He had taped episode 2 of season 19 of The Muppet Show sometime in the early 80's. Peter Sellers was the special guest on that episode. That tape was my favorite thing in the whole world. I watched it again and again. I must've watched it a million times. Kermit performed this song in that episode.
Kermit the frog's adorable introspective nature is well illustrated by every aspect of this beautiful song. The gentle, jazzy chord tones with their rich harmonic content played so soft and sweetly on the guitar draw me in and have always drawn me in to such an enormous degree that I've found myself compelled to score the tune and share it. I have included in the tab some of the main instrumental melodic ideas.
At the end of the tab you'll find a video of an amazing musician - ex-fiddle player from the 90's swing phenomenon The Squirrel Nut Zippers - Andrew Bird, performing the very same tune in a different key using mainly open chords. I have not tabbed his version but if you search it on the inter-web, you should be able to find a suitable chord-sheet pretty easily. I will be taking apart a 'From the basement' version of Andrew Birds 'Tenuousness' some time next month.
Here we go with bars 1-5
I've put in a 2 beat bar before the introductory melody. I noticed now that I failed to put in any indication of the chord over which the intro melody is played. It is an F chord. The introductory melody has a major feel over F, and consists of the 1st (F), 3rd (A), 5th (C), 6th (D) and 7th (E) notes of F which are also the 1st (C), 2nd (D), 3rd (E), 4th (F) and 6th(A) of C major. Notice, the note B flat (the fourth of F) is omitted. Just play it for interest sake. It just sounds wrong. The harmony of this song lingers around the key of C major.
I'd play the song using a hybrid picking style or with straight fingers to bring out the underlying melodies and harmony of the overall piece. Kermit's first line, "It's not easy being green" is sung over a Cmaj7 chord, with an easy, quarter-note rhythm feel. Now, bars 6-10.
In bar 4 we found some little notes walking from A to B via B flat. In this section we get G walking to A through A flat. Take note of the movement created there. I've always thought that short flurries of walking notes like this make music sound more conversational. At bar 9 we get a little melody to fill the space between verse one and two. Again, the melody stays well confined in the area of C major, maintaining an Ionian feel. The verse then repeats until bar 20. Then we get the middle 8, starting at bar 20 on a B flat chord.
At bar 26, we get another pretty little melody to fill the gap where Kermit, having considered some of the several awesome things about being green, rests his voice. Notice the A flat in bar 29.
To me, the A flat suggests a half step up from the G chord to which the melody is harmonizing for half a beat. One could play an A flat (G sharp) chord over that one note in the rhythm section. We then hold for 4 beats while Kermy finishes his pondering, and goes into the final verse. The song ends with another beautiful little melody.
This is Andrew Bird playing the song on a boat.
Clicking on the following URL will direct you a chord chart representing a way of playing the song that's a little more like his.
http://www.e-tabs.org/tab/kermit_the_frog/bein_green
If you want lyrics, go here:
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/m/muppets9423/itsnoteasybeinggreen314600.html
Cheers.
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