My boy had been listening to "The Rainbow Connection" at daycare today, so I mentioned that I had the Muppet Movie soundtrack. After searching through my horrifying piles of hoarder vinyl, I found it - a really beat-up powder blue thing with my name written on it in elementary-school cursive and the call letters of KNIA, Knoxville, IA written all over it. I guess my uncle must have grabbed it from the station where he worked? Pretty sweet gift for young me.
Anyhow, this record has some miles on it. Scratches, skips, warps, you name it, but somehow it sounded pretty good on my boy's little record-destroyer turntable. We played "The Rainbow Connection" and that was sweet, but then he decided to play "Movin' Right Along" about twenty times in a row. It holds up fine. He'll probably wear a hole in this record.
There's one spot toward the end where the bass player walks up to the 1 and it's the hokiest thing*, but it is played with absolute conviction. The sort of conviction that says, yes, I am recording this song that is a duet between a frog and a bear getting lost in improbable ways across multiple countries while driving a Studebaker, and, oh, receiving union pay for doing so. What do you want to make of it?
*(Same bass trick used to excellent effect twice in Prince's "Controversy". I am going to steal it for everything I do now.)
