Put Down the Duckie (song)

Music by	Christopher Cerf
Lyrics by	Norman Stiles
Date	1986
Publisher	Splotched Animal Music (BMI) Sesame Street, Inc. (ASCAP)
First	Episode 2310

Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration

"Put Down the Duckie", performed by Hoots the Owl and Ernie, encourages one not to let possessions get in the way of other activities. Ernie wants to play the saxophone, but due to the presence of Rubber Duckie in his hand, he can only produce a squeak.

Bob sang a portion of the song in Episode 3085. In a segment from season 27, Ellen DeGeneres listened to the song on a Walkman, explaining to Elmo how portable music players work. (First: Episode 3448) This occasionally led into the original segment (segueing straight into the opening vamp).

In a Play with Me Sesame insert, Ernie uses the song during a game of "Ernie Says" about being happy, angry and sad. In German, the song is known as "Weg mit dem Entchen!"

Christopher Cerf and Bob McGrath sang the song at the Brooklyn Public Library on November 21, 2009.

Ernie and Hoots the Owl performed an abridged version of the song with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a new arrangement by Carlos Henriquez as part of A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration on October 25th and 26th, 2019. They also reprised the song in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration, with appearances from celebrities featured in the special (Whoopi Goldberg, Sterling K. Brown, Meghan Trainor, Itzhak Perlman, Norah Jones, Elvis Costello, and Patti LaBelle).

Origins

According to lyricist Norman Stiles:

“I also came up with the idea for song “Put Down the Ducky” [sic] one night while eating dinner by myself at a restaurant. The phrase, “You’ve got to put down the ducky if you want to play the saxophone,” came to mind after one vodka on the rocks. Chris Cerf and I wrote the whole lyric around a week later and then he wrote that great tune. The idea to include cuts of celebs came soon after it was recorded and shot. Any celebrity who came to do Sesame Street did their version. I got goose bumps when Ladysmith Black Mombassa [sic] did it.”

On the celebrity version, Christopher Cerf said,

“I think probably what made that song so popular was an idea that Norm and I first had. We thought it would be fun if a whole bunch of celebrities sang “Put Down the Duckie,” very much the way celebrities sang “We Are the World,” which was coming out at that time. But that seemed like an impossible dream.

Jon Stone, the really brilliant creator of Sesame, said, “Well, are you a patient guy?” I said, “Why do you ask?” And he said, “What if we asked each celebrity who came on the show for the next couple of years to sing one line of this song? Within a couple of years, we’ll have an all-star piece.” And that’s exactly what happened. Everybody sang a different line in the song, and then Jon edited it all together.”

Celebrity Version

Ernie and Hoots in the song's epilogue from Sesame Street, Special.

During the season that this song premiered, every time a celebrity appeared on the show, the producers would tape a special verse to be sung by that celebrity, and these verses were then edited into the song for later re-airing. Not every celebrity in the montage made other appearances on the show that season, such as Itzhak Perlman and Danny DeVito, and for others this was their only appearance, such as Jeremy Irons, and Gordon Jackson alongside Jean Marsh. Another celebrity included is Rhea Perlman, who had not appeared on the show before but would appear in a season 22 episode, appearing in the song alongside her husband, Danny DeVito.

The celebrity version was first used in the pledge drive production Sesame Street, Special (first airing on the show in Episode 2534). The closing credits of the special featured another celebrity montage for this song, including alternate takes/verses of the featured celebrities (including a verse from Jane Curtin, who appeared but didn't sing in the insert) and the celebrities who appeared in new footage in the special. The credits were followed by a brief scene in which Hoots the Owl reveals to Ernie that he gets a funny sound whenever he wants to squeeze his Rubber Duckie, and Ernie offers a solution: "You've got to put down the saxophone if you want to squeak your duckie!"

A second version of the celebrity montage was also made, where some celebrities were replaced with others (mostly borrowing from the closing montage of Sesame Street, Special). This version was first shown in Episode 3076.

Celebrities included:

John Candy (both versions) Celia Cruz (both versions) Jane Curtin (both versions) Pee-wee Herman (1st version only) Keith Hernandez (1st version only) Jeremy Irons (both versions) Gordon Jackson (both versions) Madeline Kahn (both versions) Danny DeVito (both versions) Wynton Marsalis (both versions) Jean Marsh (both versions) Andrea Martin (both versions) Itzhak Perlman (both versions) Rhea Perlman (both versions)

Pete Seeger (1st version only) Paul Simon (both versions) Ladysmith Black Mambazo (both versions) Mookie Wilson (1st version only) Mark Ingram (1st version only) Sean Landeta (1st version only) Carl Banks (1st version only) Karl Nelson (1st version only) Robert MacNeil (2nd version only) Gladys Knight and the Pips (2nd version only) Phil Donahue (2nd version only) Barbara Walters (2nd version only) Joe Williams (both versions)

Additional changes

Aside from the added celebrities, a number of other alterations have occurred between the original and the celebrity-included versions.

• The celebrity version features an alternate take of the opening introduction and Ernie's first verse. The music heard at the start of the sketch, played by the back-up musicians warming up before Hoots speaks, is changed. Hoots' dialogue is also slightly different; In the original, when he calls Ernie in, he says, "Come on in, Ernie!" In the celebrity version, he says, "Come on in, Ernie, my man!" However, the original take is reinstated in the celebrity version as included on Sing Yourself Silly!

• At one point, Hoots lists some alternatives to putting down the duckie ("Don't have to put it on a train, don't have to wash it down the drain..."). In the celebrity version, footage of Rubber Duckie in these situations were shown along with Hoots singing. This footage appeared when a portion of the song was included in Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years and Shalom Sesame: "Kids Sing Israel," though otherwise the clip is of the non-celebrity version.

Sesame Street - Ernie Puts Down The Duckie

The second celebrity edit, which includes Phil Donahue, Robert MacNeil, Barbara Walters and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
(Official Sesame Street YouTube video)

References

• In a 2019 Sesame Street YouTube video featuring Julia's family, Julia's father Daniel frantically looks for his song list, not knowing whether he's supposed to play "Bein' Green" or "Put Down the Duckie" first. (YouTube)

Notes

• The lavender drummer in Hoots' band was performed by David Rudman. Noel MacNeal helped with the operating of Ernie's right hand.

• A special version of the song was prepared for a Sesame Street wrap party, with the cast and crew chiming in throughout the song. The clip was used during the end credits of Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.

• The album releases of the song omit the second bridge.

Releases

Audio

• Put Down the Duckie! (1990)
• Bob's Favorite Street Songs (1991)
• Sesame Street Celebrates! (1994)
• Platinum All-Time Favorites (1995)
• Sesame Street Best (1997)
• Songs from the Street (2003)
• Elmo's Rainbow and Other Springtime Stories exclusive bonus CD (2010)
• F is for Fun! (2018)
• All-Time Favorites 2 (2018)
• Sing Silly Songs! (2019)

Video (original version)

• Shalom Sesame: Kids Sing Israel (1991, partially dubbed in Hebrew as "Sim Et Barvazi")
• 50 Years and Counting (2019)

Video (celebrity version)

• Sing Yourself Silly (1990, closing lines cut)
• Put Down the Duckie (1994)
• 40 Years of Sunny Days (2009, opening wide shot is cut)

Online

• SesameStreet's YouTube Channel

Publications

• The Sesame Street Songbook (1992 and 2007 editions only)

Specials

• Sesame Street, Special (1988)
• Stars and Street Forever (1994) (clips)
• The World of Jim Henson (1994) (clips)
• The Street We Live On (2004) (clip in timeline)

See also

• Put Down the Duckie! (album)
• Put Down the Duckie (special)
• Ernie and Bert songs

External links

• Norman Stiles interview with Archive of American Television, discussing the segment
• Raw footage of celebrity scenes
• Another video of raw footage of the celebrity scenes