Muppet Wiki

Kermiteye.png Welcome to Muppet Wiki!


Please visit Special:Community to learn how you can collaborate with the editing community.

READ MORE

Muppet Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Rubberduckie1970
Written by Jeff Moss
Date 1970
Publisher Festival Attractions
First Episode 0078

"Rubber Duckie" is Ernie's signature song, a tribute to his beloved Rubber Duckie. The song enjoyed popular fame, reaching number 16 on Billboard's "Hot 100 Singles" chart in 1970.[1] It was even nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children, but it lost to The Sesame Street Book & Record, which also contains the song.

Ernie originally performed the song in the first season of Sesame Street, singing in a bathtub in a room that resembled his living room. The most common version, filmed for the second season, features Ernie in a bathroom with a plain blue background. (First: Episode 0136) The song has been dubbed into many different languages, a montage of which was featured in the special Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting.

In 1974, Ernie sang the song as "El Patito," with a new Latin arrangement, translation by Wyatt Day, and Spanish-language vocals by Jim Henson. This version was released on the album ¡Sesame Mucho!, and later issued as a single backed with the original English version in 1976.

A new version of "Rubber Duckie" with Ernie was filmed in season 30, using the original album recording with Jim Henson's vocals (First: Episode 3842). Similarly, the same track was also used for a film segment showing various kids taking baths (First: Episode 3811). In addition to Ernie, the song has also been covered by Little Richard, Bob McGrath and other artists.

Performances[]

Image Year Description
RubberDuckie.1stSeason
1970 Sesame Street (First: Episode 0078)

Sung by Ernie.
A brief clip from this version was featured in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years.

SSColumbiaRubberDuckie
1970 The Sesame Street Book & Record

Sung by Ernie.

Rubberduckie1970
1970 Sesame Street (First: Episode 0136)

Sung by Ernie.

ErnieEveningPops
1971 Evening at Pops

Ernie performs the song with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.

Rubberduckiesingle
1974 ¡Sesame Mucho! - "El Patito"

Sung by Ernie.

Rubberduckiediscosingle
1978 Sesame Street Fever - "Rubber Duckie Disco"

Sung by Ernie with female backup singers.

1227c
1979 Sesame Street Episode 1227

Sam the Robot warbles an off-key robotic version of the song as Luis, Maria, and Mr. Hooper work during a blackout.

RDPyramid
1982 Sesame Street (First: Episode 1621)

Sung by Ernie and his statue likeness.

Album.singalong-lp
1982 Sesame Street Sing-Along!

Performed as part of a medley of Sesame Street songs, sung by Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, and the cast.

SSLiveBBStory-RubberDuckie
1987 Sesame Street Live: Big Bird's Sesame Street Story

Sung by Ernie.

Album.bobsesame
1991 Bob's Favorite Street Songs

Sung by Bob McGrath.

4121ar
1994 Sesame Street (First: Episode 3263)

Sung by Little Richard.

Duckie-Macys97
1997 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Sung by Ernie and the cast.

Duckiepalooza
1998 Elmopalooza

Ernie sings a verse of the song as part of the "Songs" medley.

RosieSS16
1998 The Rosie O'Donnell Show on Sesame Street

Sung by Roberta Flack, Rosie O'Donnell, Elmo, Big Bird, Count von Count, Rosita, Baby Bear, Zoe, and Telly Monster, as part of a Sesame Street medley.

Rubberduckie-kidfilm
1999 Sesame Street (First: Episode 3811)

The album recording with Jim Henson as Ernie plays over footage of kids taking baths.

3826h
1999 Sesame Street - Episode 3826

Sung by Susan and Gordon.

Rubberduckie.originaltrack
1999 Sesame Street (First: Episode 3842)

Sung by Ernie, using the original Jim Henson recording.

Album.bigbird\'ssunnydaycamp
1999 Big Bird's Sunny Day Camp Out

Sung by Ernie and Bert.

Ewsing-ernie
2000 Elmo's World: Singing

Ernie sings a verse (using the original Jim Henson recording) during Elmo's quiz segment.

EB.RubberDuckie
2000 Sesame Street (First: Episode 3887)

Bert sings the song at Ernie's request in case he's away and can't sing to Rubber Duckie.

3949f
2001 Sesame Street - Episode 3949

Ernie sings the song to show Telly that one can make music with a rubber duckie.

3961za
2001 Sesame Street - Episode 3961

Performed by Ernie and his band including Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Elmo, and Rosita.

3964-Duckie
2001 Sesame Street - Episode 3964

Ernie sings a bit of the song to introduce a film of kids singing their favorite songs.

3999o
2002 Sesame Street - Episode 3999

Ernie and Zoe try singing the song to Rubber Duckie when he loses his squeak. When his squeaker gets fixed, Maria, The Amazing Mumford, and his duck, Louie join them in a reprise of the song.

Ewbath
2004 Elmo's World: Bath Time

Ernie and Elmo sing a verse of the song to establish the episode's theme of baths.

4067c
2004 Sesame Street - Episode 4067

In a flashback sequence, The Electric Three (Gordon, Bob and Luis' garage rock band) perform the song.

RubberenEendje
2005 Open Huis in Sesamstraat

Sung by Ernie.

Seaworld Rubber Duckie
2007 Elmo and the Bookaneers

Sung by Ernie and the Bookaneers.

RubberDuckie-ElmoRocks
2010 Elmo Rocks

Sung by Ernie.

SesameCarnegieHall
2012 Jim Henson's Musical World

Sung by Ernie and Elmo, with Bert, Cookie Monster, Gordon, Bob, Susan, Leela, Gina, Alan, and Maria.

DuckieDaveed
2017 Sesame Street YouTube channel

Sung by Daveed Diggs and Ernie.


4710i
2017 Sesame Street - Episode 4710

Sung by Ernie, Elmo and Nina.

4710-Duckie02
2017 Sesame Street - Episode 4710

Sung by Ernie, Bert, Tori Kelly, James Corden, Jason Derulo, Sia, Anthony Mackie, and Daveed Diggs.

Noimage
2018 The Jim Henson Retrospectacle Live in Concert

Sung by Ernie and Bert.

TinyDesk-RubberDuckie
2019 Tiny Desk Concerts

Sung by Ernie as part of a medley of Sesame Street songs.

Rubber Duckie Jazz 2019
2019 A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration

Sung by Ernie.

SS50thSpecial-RubberDuck
2019 Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration

Sung by Ernie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as part of a medley.

NotTooLate-Duckie
2020 The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo - episode 101

Sung by Kacey Musgraves.

NTL-OdomJrDuckie
2021 The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo - episode 206

Sung by Leslie Odom Jr. This performance was later used in Episode 5329.

SSMusical-Duckie
2022 Sesame Street: The Musical

Sung by Ernie.

EMS-RubberDuckie
2023 Elmo's Mindfulness Spectacular

Sung by Ernie, Cookie Monster and Juanpa Zurita.

5411-Barbershop
2024 Sesame Street - Episode 5411

Sung by Bert, Ernie, Louie, and Telly Monster as a barbershop quartet

References[]

  • Ernie sang a few lines from the song in a segment where he prepares for a bath. (First: Episode 0269)
  • In Episode 2741, as Gina and Mike are about to take Oscar's Sloppy Jalopy for a drive, they turn on the radio and come across a station where chickens are clucking the song.
  • A brief portion of the song is sung in the Sesame Street Live show Sleeping Birdie.
  • In A Brief History of Motion Pictures, near the end of the musical number, Ernie squeaks his duckie while singing "Vo-vo-vo-dee-oh!" to the tune of the song which previously has the similar line, "A-vo-dee-oh-doh".
  • An instrumental version of the song is used as the music button for a season 30 sketch where Ernie loses Rubber Duckie.
  • Ernie hums the song to himself in the beginning of a sketch with Baby Bear. (First: Episode 3867)
  • In Episode 3860, Big Bird and Telly try to cheer up his hamster, Chuckie, by singing "Rubber Chuckie," which doesn't work.
  • In Episode 4019, the song serves as the ringtone on Ernie's cell phone given by Maria.
  • "Rubber Duckie" is quoted musically several times in the Journey to Ernie segment "Musicland." (First: Episode 4031) Ernie and the Two-Headed Monster also sing lines from the song.
  • In the Journey to Ernie segment "Jungle" (First: Episode 4033), a tiger named Bernie hums the song after Big Bird finds him with a duckie of his own.
  • A clip of the Season 30 remake is seen in a 2008 promo for Sesamestreet.org. The score quotes a bit of the song as the clip plays.
  • In the online game, "Ernie's Dinosaur Daycare", the player can click on a prehistoric rubber duckie which will make Ernie hum a bit of the song.

Videos[]

Notes[]

Duckiebillboard

"Rubber Duckie" spent 9 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, starting the week of August 15, 1970. The song peaked at #16 during the week of September 26.

  • Jeff Moss squeaked a duckie during the original recording, and has squeaked the duck in all subsequent Rubber Duckie recordings. The same Rubber Duckie has been used because nobody could find a duckie that could match the sound of the original.[2]
  • Before the documentary Sesame Street Unpaved aired on TV, Noggin's website featured "Rubber Duckie" and three other classic clips for fans to vote on (with "Rubber Duckie" getting the most votes).
  • The Season 30 remake was directed by Jim Martin and taped on December 22, 1998.[3] Performers included Kevin Clash (puppeteering Ernie to Jim Henson's vocals) and Matt Vogel (Ernie assistant).[4]

Publications[]

See also[]

Sources[]

External links[]

Advertisement