You get a three-fer today. In 1954, for what I believe was his one and only record, "Big Jim" Buchanan sang a song called "Money" that was written by Ruby Raskin and the great Stan Freberg. Little is know of the mysterious, never-seen Buchanan except that he was obviously a fake name for Paul Frees. Have a listen and tell me that isn't Paul Frees…
Paul'sJim's version of the song was not a big hit and neither was a version of it recorded by Mel Blanc. A few more copies were sold of this version by Tex Williams…
A few other artists recorded it but not long after, the song was largely forgotten…though not by Jim Henson. He often had puppets performing it — either live or miming to the Paul Frees record — in his various appearances. Here it is…and that's Henson himself singing it. Years later on The Muppet Show, he would again sing it as his character, Dr. Teeth, but this is an earlier Muppet and is reportedly from The Mike Douglas Show for 7/21/66…
