Rainbow Connection

"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.

History
When Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher started work on their songs for The Muppet Movie, they had a discussion about a film they both loved, Walt Disney's adaptation of Pinocchio. At the beginning of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket sings "When You Wish Upon a Star," which the pair felt set the mood for the whole picture. This was the inspiration to write something very special for Kermit as well.

Although they had nearly completed the song, they had difficulty coming up with a title until a friend of Williams asked them "What's the problem? You having difficulty finding that rainbow connection between people and their dreams?" They knew at once that they had their title.

In the Music, Mayhem and More! CD booklet, Paul Williams briefly spoke about the creative process that surrounds "The Rainbow Connection" and the movie's finale, as follows:

"It's one of two favorite songs I've written in my life, and oddly, they're both from The Muppet Movie. (The other is "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday.") When we started working on the film, Kenny and I and Jim and Jerry Juhl all agreed that we had to establish Kermit's soul from the very beginning. And to do that, he has to ponder some big questions. Kenny and I began to write this song -- the song addresses that inner voice that tells Kermit he can try to do these big things. Then Jerry Juhl did this great thing in the script at the end, when the stage explodes and the end of the rainbow appears -- the actual “rainbow connection.” That's the proof of the whole Muppet philosophy."

Non-Muppet performances

 * The Carpenters recorded the song in 1980, but it wasn't released until 2004
 * Bob McGrath with Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra for the album Young at Heart (1992)
 * Kenny Loggins on his Return to Pooh Corner album (1994)
 * Paul Williams, as Bernard Weeden, at Ginny's funeral in the third season Picket Fences episode "Cold Spell."
 * Vera Lynn on her Thank You For The Music album (1997)
 * Livingston Taylor, as heard over the end credits for an episode of National Arts (1997)
 * Less Than Jake on Muppets (1997)
 * Vonda Shepard, in the second season Ally McBeal episode "Angels and Blimps" (1999)
 * Willie Nelson on his Rainbow Connection album (2001)
 * Sarah McLachlan on the For the Kids album (2002).
 * Various employers in a commercial for Yahoo HotJobs (2003).
 * Justin Timberlake and "Kermit" (Will Forte) on Saturday Night Live (2003)
 * The Dixie Chicks on the album Mary Had a Little Amp (2004)
 * Jason Mraz performs the song on For the Kids Too (2004)
 * Willie Nelson and Paul Williams on the dual-disc DVD I'm Going Back There Someday (2005)
 * John Michael Higgins & His Symphony of Guys, a cappella version arranged by John Michael Higgins as heard during the ending credits for The Break-Up (2006)
 * Jason Mraz performed the song as a launch.com exclusive, now Yahoo! Music, introducing it as "one of [his] favorite songs" (2006)
 * Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) in the third season The Office episode "The Convict" (2006)
 * Jason Mraz and Paul Williams on Mraz's Influences album (2007)
 * Willie Nelsons 2001 version of the song, was used at the end of Las Vegas season 4 episode "The Chicken Is Making My Back Hurt" (2007), when Ed Deline was smashing up a car with a golf club.
 * Paul Williams on the Nickelodeon series, "Yo Gabba Gabba!" (2008)
 * Jane Monheit recorded the song for her album The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me (2009)
 * The Yale Whiffenpoofs have performed the song on multiple occasions, including April 18, 2010 in Kansas City.
 * Paul Williams and the Roots performed it on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (June 15, 2011)
 * Weezer performed it with Hayley Williams of Paramore in The Green Album (2011)

Audio releases

 * The Muppet Movie (1979)
 * The Rainbow Connection/I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along (single, 1979)
 * Favorite Songs From Jim Henson's Muppets
 * Put Some Zing in Your Spring
 * Music, Mayhem and More! (2002)
 * Best of the Muppets (2005)
 * The Muppets: Original Soundtrack (2011)

Video releases

 * The Muppet Movie
 * The World of Jim Henson (1994, first verse cut and played during the credits)

Publications

 * Sheet Music Magazine
 * Favorite Songs from Jim Henson's Muppets
 * The Reader's Digest Children's Songbook
 * The Rainbow Connection
 * Jim Henson: The Works
 * It's Not Easy Being Green... and Other Things to Consider
 * Before You Leap - dedicated to "the lovers, the dreamers, and you."

Merchandise

 * The Rainbow Connection Kermit Action Figure
 * The Rainbow Connection Kermit Mini Muppet

Trivia

 * For the opening number, Jim Henson had to perform underwater in a big metal tank with a pump under a pool of water on a film set. Steve Whitmire used a remote-control device to operate Kermit's hand while playing the banjo.
 * On March 20, 1996, The Rainbow Connection was the basis of a bizarre crime in Wanganui, New Zealand. A twenty-one-year-old overly enthusiastic Muppet fan took a radio station manager hostage claiming to have a bomb and demanded to hear the song played nonstop on the air for the next twelve hours. Several buildings were evacuated due to the threat. When it was learned that the man had no bomb, police stormed the station and arrested him.
 * I Love the 70s lists the song as Kermit's favorite.
 * In Jim Henson's childhood hometown of Leland, Mississippi, a local bridge was named "The Rainbow Connection," in his honor on September 24, 2011 (Henson's 75th birthday).