''The Muppet Movie: Original Soundtrack Recording'' is the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

from the 1979 film, ''

The Muppet Movie ''The Muppet Movie'' is a 1979 musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley and produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film to feature the Muppets. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film was wr ...

'', featuring the songs and select score written by

Paul Williams Paul Williams may refer to: Authors * Paul Williams (Crawdaddy) (1948–2013), American music and science fiction journalist; founder of ''Crawdaddy'' and the Philip K. Dick Society * Paul Williams (Irish journalist) (born 1964), Irish journalis ...

and

Kenneth Ascher Kenneth Lee Ascher (born October 26, 1944, in Washington, D.C.) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger who is active in jazz, rock, classical, and musical theater genres — in live venues, recording studios, and cinema productio ...

. Originally released on LP by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in North America and by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

internationally, the album reached No. 32 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

200 Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 200 for this y ...

, and was

certified Gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. The soundtrack won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Children's Album in 1980 and was also nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was establishe ...

, the

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

for Best Original Song, and two

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

; Best Adaptation Score for the overall album and Best Original Song for "

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 o ...

", which reached No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. After its initial release, the soundtrack album had subsequent CD reissues by

Jim Henson Records Jim Henson Records was an American record company established in 1992 by The Jim Henson Company in an agreement with Bertelsmann Music Group. Robert Kraft was selected to run the label. The first album released by Jim Henson Records was the soundtr ...

through

BMG Kidz Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music com ...

in 1993 and by

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...

on August 13, 2013. Disney's reissue was digitally

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

, featured liner notes by Williams, and marked the first time the soundtrack was available in print in over 20 years. The album was reissued on vinyl by Walt Disney Records in partnership with Iam8bit and

The Muppets Studio The Muppets Studio, LLC is an American entertainment production company and subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, that owns and produces media content for The Muppets franchise. The division was previously formed as The Muppets Holding Company, ...

on April 27, 2022.

Track listing

Personnel

*Guitars: Art Munson, Ernie Corallo, Anthony Berg *Keyboards: Kenny Ascher, David Garland, Michael Melvoin,

Randy Kerber Randy Kerber (born September 25, 1958) is an American composer, orchestrator and keyboard player, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema. Kerber was born in Encino, California. He began his first national tour with Bette Midler in ...

*Drums:

Gary Mallaber Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946, in Buffalo) is an American musician from Los Angeles, mostly known as a drummer, but plays percussion, vibraphone, and keyboards. In addition, he is a songwriter, arranger, composer, producer, engineer, a ...

, James Gordon *Percussion: Mark Stevens, Alan Estes *Bass: Colin Cameron, Reinhold Press *Saxophone: David Garland *Harmonica:

Tommy Morgan Thomas Morgan Edwards (December 4, 1932 – June 23, 2022) was an American harmonicist and session musician, who had been active since the 1950s. He was considered one of the most heard harmonica players in the world, playing in over 500 fea ...

Charts and certifications

Charts

Certifications

Footnotes

References

External links

"Rainbows, frogs, dogs and ''The Muppet Movie'' soundtrack at 40"
''Pop Culture Happy Hour'', NPR, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Muppet Movie, The 1979 soundtrack albums Atlantic Records soundtracks CBS Records soundtracks Comedy film soundtracks Disney film soundtracks Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children The Muppets albums Musical film soundtracks Paul Williams (songwriter) albums Record Store Day releases Walt Disney Records soundtracks