Talk:Sam Pottle

Birth date?

Wikipedia says 1934, but I can't confirm it. Should we use it? -- Ken (talk) 22:08, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

I wouldn't trust WP as they're not citing a source. —Scott (talk) 04:15, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

The Muppet Show Theme

Unfortunately the melody of this Theme song was not new when it was used first time for the Muppet Show. A german composer with the name Peter Kreuder wrote a song for a german film in 1939. The title of this song was "Ich brauche keine Millionen" (I don´t need any millions) and it has practically the same (!) melody as the later Muppet Theme Song which was written as late as in the 70-ties. -- Odin 09:55, May 5, 2008

Hi, thanks for sharing that. I found an audio clip here and had a listen. I can see the similarity, but this happens a lot in musical composition. Sometimes it's a case of inspiration, whether intentional or not, but usually it's just a coincidence and the composers had similar ideas. —Scott (talk) 15:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm just working at the recording postproduction of a concert containing this piece (in a brass arrangement). When I got the data for the CD cover sheet, I read "Muppet Show Theme" and "composer: Henson/Pottle" and was just confused. I for myself do know the tune as "Ich brauche keine Millionen" by Kreuder, and this Henson/Pottle/whatsoever piece is definitely NOT only "coincidence" or a case of "same ideas": The melody is right the same, the sequence of harmonisation is the same, and this goes also for part B of the melody - - so it's plagiarism, you can't get away from that. On the website of "Deutschlandradio Kultur" (one of the german public broadcasting corporations), this topic is briefly touched on in a radio manuscript, quoting Kreuders wife Ingrid:

"Die Muppetshow ist einwandfrei gestohlen, die Anfangsmelodie von "Ich brauche keine Millionen". Wir hätten Millionen gebraucht, gegen die zu klagen und die hatten wir nicht." ("The muppet show tune is clearly stolen, [it's] the initial melody of "I don´t need any millions". It would have needed millions to go for law, but those millions we had not.") -- AndeeII 19:34, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

Comb Your Face

I'm curious, what's the reference of Sam Pottle being the writer for this song? While I'm sure the composer reference may be accurate, the song couldn't have been originally written as late as 1984.

Maybe it was written earlier, but performed in the Furline Huskie scene later. --Dave Splurge 18:44, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

According to ASCAP, it was written by Pottle and Compton. What's your source that it was written before 1984? — Scott (talk) 20:43, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Or, for that matter, what's Nick's source for it being 1984? [1] — Scott (talk) 20:45, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

I was editing in the same thing about ASCAP and the date Scott but you beat me to the "save" button; I have no idea where Nick got it. It's interesting that the ASCAP entry is under "Sesame Street Cues", with the song name as the alternate title, but not unprecedented. -- Wendy (talk) 20:50, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, more and more I get the impression that the lists of songs sent to ASCAP and BMI are just a hodge podge of information that gets filtered through by dozens of monkeys sitting at a computer. — Scott (talk) 21:41, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey, now... watch it, there.  :-) --Dave Splurge 15:32, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Anyhoo, since this song apparently appears on Splish Splash: Bath Time Fun, if this CD case has lyrics, composers and copyright info, maybe someone here can verify whether Pottle wrote it, or whether it was originally in 1984. I guess the same could be said for anyone who has the lyric book that accompanied Monster Hits! --Dave Splurge 02:02, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey, good call. The CD booklet credits Joe Raposo, not Sam Pottle, with a 1984 date. I'm more inclined to go with the CD booklet on this one given the date. ASCAP strikes again. —Scott (talk) 04:10, 25 February 2007 (UTC)