The Rainbow Connection, as Sung by the Original Kermit, Jim Henson, in The Muppets Movie (1979)

By Nicholas Stix

This morning, Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, and another Muppets character (Ernie?) were on one of the shows, Good Morning America, I think, and sang the complete version of this song. They were plugging the DVD version of the latest Muppets movie.

It was particularly good to see Miss P, who had been suppressed for many years by feminist pressure.

I’d only heard it a few times, but suspected it had been written by Joe Raposo, who wrote most of the great Sesame Street songs 40 years ago. It has Raposo’s kind of magic, and the sentimentality of, say, “There Used to be a Ballpark.” The words are supposed to be optimistic, and yet the song is suffused with melancholy.

Alas, I see that it was written by Paul Williams, a popular 70’s tunesmith, and Kenneth Ascher. Well, good for them!  

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“The Rainbow Connection” was written for The Muppet Movie and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song in 1979. It is sung by Kermit as the movie's opening number and reprised by the whole cast of Muppets at the end of the movie. The single of this song reached #25 on Billboard's "Hot 100 Singles" chart in 1979.

  "The Rainbow Connection"
By Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher

Why are there so many songs about rainbows,
And what’s on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we’ve been told, and some choose to believe it,
I know they’re wrong, wait and see,
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered,
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
Look what it’s done so far.

What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing,
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell,
We know that it’s probably magic.

Have you been half-asleep, and have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name,
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.

I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it,
It’s something that I’m s’pposed to be,
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.