The Music of Christmas – Day 18: “When the River Meets the Sea”

“When the River Meets the Sea”
By Various Muppets

I include this song not because it’s so much a Christmas song but it represents Christmas to me. This song appears in both “Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas” and on the “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together” album. I don’t remember if it was in the TV special or not; but these two appearances are part of what means Christmas to me.

I talked about my thoughts on the Muppets and John Denver when I profiled their version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. But I’ve yet to speak about Emmet Otter.  This story about Emmet and his Mafirst aired in 197? and it never seemed to get as much love as other Jim Henson specials. But it struck a chord with me. Seeing Emmet and his friends sing in their Jugband, watching Ma croon her way at the talent show, and oh, the Riverbottom Nightmare Band — all of it resonated with me.

The lyrics of this song have nothing to do with Christmas. In fact, it’s symbolic of moving on from this life to whatever is next. So, yeah, it’s a pretty song about death. As a kid I didn’t understand it. I just knew it was featured in one of my favorite Christmas shows and one of my favorite Christmas albums.

Hey, it makes about as much sense as a Christmas song as “My Favorite Things”….

Tomorrow – Let’s get orchestral.