Rainbow Connection


"Rainbow Connection" is a song from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie, with music and lyrics written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. The song was performed by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog during the film's opening number, where it opens with Kermit sitting alone on a log in the swamp, playing the song on his banjo. The song is an integral part of Kermit's character's arc, since it establishes his dream of "making millions of people happy", which motivates his journey to Hollywood throughout the film.
"Rainbow Connection" reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1979, with the song remaining in the Top 40 for seven weeks in total. Williams and Ascher received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 52nd Academy Awards.
In 2020, "Rainbow Connection" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

Production

Williams and Ascher, who had previously collaborated on several songs for the 1976 film A Star Is Born, were tasked with writing the songs for The Muppet Movie. For the song that became "Rainbow Connection", Jim Henson told them that the opening scene should feature Kermit the Frog by himself, singing and playing the banjo. Williams and Ascher wrote most of the song fairly quickly at Williams's house but got stuck trying to think of appropriate words for the part in the chorus that eventually became the phrase "the rainbow connection"; they were looking for a way to tie in the chorus to the song's theme of rainbows. As they sat down for dinner with Williams's then-wife, Kate Clinton, they explained to her their predicament of looking for a phrase that would provide "a rainbow connection", then realized, in the course of explaining the problem to her, that the phrase "the rainbow connection" would itself be a good fit. Williams and Ascher used "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio as inspiration for the song.
Williams has said that his favorite lyrics in the song are in the second verse, which begins with "Who said that every wish / Would be heard and answered / When wished on the morning star?", because they imply that "there's power in your thoughts". He also noted that the lyrical phrasing was written weirdly with Kermit's speech patterns in mind.

Critical reception and awards

Allmusic described "Rainbow Connection" as an "unlikely radio hit... which Kermit the Frog sings with all the dreamy wistfulness of a short, green Judy Garland" and went on to add that Rainbow Connection' serves the same purpose in The Muppet Movie that 'Over the Rainbow' served in The Wizard of Oz, with nearly equal effectiveness: an opening establishment of the characters' driving urge for something more in life." Others have similarly referred to "Rainbow Connection" as the film's "I Want" song.
Ascher and Williams received Oscar nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards for the score of The Muppet Movie and for "Rainbow Connection", which was nominated for Best Original Song. The score lost to Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. The song lost to "It Goes Like It Goes" from Norma Rae, a win that some critics denounced.

Legacy and other Muppet renditions

The song's name has been used by a number of charitable organizations wishing to evoke its message, including a children's charity similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a summer camp for seriously ill children, and a horseriding camp for people with disabilities. The name's influence can also be seen from business names to artificial Christmas tree products.
The American Film Institute named "Rainbow Connection" the 74th greatest movie song of all time in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.
Kermit the Frog reprised the song on The Muppet Show in 1981 as a duet with Debbie Harry when she was a guest star. Jeff Moss and Ralph Burns also quoted the song's intro as the intro to the instrumental, "carriage ride" rendition of "Together Again" that segued into the Muppet Babies song sequence, "I'm Gonna Always Love You" in The Muppets Take Manhattan. The song is also reprised by a large group of Muppets as the closing number in the 1985 special The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years.
Kermit reprises the song in the 2011 film The Muppets, this time as a duet with Miss Piggy that leads into the entire Muppet group singing together. A shorter version of the song performed by tribute band "The Moopets", along with Fozzie Bear, is also used in the film. The iTunes release of The Muppets soundtrack included a new version of the song as an exclusive bonus track, recorded by Steve Whitmire as Kermit. The song was also reprised in the TV series The Muppets, in the 2015 episode "Pig's in a Blackout".
In 1996 in Whanganui, New Zealand, a 21-year-old man burst into the radio station Star FM and took the manager hostage, demanding that Kermit the Frog's rendition of the song be played.
On September 24, 2011, the town of Leland, Mississippi, changed the name of a local bridge to "The Rainbow Connection" in honor of Henson on what would have been his 75th birthday. Henson had lived in Leland and played near the bridge as a child.
On January 7, 2019, Kermit and Jimmy Fallon performed Rainbow connection on the tonight show
On April 25, 2020, Disney released a new performance of the song on social media to lift spirits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On January 14, 2022, during Epcot's Festival of the Arts, "Rainbow Connection" was featured in a lighting display on Spaceship Earth.

Carpenters version

Tracklist

  • CD single UICY-5006
  1. "The Rainbow Connection"
  2. "Leave Yesterday Behind"
  3. "Medley "
  • JP CD promo SIC-1039
  1. "The Rainbow Connection"
  2. "Leave Yesterday Behind"

Other versions

The following artists have also recorded the song:
ArtistYearNotes
Dana Valery197945rpm single
1980album Running for My Life
1980album The Scent of the Roses
1980album Waikiki, My Castle by the Sea
19812001 album As Time Goes By; an outtake from the 1981 album Made in America
1980Cantonese version 明日再明日 from album 人在江湖
1981album Small Voice
1993album Sweet Potatoes
1994album Return to Pooh Corner
Fifteen1995album Extra Medium Kick Ball Star (17)
Less Than Jake1997EP Muppets
1999TV Ally McBeal
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes1999album Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Are a Drag
Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand2001album Live
2001album Rainbow Connection
2002album For the Kids
2003album Peter Cincotti
2004album For the Kids Too!
2004album Mary Had a Little Amp
2005album Isn't It Romantic: The Standards Album
2009album The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me
2010album Sing Me to Sleep: Indie Lullabies
Weezer and Hayley Williams2011album Muppets: The Green Album
2012album Piano Lullabies
2012album sketches
Yale Whiffenpoofs2013released as "Rainbow Connection – Single" and credited as the Glee Cast
2014album Nightlight
2015album We Love Disney
2016album Bellissimo!, as "El-Creepo!"
Sleeping at Last2016album Covers, Vol. 2
2017album Fancy Words for Failure
2017album Lullaby Girl
2017official soundtrack of the Legion TV series
2018American Idol audition and finale performance
2019Performance at Newport Folk Festival
and 2019Performance on 53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards
Carter Rubin2020Performance on the Top 9 semi-finals of the nineteenth season of The Voice
2021album Release Me 2
Kermit the Frog, Nicole Scherzinger, Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, Nick Cannon, and Jenny McCarthy-Walhberg2022Performance from season 8 of The Masked Singer for Muppet Night
Grayson Perry2025Performance as "Kingfisher" on the first episode of the sixth series of The Masked Singer UK
2025album Music from Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration

Appearances in other media