Sound Bites: The Muppet Christmas Carol
Sound Bites is our series of playlist odes to the art of music in film.
Released on November 10, 1992
Songs by Paul Williams
Composed by Miles Goodman
Long before the release of The Muppet Christmas Carol, songwriter Paul Williams was making his name with hits like “Rainy Days and Mondays” for The Carpenters and Barbara Streisand’s “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born.
But it was when he started hosting The Muppet Show in 1976 that he developed a deep affection for Jim Henson’s beloved Muppets.
The relationship continued when Henson asked Williams to write songs for his cult classic Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas and continued through The Muppet Movie in 1979, earning him an Oscar nomination for the great “Rainbow Connection.”
Success eventually caught up with Williams when drugs and alcohol took the wheel, landing him in rehab where he fought for his life. When he emerged in March of 1990 with a new lease on life, he couldn’t help but have a “Thankful Heart.”
Just two months after Williams got sober, Jim Henson passed away. It was Jim’s son Brian (who was set to direct The Muppet Christmas Carol) who suggested they reach out to Williams to write the music for their new film.
His involvement with the film was cosmic as he, like Scrooge, was a man longing for a new way to live. Every single song mirrors the gratitude and joy that Williams was feeling at the time that he wrote them.
Songs like “Room In Your Heart” and “Thankful Heart” are stirring in the context of Williams’ recovery, while others like “One More Sleep ’til Christmas” and “It Feels Like Christmas” are stone-cold Christmas classics. Pair these songs with the lush score provided by Miles Goodman and you’ve got yourself one of the finest holiday albums in Christmas movie history.
— Kevin