To commemorate the birth month of my long deceased hero, Jim Henson, I am going to celebrate with my favorite Muppet related songs. There are only enough Monday’s in September to just scratch the surface of all of the brilliant music brought to us from the man who gave us Kermit the Frog and all of his pals. SO! I’m not going to just touch on one song per week, but one sub-division of the entire Hensonverse. This week it’s my favorite songs from the three classic Muppet Movies!
The Muppet Movie
Unarguably, The Rainbow Connection is the greatest song that this first ever Muppet film gave to the world is also the most iconic with Henson and Kermit.
The Great Muppet Caper
Easily my favorite song of the entire Muppet Movie discography, Couldn’t We Ride is understated and often overlooked for flashier, funnier numbers but still remains a timeless tune in my book.
The Muppet’s Take Manhattan
The film I am most familiar with because I owned an early recording as soon as it began to air on television in the 1980s. I love all of the songs; I know them by heart. However, sentimental sucker that I am, it’s Somebody’s Getting Married that is perpetually stuck in my brain. It definitely took all of my self-control to not sing this at full-force off-key to the friends that have gotten hitched in the last couple of years.
Stay tuned for more Jim Henson related songs throughout the month of September!
What are you favorite songs from the first three Muppet movies?
You know it was coming. I always save the best for last. The epitome of John Williams music…the one…the only…
Of course, John Williams has accomplished more than one months worth of Music Mondays. It would take many, many Music Monday’s to fully encompass all of this talented man’s work. Other flicks not featured:
Schindler’s List
Harry Potter
Jurassic Park
Empire of the Sun
Jaws
Hook
Amistad
Saving Private Ryan
Minority Report
Ai (Artificial Intelligence)
Catch Me if You Can
The Witches of Eastwick
His contribution to both film and music cannot be surmised with words, although this tribute by a cappella group Moosebutter and YouTube performer Corey Vidal does a pretty damn good job:
What is your favorite score/theme by John Williams?
My BFF is an archeologist. Like a real, dig up your bones, sift sediment and label everything kind of archeologist. I don’t know if enough people have made serious inquires about her career’s similarity to that of fictional archeologist Indiana Jones that she has to hold back the compulsion to punch people in the face…but I do know she will take that bitchin hat and whip, thank you very much.
Every time I hear this theme I want to have a big bowl of freshly popped popcorn and a DVD ready to go. My favorite of the trilogy is Temple of Doom – despite being so horrifically violent with nightmare inducing images like chilled monkey brains, gigantic bugs and that guy who was able to pull peoples heart out of their chests. SPEW! But the movie had Short Round aka Data aka Ke Hu Quan. So it’s awesome. I do wish that Marion Ravenwood had been there, though, because damn is she bad-ass and I <3 actress, Karen Allen.
Our second week of celebrating the film scores of composer John Williams has us listening to the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg’s first flick about aliens.
This film is in my mom’s Top Three Greatest Films EVER! and she tortured me with it all throughout my teen years. Like her taste in music, this flick eventually grew on me and I find myself carving mountains out of mashed potatoes on more occasions than I care to admit.
What was once a painfully slow and sleep-inducing movie to watch turned into one of the best films on the possibilities of life outside of planet Earth, thanks in part to its richly moving soundtrack – the main parts heard in the musical communication between the humans and the alien ship; the crescendo of which never fails to entice goosebumps all over my arms and legs.
Music is the essential life force within every living creature, no matter where they hail from, and no one is able to pinpoint this message better than the man himself, John Williams.
Have you ever seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind? What is your favorite film about aliens?
The month of August is dedicated to American composer John Williams and all of my favorite pieces he has done for films. We’ll kick it off with the first I ever heard in E.T. (Extra Terrestrial).
E.T. was my first movie; I was only three months old and my parents took my brother and I to the drive-in. Unsurprisingly, I do not remember this particular outing but E.T. is a momentous part of my childhood as it was the first movie that moved me to tears; I felt so much empathy for poor, hunted E.T. and Elliot: When E.T. and Elliot were sick, (I understood; having gone through open heart surgery), the miraculous rebirth of the flowers with E.T.’s growing strength and ultimately, his glowing heart, strong and healed, ready for the journey home.
John Williams is able to capture all of these intensely emotional moments with his fabulous, memorable score.
Are you a fan of E.T.? How about John Williams? Which score is your favorite?
Think back to when you were at the height of annoyance to your parental unit(s). What sort of music did you listen to you? Some of you may have rebelled, musically, by blasting the likes of Marilyn Manson, The Misfits, Sex Pistols, Britney Spears, who knows what. The music that never fails to gets my mothers goat, her bane of my music taste lies singly on the sounds of Creedence Clearwater Revival and all things John Fogerty, or as my mother calls it, “Redneck Music.”
I always chuckle when she says that.
I guess she was hoping that my hillbilly genes (of which I have plenty of) would never kick in. As they have, enjoy some summer swamp music:
Every time I hear this song I imagine myself running through a marshy forest, a swampland on a sweltering humid day that is finally given relief by a summer thunderstorm. I used to be terrified of thunderstorms, and while the sound of thunder still makes me quiver, I prefer the humid rain of the south, Midwest and east over the cold western rains any day.
I also think of Swamp Thing, but that’s because I first really heard (and paid attention to) this song when I watched Return of Swamp Thing as a kid.
Other great Credence Clearwater Revival songs include Run through the Jungle, Who’ll Stop the Rain (incidentally, I made a clever reference to this song in ninth grade and my teacher totally failed to pick up on it.), and my personal CCR favorite Bad Moon Rising.
Do you like CCR, swamp rock, or any other kind of Southern rock music?
I brought the subject of Music Monday and summer songs to my older brother as he drove me to pick up my complimentary birthday cupcake from My Sweet Cupcake. We both agreed that certain songs belonging to The Monkees remind us of summer, but he said various movies do as well, in particular Caddyshack – which is also on my brothers Top 5 Movies EVER. I swear, my brother finds any excuse to show off his love for Kenny Loggins. If I thought my brother had any chance in hell with Loggins, I’d be scared for my brother’s lady.
Seriously – who doesn’t want a piece of that?
If you’ve never seen the cinematic masterpiece that is Caddyshack, (for shame) forget your Buffy summer marathon and jump that movie to the front of your Netflix Queue (or watch it on instant play!), because this is seriously one of the best comedic romps to grace the silver screen.
It came out in 1980 when comedy films were reaching the peak of their game, co-written and directed by Harold “Egon Spengler” Ramis AKA The Man Behind SCTV and National Lampoon.
In a nutshell, Caddyshack is about Country Club golf caddy Danny Noonan who strives to win a golf tournament to earn money for college. He’s surrounded by the club’s dubiously snotty owner (Ted Knight), a clueless playboy golfer (Chevy Chase), a nouveau riche jackass (Rodney Dangerfield), a psychotic, gopher-hating groundskeeper (Bill Murray), a slutty bored rich girl (Cindy Morgan) and a smart-ass dancing gopher.
Who am I kidding, though? From his solo shit, to the years of Loggins and Messina, to the fact that I’m Alright was my ring tone for well over two years, we are a family of Kenny Loggins Lovers. So pour yourself a glass of flavored lemonade and groove to the tunes of I’m Alright.
In continuing my July theme of summer songs, I am now bringing forth an oldie but goodie: Under the Boardwalk by the sensational band The Drifters, a classic, All-American doo-wop/R&B band that was popular in the mid 1950s through early 1960s. It was tough to pick just one song by The Drifters – other contenders included This Magic Moment and There Goes My Baby – but Under the Boardwalk just speaks to me on a deeper level than these other songs. I also recollect hearing Under the Boardwalk earliest in my life, prior to their other hits.
Under the Boardwalk is one of those quintessential songs that help define America, musically speaking. If you were born and raised in America this song has popped into your life at some point in time, however (seemingly) minor. When I hear this song, I do, in fact, think about the boardwalk – specifically the Ocean City boardwalk in New Jersey, where I would go every summer during the years my family lived in the east coast. My mom and I even stayed with friends in a beach house for a week in 1992 or 1993. My friend Sarah and I dug for sand crabs, we rented a four person canopied bicycle and basically lived with sand in our hair & clothes for a solid seven days. It was fabulous.
Do you love the beach in the summer? What is your favorite beach memory?
I'm Rachael, a Los Angeles based writer specializing in food (glorious food), travel and events. I'm a globe-trekking foodie geek girl extraordinaire. Sometimes I fancy myself an artist.
I'm totally in print!
Check out my articles on the digital editions of Visit the Place Los Angeles, the best magazine guide to all things L.A.
