Kids Music Monday: Kermit the Frog, "Rainbow Connection"
In the spirit of Simon & Simon's (no, not that Simon & Simon) "90's Music Monday" and "Modern Music Monday" themes (respectively), I think I'll take a stab at doing a regular Kids Music Monday piece here.
"But," the astute among you might note, "today isn't Monday."
To which I reply, "quiet you, or I'll pull this car right over, and you can walk home, capice?"
Okay then.
So let's start with the Muppets, and specifically, with "Rainbow Connection". From the beginning, I've tried to expose Isaac to good music -- Beatles & Bach good, Barney & Britney bad. He hasn't latched on to the grown up music the way I was hoping he might, but that's okay, it will come in time.
The first song he did latch on to was "Rainbow Connection" from the Muppet Movie soundtrack, which is fine by me -- as noted by Denis Leary, "We all have this incredible attachment to the Muppets, don't we? We love the muppets! They're so cute!"
Shamelessly pasting from Wikipedia, because they've already done all the hard work of researching this for me, and because I'm lazy:
Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams received Oscar nominations at the 1979 Academy Awards for the movie score and for "The Rainbow Connection", which Allmusicdescribes as an "unlikely radio hit ... which Kermit the Frog sings with all the dreamy wistfulness of a short green Judy Garland."[1] and goes on to add that "'TheRainbow Connection' serves the same purpose in [The Muppet Movie] that 'Over the Rainbow' serves in The Wizard of Oz, with nearly equal effectiveness: an opening establishment of the characters' driving urge for something more in life."[1] The song was also nominated for the Golden Globes for "Best Original Song" in 1979, losing both Oscar and Globe to "It Goes Like It Goes" from Norma Rae.
"It Goes Like It Goes"? Clearly the Golden Globes had their eyes firmly on posterity that year.
"Rainbow Connection" is the kind of song, much like Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" among the vaguely yearningly spiritual types, or "(I'm not your) Steppin' Stone" among punk bands and the Monkees, doing a cover of Rainbow Connection is a rite of passage among bands that might otherwise be covering "Over the Rainbow" or "What a Wonderful World" if the market there hadn't been so commandingly handled by the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole medley version of both songs. And while I'm sure IZ could have done a lovely version of Rainbow Connection had he lived long enough to do so -- actually, for all I know, maybe he did do a version of it, though 30 seconds of Googling turns up nothing other than the ukelele chords he could have used to play the song -- I think my favorite cover is probably the Dresden Dolls version:
Maybe that can be my segue for getting Isaac into the clean version of "Coin-Operated Boy" at some point, though I might hold off on letting him hear the rest of the Dresden Dolls oeuvre for a while yet.
Anyway, Rainbow Connection. Isaac's favorite song. The "Muppet Movie" soundtrack has a permanent place on the CD changer in the car, because every time we drive somewhere, chances are good that the first thing Isaac will say is "Daddy! Put the Muppets on! Play Kermit!"
Much of the rest of the album is good, too -- in particular, "Movin' Right Along" with Kermit & Fozzy Bear, "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" with Kermit & Rawlf the Dog, and Gonzo's "I'm going to go back there someday" are all favorites. In fact, pretty much the only song I don't like, and I really don't like it, is the Miss Piggy torch song "Never Before", which bugs me because it's the kind of overproduced schmaltzy Broadway style cheesey dross that, thankfully, mostly went away with the seventies.
But Isaac likes it, and the rest of them too, and knows most of the words by now. Since I'm a pushover when it comes to The Boy, when he asks for it, I'll usually give in & play it for him.
And then he'll sing.
And then I'll smile.
I mean, it could be worse, right?
He could want to listen to Barney
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