The ditty, ‘Man or Muppet’, penned by ‘Flight of the Conchords’ actor, Bret McKenzie, beat the only other nominee in the best original song category, ‘Real in Rio’.
The Oscar-winning song was from the first Walt Disney Pictures’ The Muppets film in more than a decade.
‘Man or Muppet’ was one of three songs from the film on the original shortlist for Oscar contention. Sung largely by Jason Segel and Peter Linz, who voiced the Muppets Gary and Walter respectively, it was the most sincere of the songs, reflecting an identity crisis between the two.
The Muppets sees Gary and Walter try to reunite the gang to save the Muppets’ theatre from demolition. The song arrives at a point when Gary’s loyalties are divided between Walter and his girlfriend Mary.
The song’s co-nominee, ‘Real in Rio’ is a song from the 20th Century Fox animated film, Rio. It was composed by Brazilian musicians Sérgio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, with lyrics penned by pop songwriter Siedah Garrett. The tune is played throughout the film.
Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s music branch whittled down an Oscars shortlist from 39 songs, including works from the Bollywood film ‘DAM999’ and the biopic ‘Machine Gun Preacher’.
Nominees were determined by an averaged point system of voting. If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or higher, there are no nominees. If only one song achieves that score, it and the song with the next highest score are the two nominees. There can be up to five songs nominated in the category.
The nomination process for original song has been a matter of debate since the 2008 awards, when three songs from
“Enchanted” were nominated. Likewise, three songs from “Dreamgirls” were nominated at the awards that aired in 2007. A rule change was subsequently introduced, stating that a maximum of two songs could be nominated from any film.
Check out Man or Muppet below, and to celebrate McKenzie’s win, we thought it was high time someone collected all the muppets’ best songs in one place.
So without further ado, here are the top 20 muppet songs ever!
Not That Easy Being Green
Half Way Down the Stairs
Beaker’s Ballad (Dust in the Wind)
Cabin Fever
Bohemian Rhapsody
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School’s Out Forever (with Alice Cooper)
Jackson (with Johnny Cash)
Danny Boy
Keep Fishing (with Weezer)
Stand By Me
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In the Navy
Dizzy Gillespie
Sax and Violence
Crocodile Rock (with Elton John, the proper 70s Elton John)
Put the Lime in the Coconut
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Ode to Joy
Rockin’ Robin
Surfin’ USA
Marley and Marley
Popcorn