festive cheer: Christmas with the Muppets
it’s probably not the thing you’re expecting here...
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I have never made a secret of the fact that I am solidly and proudly a member of Generation X. So perhaps you will not be surprised to learn that my most favorite Christmas music album is the soundtrack to the 1979 TV special John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. I was 10 years old that Christmas, and adored The Muppet Show, which this is basically a big episode of. Also, my parents were and are big John Denver fans, so I knew — and also loved, and still love — his music. So it was destiny.
The special features a ton of traditional favorites done up with Muppet-style goofiness, but also some wonderful original songs by Denver, some of which make me cry every damn time I hear them. One is the Christmas lullaby “A Baby Just Like You”; another is the green — as in ecologically minded — “Carol for a Christmas Tree,” the spoken-poem lead-in to the stunningly beautiful “It’s in Every One of Us.”
For some bizarre reason, the TV special itself is not available via any legitimate streaming service, but some civic-minded soul has uploaded it to YouTube. The quality isn’t great; it’s probably from an early VHS or Betamax recording off a television broadcast. I recommend you watch this absolutely magical treat before it gets pulled down (though it’s been there for nine years, so perhaps there’s no immediate danger of it getting yanked):
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, the soundtrack, is on Spotify, and available to stream or buy on Amazon and Apple Music in the US, and on Amazon and Apple Music in the UK.
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This is beautiful - though as you say the quality is crap. My favourite adaptation of A Christmas Carol is the Muppet one!