Seth MacFarlane follows his Sinatra project with a new Muppets album

Seth MacFarlane will release Seth MacFarlane Sings the Muppets, a 14-track collection of songs from Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and the classic Muppet films, out September 18 via Verve Records and Republic Records. He has shared his version of Kermit's "Bein' Green," written by Joe Raposo and previously recorded by Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Van Morrison.

The album follows 2025's Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements, and continues MacFarlane's interest in vintage orchestral arranging. Working with arranger Andrew Cottee, he reimagined songs by Raposo, Paul Williams and Jeff Moss in the style of 1940s and 50s Hollywood orchestras, drawing specifically on the work of Nelson Riddle and Billy May. MacFarlane said he and Cottee wanted the songs to sound as though they had existed in the golden era of arranging. "Songs from Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and the Muppet films became bona fide standards," he said.

The album draws primarily from the first three Muppet movies, The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan, while also reaching into Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, moving from "Together Again" and "Somebody's Getting Married" through "Rainbow Connection," "Halfway Down the Stairs" and "The First Time It Happens," with Liz Gillies joining MacFarlane on "Movin' Right Along."

The sessions brought together a London and Los Angeles orchestra at Skywalker Ranch, with Joel McNeely producing, John Wilson conducting, Rich Breen engineering and Cottee handling the new orchestrations. MacFarlane said he has spent years studying classic arrangements and learning from the musicians around him, and pushed back on the idea that the project is a novelty. "This is serious music. We love this music," he said.

Seth MacFarlane Sings the Muppets joins the fall's new jazz-inflected releases on the release calendar.