Rupert The Bear And The Frog Song

'Rupert and the Frog Song' was made in 1984 and was the brainchild of music legend Paul McCartney (now Sir Paul) and the animation was lead by Geoff Dunbar.

Paul's inspiration for the 'Rupert and the Frog Song' stemmed from the realisation that something he loved so much as a child was a firm favourite with his own children. He dug out his old Rupert the Bear seasonal annuals and wrote the song 'We All Stand Together', basing the idea of the song (and animation) on a picture drawn by Alfred Bestall, that appeared in the 1958 Rupert Bear Annual. This picture can be seen by clicking here.

Paul's original idea was to make a full feature length film about Rupert the Bear with animator Oscar Grillo co-leading the project. This was put into action in the mid 1970's but unfortunately the featurette was shelved and most of the recordings of music and narration by Paul McCartney remain unreleased to this day. The songs for the feature length film were recorded in 1978 all in one day (although some demos from the songs were recorded in the early 1970's by Paul McCartney and Wings). The tracklisting for the film was as follows:

01. Rupert Song
02. Tippi Tippi Toes
03. Flying Horses
04. Cohen When the Wind is Blowing
05. The Castle of the King of the Birds
06. Sunshine Sometime
07. Sea / Cornish Wafer
08. Storm
09. Nutwood Scene
10. Walking in the Meadow
11. Sea Melody
12. Rupert Song
13. We All Stand Together

Track 5 dates back to The Beatles 'Let It Be' sessions in 1969 while many others were recorded from 1974 onwards. 'Sea Melody' eventually appeared on Paul McCartney's 1997 album 'Standing Stone'. The song 'Storm' was also a re-working of 'Sea'.

'We All Stand Together' was eventually released in November 1984 and reached number 3 on the UK charts. The video was released simultaneously and became the biggest selling video of 1985 as well being nominated for the 'Best Music Video - Short Form' at the Grammy Awards in 1986. The song can be found on Paul's 1983 album 'Pipes of Peace' as bonus track Number 13.

The making of the short film began in 1981 and ended in 1983. In 1984, the year of its release, it won a UK BAFTA (British Academy Award) for Best Animated Short Film. The film was also released theatrically as an accompaniment to Paul's feature film 'Give my Regards to Broad Street'.

In September 2004 the film was re-released on DVD to mark its 20th Anniversary.