As an unashamed Muppets devotee, I have been waiting for The Green Album, a collection of covers of Muppet classics, since news of it began circulating in 2009. (At the time, the project was called Muppets Remastered.) This week, NPR is streaming the album, and it’s delightful: The “Rainbow Connection” from Weezer and Paramore’s Hayley Williams is a faithful rendering instead of an attempt to reimagine a nearly perfect song; Matt Nathanson’s “I Hope That Something Better Comes Along” is sad and wistful, the way it should be.
But charming as it is, the album is incomplete. My favorite Muppet song, one that always makes me smile as it brings me to the brink of tears, is missing.
Written by Jeff Moss (the composer, not the hacker),“She’ll Make Me Happy” is from the 1984 classic Muppets Take Manhattan. Almost the entire Muppet universe joins to sing it while Kermit and Miss Piggy tie the knot in their Broadway show (and for real, thanks to some trickery by that crafty Piggy). It’s the perfect wedding song: Sweet, sincere, not too cloying. The promise is simple. “He’ll make me happy/ Each time I see him/ He’ll be the reason my heart can sing,” Piggy sings. “She’ll make me happy/ Each time I hold her and I will follow/ Will my heart will lead,” responds Kermit.
I am happily unmarried to my longtime boyfriend, but if we ever decide to file a joint tax return, I want “She’ll Make Me Happy” to be our song. It may allow for cruel comparisons between me and Miss Piggy, but I don’t care.
“She’ll Make Me Happy” isn’t only missing from The Green Album. It’s difficult to find anywhere. You can’t buy it from iTunes or Amazon as a single. It isn’t included on “greatest hits” albums. The Muppets Take Manhattan soundtrack is no longer available (and, much as I love it, I won’t spend $70 on a used copy—I don’t have a record player, anyway). It’s even difficult to find on YouTube. It’s included in the above supercut of Piggy and Kermit’s many nuptials, but the sound quality is quite poor. The few covers on YouTube don’t do “She’ll Make Me Happy” justice. A lovely piano version of the song is so close to satisfying, but there are no vocals. Please, Muppet gods, hear my prayer: Bring “She’ll Make Me Happy” back to the public. Consider releasing it as a single, or adding it to the slate of brilliant YouTube Muppet videos. The world is missing one of the better love songs.
