Okay, so my link to this particular song is clearly not the most original thing ever, but my connection to The Rainbow Connection is still my own.
I've never seen The Muppet Movie, which is where the song is from (although I have seen The Muppets Take Manhattan more times than I can count). The place where I first heard and learned the song was from in fifth grade from my chorus teacher. At the Catholic school that I attended at the time, our version of chorus wasn't typical. We didn't receive the music, learn parts, or any of that. Instead we just chose songs we liked, (Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" and selections from "Sound of Music" were some favorites) got the words, and sang along while the teacher played the piano. It was actually pretty fun, and when I reached high school several years later and learned about having to sing parts and how as an Alto I would almost never get to sing the melody again... well, my love of chorus soon dwindled away.
It was my chorus teacher who wanted us to sing The Rainbow Connection, and I think I fell in love with it almost immediately. A song with a title like that should be the equivalent of cheese in a can, and maybe to some people's ears it is, but while many things that I loved in fifth grade I have since lost interest in, (The TGIF lineup on ABC and New Kids on the Block come to mind.) this song has withstood the test of time, and if anything I get more out of it as I get older.
In high school I used "the lovers, the dreamers, and me" as my senior quote that would go below my picture in the yearbook. After college a bar that my friends and I would go to on Tuesday nights for karaoke, had a bartender who for the last song of the night would sing The Rainbow Connection in a Kermit the Frog voice. And now as a mom, with aspirations of having a writing career, I was drawn to those lyrics once more for the title of my blog.
The reason that song and those lyrics are so perfect for all three of these instances is because it is a song filled with yearning that talks about "someday" and being called or pulled towards something. Whether it's facing life after high school, closing time, or reaching towards a goal that can feel impossibly far away - this song is ultimately hopeful about the future and our ability to find what we're looking for.
The Rainbow Connection
Written by Paul Williams and used by Kermit the Frog, of The Muppets, Jim Henson Productions
Why are there so many songs about rainbowsAnd what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it,
and look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
All of us under its spell,
we know that it's probably magic....
Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa
