When Love Is Gone

Written by	Paul Williams
Date	1992
Publisher	Fuzzy Muppet Songs

"When Love Is Gone" is performed by Belle in The Muppet Christmas Carol as she laments the end of her relationship with Ebenezer Scrooge. The song is reprised later in the film as "When Love Is Found" and sung during the end credits by country singer Martina McBride.

"When Love Is Gone" was cut from the initial theatrical release of The Muppet Christmas Carol, but it has been restored for most subsequent home video and television versions. Though absent from the 2012 Blu-ray, as well as later foreign video releases, the scene was included as an "extra" bonus feature when the film was released to the iTunes Store and Disney+.

In a 2020 interview, director Brian Henson said that the song was cut at the request of Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, because children in test audiences were fidgety: "[Katzenberg] never forced me to do anything, but he said, 'Do you see how antsy those kids are getting?... It's just a little too adult-emotional for little kids to stay connected.' [The movie] certainly plays well without the song, but I obviously preferred having the song in. I think it's good for kids to be pulled into deeply emotional moments, even if they feel slightly awkward about it when they're in a movie theater."

Meredith Braun, who played Belle in the film, re-recorded the song in 2017 for her album When Love Is Gone. (YouTube)

At an event honoring the 30th anniversary of the film at the 2022 D23 Expo, it was announced that the song would be restored and added back into the film for Disney+. It was then performed live on stage by Jodi Benson.