Classical music performed by the Muppets: Ode to Beeker and the Blue Gonzo Chicken Waltz

The Muppets/YouTube partnership is bearing sweet, musical fruit. Here are two fantastic musical clips to help familiarize your kids with the cultural significance of the great works of classical music: first, Beeker and his many clones perform Ode to Joy (viddy it, oh my brothers, just viddy it), then Gonzo the Great and his chicken orchestra cluck out The Blue Danube Waltz (by Strauss, the louse, he lives in a house, with Mick-ey Mouse).

(via Kottke)

• [Anonymous]

  2001 with chickens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psa_qLohuns

• [Anonymous]

  I love Beeker

• [Daemon]

  Ah, the awsomeness that was the classic Muppet Show, reinvented in a new age. Most excellent.

• [Anonymous]

  Now I want someone to mash up the Classical Chicken audio with footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• [deweyeyed]

  Another gem in this series is this version of Bizet’s Habanera:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFgtFXfnv0

  My daughter, nearly two, sings along to the Meeps Meeps quite well.

• [Oskar]

  The muppets are officially the most awesome things produced by man. Bar none.

• [jtegnell]

  He’s not paying attention to the metronome at all.

• [justONEguy]

  I love Disney’s new re-branding of the Muppets too! Whoo-hoo! I am but a corporate pawn and thank you BB for being a shill.

  Disney is orchestrating the Muppets’s return on several fronts: TV specials, Web videos, a feature film, theme-park attractions and a whole lot of merchandising.

• [cowboy_k]

  Not classical, but classic:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMy-5J0OHT4

  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…

• [airshowfan]

  You forgot… oh, wait. #5 beat me to it.

  Bork-bork BORK BORK!

  I have to admit that unfortunately I was only really exposed to the awesomeness of Cesame Street and the Muppets when I first moved to the US, at 11 years old, by which point I was a little over the target age. Oh well. Then again, most American kids miss out on Asterix (which is a real shame) and I did have plenty of fun kids’ shows in Brazil.

  I did develop a taste for classical music as a little kid, though, not just from many relatives who also love it, but from cartoons:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqxZ3AYjuJo

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVq_gxl3Cdc&

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD34_K1SgIQ

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekDzLEkjhtU

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPqS-vYWYNA

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjhm-8kMtzg

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6wPkgwmG_M

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikKJ-uQ4UUc

• [Anonymous]

  You’re all missing the muppet’s #1 hit…
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymg8IumVtVU

• [eeyore]

  Okay, call it shameless self promotion, but it’s actually topical in this case.

  I gotta show off my halloween costume from this year. He’s completely hand made – courtesy my insane/brilliant roomie. Thank you Michael, you’re the bomb!!

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/

• [noetma]

  I SO needed that pick me up. Nothing better than muppets at 6am. Ah, childhood.

• [lukus]

  I love it – it’s made me feel happy on a pretty gloomy day. Thank you.

• [Stuart Ellis]

  The Beeker one reminds me of the classic film short “Multiple Sidosis”

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swupyqbi5ks

• [gramiq]

  Huh. First time I’ve seen Strauss done by ‘Bach.’

  Ahem.

• [A Nonny Moose]

  Thanks for the smile first thing this morning. Beaker and Gonzo are two of my favorite Muppets. The Statler and Waldorf bit at the end of each vid is the perfect finishing touch.

• [Cassandra]

  For those in the USA, there’s a new Muppet holiday special on at 8/7c on NBC on 12/17.

• [igpajo]

  A true Muppet classic right here.
  (And no I’m not RickRolling you.)

• [neffle]

  Love these new Muppet videos, particularly Beaker’s “Ode To Joy” . . . everything old seems new again . . . also, love their new “Skateboarding Dog” videos starring ROWLF . . . if you’re a Muppet nerd like me, it’s pretty awesome to see these guys back in action.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCgujnQsOsQ
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGNvjyPntY

• [franko]

  truly made me LOL. where’s doctor bunson honeydew when you need him?

• [Anonymous]

  Anyone notice that the Mouse that Statler and Waldorf use is one of the *very* old original Microsoft Mice? circa 1985…

  http://www.egermuzeum.hu/microsoft/126-microsoft-mouse-50.html

• [zuzu]

  Kubrick and Henson, together at last.

• [igpajo]

  Beaker is the freakin best!! Him and Animal are my favorites.