It’s a classic song that never fails to bring a tear to your eye. “Rainbow Connection” is a song many of us remember hearing for the first time when watching The Muppet Movie way back in 1979. Here we are 41 years later, and everyone from The Carpenters to Jason Mraz has recorded their own rendition of this heartstring-tugging tune. Sometimes it’s a duet with Kermit — like this performance with Tori Kelly, or this one with Debbie Harry — and sometimes without, like this version by Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves. And we can’t forget Willie’s solo version, also, which you can watch here.
Well, perhaps it’s the state of affairs that has us feeling our emotions a little more deeply, or maybe it’s the fact that, quite simply, we’re connecting with one another right now in new and unusual ways. But when StyleBlueprint CEO Liza Graves posted last week on Facebook that she just heard “Rainbow Connection” and she “burst into teariness,” it resonated more than she realized.
“As a family, we were having movie night, and we were watching The Muppet Movie 2 — the one so many of our kids have seen — and that song is in it, just like it’s in the original movie,” Liza shares. “I was halfway working and halfway watching, and when that song came on … you just have to stop when you hear it. It brought me back to a time when everything was more simple. This song taps into the power of dreaming and staying positive and connecting with each other. It reminds you that everything will eventually be okay. And, we need that right now.”
I think we can all agree that something about a simpler time really strikes a chord right now. “We’re all feeling so tender right now, and when I heard this song, it touched me deeper than it ever had before,” Liza adds.
That’s when Liza had the idea to tap StyleBlueprint Traffic Manager Lacy Green, who is also a Nashville musician, to record an original version of this song. Lacy graciously agreed, and she and her husband, Aaron, and their fellow bandmate, Seth, who make up the band The Wonderful Nobodies, got to work. They virtually recorded “Rainbow Connection” — Lacy and Aaron at their home, and Seth at his. And while we may be biased, it’s perhaps the most beautiful version we’ve heard!
If you do nothing else today, check out The Wonderful Nobodies’ performance of “Rainbow Connection” below, and then keep scrolling to enjoy the original version by Kermit the Frog.
And, here are other renditions. They are each worth listening to as we all try to make our rainbow connection. No, listening to the eight other renditions below is not overkill. It’s perfection.
Subscribe to StyleBlueprint’s YouTube channel HERE for more great video content, including interviews, tutorials, virtual vacations and more!
