Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge: “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (Duet of the Day)

Make It Through the Night

In 1970, Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge met on an airplane flight, leading to Kristofferson getting off the plane with Coolidge in Memphis instead of continuing on to his planned destination of Nashville. The two would eventually marry. Although the marriage would not last, the two made some great recordings, including performances of Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”

In the 1972 UK live performance below, a viewer can easily see that the two are captivated by each other. Kristofferson does not take his eyes off Coolidge and the two are touching or nearly touching throughout the song.

The performance appears to capture two people intensely in love in the time leading up to their marriage the following year. Or maybe they were just acting. You be the judge.

In 1978, Kristofferson and Coolidge both appeared on an episode of The Muppet Show. During that episode, Coolidge sang her hit song “We’re All Alone.”

On the episode, Kristofferson did sing “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” But he had a new partner, Miss Piggy.

Kristofferson and Coolidge divorced in 1980 after a rocky marriage reportedly marred by Kristofferson’s alcoholism and infidelities. The two had a child, created some great music, and got through some lonely nights together.

“Help Me Make It Through the Night” originally appeared on Kristofferson’s self-titled 1970 album. The album also features other classics written by Kristofferson, who recently retired.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    I Love Trash

    Steven Tyler Trash As a kid, one of my jobs was taking out the trash at our house. After I moved away, though, I lived in apartments for most of my life.  So taking out the trash just meant putting my garbage in a common receptacle. It was convenient when I lived in a New York City apartment and could walk down the hall and put my garbage in a chute at my leisure.  But there was something I missed about having “trash night” when you have to gather all the garbage to put out by the curb for the morning pickup.

    Through the years, I would return to my hometown and stay with my family.  And I would once again find myself helping with trash night if I happened to be there on that night of the week.

    A few years ago, I bought a house and re-encountered “trash night” with my own house, where I had to gather the trash (and recyclables) to put it by the curb for the morning pickup. And once again, it is my household job to take out the trash. While it is an extra chore, perhaps because we had not lived in a house for so long, I find something nostalgic every time I take out the trash, standing by the curb at night.

    It may seem odd to find a connection with the garbage.  But the chore reminds me of my childhood and gives me a connection to those days and the family who shared the chores who are no longer around.  I enjoy the moment and how something so common can give one a connection to the past.

    I Love Trash

    Perhaps, not surprisingly, there are not a lot of songs about garbage, something that plays such a big role in our lives in various ways. Maybe the most famous song is “I Love Trash” by Oscar the Grouch.  For many, the song itself reminds one of childhood and watching Sesame Street.

    Below is Oscar the Grouch singing the song that he first sang during the first season of Sesame Street. Oscar is voiced by Caroll Spinney. It makes me laugh that on YouTube around one thousand people have taken the time to give this performance a thumbs down. How can you not love this song?

    I’ve a clock that won’t work,
    And an old telephone,
    A broken umbrella, a rusty trombone;
    And I am delighted to call them my own!
    I love them because they’re trash.

    In 1998, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler covered Oscar’s song for the Elmopalooza! album of Sesame Street covers by pop stars. The recording sounds like an Aerosmith hit, complete with Tyler’s great screaming.

    Steven Tyler is not the only popular artist to sing “I Love Trash.” On a 1989 episode of The Jim Henson Hour, singer k.d. lang used her wonderful voice to join a group of Muppets on “I Love Trash.” (Unfortunately, the video is no longer on YouTube.)

    Who’s Gonna Take the Garbage Out

    Despite Oscar’s popularity, perhaps the song about trash that did the best on the charts is “Who’s Gonna Take the Garbage Out.” The song written by Johnny Tillotson and Teddy Wilburn and originally recorded by Loretta Lynn and Ernest Tubb was a Top Twenty hit on the Billboard Hot Country Chart in 1969.

    The duet by Lynn and Tubb appeared on their album If We Put Our Heads Together (1969). The song is in the tradition of many great country duets, with the couple going back and forth about whether or not the man is cheating. The woman is throwing him out of the house, but the man asks the question of the song’s title about how the garbage will be taken out after he is gone. The song perfectly captures the part that a household chore plays in our lives, and sometimes in our relationships.

    More recently, John Prine covered “Who’s Gonna Take the Garbage Out” with Iris DeMent on his 2016 album For Better, or Worse.

    However you discard of your trash and recyclables this week, may you find some joy in your weekly chores.

    What is your favorite song about garbage? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    This Is What We Call the Muppet Show!

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    The first official trailer for the new Muppets Show has been released. The makers of the new series have promised a “more adult” version of the Muppets that will explore the behind-the-scenes personal lives of the beloved characters such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear.

    The new trailer hints at the direction of the new series. Check it out.

    Catch the new Muppets show on ABC on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. starting this Fall.

    What do you think of the new version of the Muppets? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Muppets: “We’re Doing a Sequel”

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    Check out the new trailer for the upcoming Muppets Most Wanted (2014), where the Muppets pay homage to sequels with the musical number “We’re Doing a Sequel.” Reportedly, this number will open the movie.

    Muppets Most Wanted will be in theaters starting March 21, 2014. The film also stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey.

    Are you looking forward to the Muppets sequel? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Treasure Island & Wallace Beery

    Treasure Island Wallace Beery
    On November 13 in 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Scotland. Although early in his life Stevenson studied civil engineering in law, he eventually became a writer and the author of literary classics like Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1886) and Treasure Island (1883).

    There have been different television and film versions of Treasure Island — including different ones with Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, a young Christian Bale, and even the Muppets. But for me, the film that stands out is the 1934 movie directed by Victor Fleming and starring Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper and Lionel Barrymore. While I enjoyed some of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Wallace Beery’s Long John Silver is the first movie pirate I think of.

    Beery’s interaction with the young Jackie Cooper in the 1934 Treasure Island are brilliant. Check out this wonderful scene where the pirate works to convince the young boy to help him escape the noose.

    Beery worked with Cooper, who died in 2011, in another classic film, The Champ (1931). According to Wikipedia, Cooper later noted how difficult it was to work with Beery, who kept trying to undermine Cooper’s acting.

    Although another child actor, Mickey Rooney, stated he enjoyed working with Beery, Cooper’s story actually enhances my viewing of Treasure Island. I like the image of Beery as a difficult man who tried to upstage child actors. What else would one expect of Long John Silver? Arrrrgh!

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