Jim Henson Mined Pure Gold At The End of His Rainbow

In addition to being a music fanatic I also seek out any chance to celebrate life even at times when it appears like there's not much to celebrate. That said I'd like to wish you all a merry Find-A-Rainbow Day (Even though at the time of this posting it's more like Find-A-Rainbow Night). In that spirit I bring you to the day's musical contemplations. For many children of the 1980s, possibly some of you in my blog readership, Saturday mornings weren't complete without a good strong spoonful of The Muppet Babies, those pint sized versions of Jim Henson's Muppets. Part of the opening theme song found Baby Miss Piggy hamming it up so to speak by singing: "Close your eyes and make believe, and you can be anywhere". That's exactly the best way to listen to "The Rainbow Connection" which was a vital element in the soundtrack to The Muppet Movie. For many moviegoers the movie very well have been their first exposure to Jim's wide-eyed innocent creatures. Come to think of it, out of all the Muppets I've ever known only those critical curmudgeons Statler and Waldorf ever ingested Debby Downer pills. Anyway, When those opening banjo notes lock in place you're transported to a gentle oasis. There isn't the same modern day urgency. I was so thrilled when Jason Segal spearheaded the making of 2011's The Muppets. The fact that the storyline, the dedication to returning to the Muppets' roots was masterfully portrayed was icing on the cake. The argument was made by the villain conspiring to tear down the Muppets classic theater that the world has moved on, that their audience doesn't need or want them around anymore. In our 21st century blitz of pandemonium Muppets are just too old school to remain relevant. The box office tabulations proved otherwise. Sure the Twilight franchise still ruled the roost during that Thanksgiving week a year and a half ago but Kermit and his pals more than held their own. Perhaps goodness is lurking somewhere in this world. In true 1970s style "The Rainbow Connection" is designed around a larger than life orchestral sensibility. Violins and cellos, two of your classier members of the pit signal that Kermit the Frog's vision of a beautiful world where rainbows aren't some frivolous waste of productivity has taken flight. Maybe Kermit's so believable because within his amphibian soul there's the fascination with being alive that is little by little smacked out of us as adults. He's one of the few characters, animated or flesh and bone who, if he told a roomful of critically ill people with only a 5% chance of surviving their illnesses that they'd be cured by morning, would have reasonable odds of convincing them they'd just heard the God's honest truth. Wishing on a morning star and holding out hopes of getting an answer aren't laughably naive coming out of Kermit and, by extension, Jim Henson. Wow...pulled off a near rhyme there. Extension...Henson. You see? Muppets thrive on silliness so it makes me and plenty of others okay with deferring to their sillier sides too. Kermit runs on can-do attitude. He may stumble and fall but he doesn't know how not to get up and continue towards his personal destiny. "Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me." I can't think of too many heroes in the world of film that are worth rooting for more than Kermit. He's the Every Frog. Today I doubt a song kicked off with a banjo would garner much airplay but, in the '70s campy musical instruments were part of the daffy package. Banjo equals back to nature simplicity. Kermit is and will always be grounded in that kind of admirable simplicity. Many's the time a song has proven the best ideas are the simplest. This simple journey to the dreamer's quadrant of the brain helped make The Muppet Movie a triumphant leap to the big screen for Kermit and his associates. After you've closed your eyes and played make believe with this song serving as your central focus, tell me what adjective comes to mind. Were you spellbound? Reassured? Revived? "The Rainbow Connection" does all of that for me.