a reggae song sung by Ernie, who is joined by several other Muppets in the bathroom for a special dance.

In the song, Ernie is joined by Telly Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, Count von Count, Biff, Guy Smiley, Gladys the Cow, Hoots the Owl, and Elmo. Near the end of the song, Bert stands outside the bathroom door and listens in on the song, much to his surprise.

When this song was included on the Put Down the Duckie! album, the verses by Kermit, Guy Smiley, Biff and Hoots were excluded, and the backing track was re-recorded. Other albums featured the complete version with another re-recorded backing track.

In a 2016 article for Billboard, composer Christopher Cerf reflected on the segment:

“I was on vacation [in 1986] with Henry Beard, who started National Lampoon. His stepdaughter, who'd grown up on Sesame Street, was there and said, “There’s a [style of] reggae music called ‘rubber-duck reggae.’ You should do that on Sesame Street.” When I got back, Norm and I wrote “Do De Rubber Duck,” a song about hygiene. We wrote the scene so all the Muppet characters gradually get in Ernie’s bathtub, except Bert, who can't get in the room. In recent years, it was decided this was a homosexual thing. I believe they took it off.”

Notes

• Noel MacNeal provided the puppetry for Oscar, with Caroll Spinney looping his voice later on. Likewise, Kermit was puppeteered by David Rudman, and Jim Henson later looped his lines. Additional puppeteers include Kevin Clash (Hoots the Owl and Bert), Camille Bonora (Biff puppeteer), Pam Arciero (Count assist.), Jim Kroupa (Ernie assist.), and Michael Elizabeth Huston (Guy Smiley puppeteer). Ivy Austin provides additional backing vocals as well.
• The segment was taped on November 21, 1986, and was directed by Jon Stone.
• In the original script for the song, Elmo (who only sings with the chorus) was not present. Oscar was intended to take his place in the clothes hamper (to mimic his placement in his trash can).
• On the Count It Higher VHS, the video has MTV-style captions that refer to "The Harder They Scrub" (referencing the 1972 reggae song "The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff). In addition, when showing the video in the VHS, the Count mentions that one of the singers in there was himself, and there were 247,561 bubbles in Ernie's bathtub.
• Lyrics to this song were released in the original release of the Count It Higher VHS.

Releases

Audio

• Put Down the Duckie! (1990)
• Splish Splash: Bath Time Fun (1995)
• Hot! Hot! Hot! Dance Songs (1997)
• Sesame Street Best (1997)
• Elmo's Dance Party (2012)

Video

• Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street (1988)
• Shalom Sesame: Show 6: Chanukah (1990, partially dubbed in Hebrew as "Bo Barvaz Vaz")
• Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years (1993, as part of the Rubber Duckie medley)
• What's the Name of That Song? (2004, listed as "Do De Duck")
• Playtime with Ernie (2005)
• 50 Years and Counting (2019)

Online

• Sesamestreet.org (sesamestreet.org)
• SesameStreet's YouTube Channel