Welcome to Adrie’s beats of the week, a weekly column dedicated to remarking upon the intricacies of modern music. To submit any songs for entry, please contact [email protected], with the subject line, ‘beats of the week.’ 

Kermit the Frog as a musical artist gets five stars from me, and five stars all around. I hope to never live in a world where he is not; I think in the anthropocene castle, everyone wears Kermit the Frog T-shirts. Rainbow Connection also gets five stars, as we are only to blame for its annoying overuse. 

For those of you wondering how I, once again, pulled such a stone of genius from deep within the music review mine, you should know that this idea was my grandma’s. She is, among a million other things, a faithful Chronicle reader, and Kermit the Frog enthusiast. 

Despite my obstinate association of Kermit with things of the 70’s, he actually came into this world in the mid 50’s. I grew up with what I feel to be a healthy appreciation of the Muppet world, but I don’t know that I will ever fully grasp what he means to some people. Only looking back now at the shows that I watched in my own early childhood, can I understand my parents’ excitement when one of them would turn on The Muppet Show. 

I think his relationship with humankind is well described by this bit from his Wikipedia page, reading “A biography has been developed for Kermit the Frog as if he was an actual living performer rather than a puppet character.”

I think Kermit the Frog is nostalgic, but also ubiquitous to several generations; I believe that is well shown within the songs that he (originally Jim Henson, later Steve Whitman and Matt Vogel) sings. And he has sung quite a few of them, though I think most notably “Rainbow Connection”.

”I can hardly imagine a world without this song, it seems to be embedded everywhere. In the yearbook quotes of artsy seniors, and I can only imagine the tattoos. 

I like that the song begins with an honest question: “why are there so many songs about rainbows?” And I think that Kermit, in asking it, has managed to land himself at the very top, with the only important song about rainbows. Maybe that’s a stretch, but I still think that “The Rainbow Connection” is to rainbow songs, as Star Wars is to space movies (that will be on the SATs). 

This song probably means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but as for me, I think it’s beautiful. I can’t help but imagine Kermit marching over the rainbow flanked by all the lovers and the dreamers, in a wild wave of flower power and joyousness. Plus, the banjo! 

I think there are probably people who don’t like this song, but I can’t picture them having a viable excuse. I would go as far to say that it’s a pretty perfect song, in spirit, it’s only flaw being our own overuse.

But that’s an issue that is easily solvable, because Kermit the Frog also has many other music works that are probably pretty special. I can recommend “I Love My Elbows,” as one, and I’m sure any question to pretty much anyone will bring forth a slew more.