"No cheeses for us meeses" is also one of my favorite lines.

December 25, 2023 9:12 AM

Paul Williams reflects on writing each of the songs in The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Interview's from last year, but somehow missed in the 30th anniversary post on the Blue.

posted by deludingmyself (17 comments total)

No cheeses for us meeses :-(
posted by meese at 9:23 AM on December 25, 2023 [11 favorites]

Fun fact: he also co-wrote a few songs for Daft Punk on “Random Access Memories.”
posted by jzb at 9:40 AM on December 25, 2023 [7 favorites]

The best Christmas soundtrack.

The extra Marley brother is Robert Marley, fyi.
posted by the primroses were over at 10:07 AM on December 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

I love Paul Williams' music. His songs from The Muppet Movie and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas have been indelibly seared into my brain since diaper school, and I tell everyone who's willing to listen that Phantom of the Paradise is my favorite movie not because I think it's the best movie I've ever seen, but because it's the movie that most favors me. I recently purchased an autographed 8x10 of Williams as Swan from eBay, and it's displayed among autographs from John Waters, Carrie Fisher and Godzilla (Nakajima Haruo, that is), and a genuine feather from Big Bird himself.

I don't know where I'm going with this, but I love you all, and I teared up just reading this interview.

(Also, J. Draper, my favorite English YouTube historian, just did an hour-long deep dive into the historical accuracy of The Muppet Christmas Carol. Spoiler: She gives it high marks, especially the costuming.)
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:14 AM on December 25, 2023 [22 favorites]

I tell everyone who's willing to listen that Phantom of the Paradise is my favorite movie

The real tragedy is that Beef did nothing wrong. Their act rocked hard.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:07 PM on December 25, 2023 [12 favorites]

We love the movie and watch it every Christmas. Looking at Wikipedia it seems that the songs and music were not well received when it came out.
posted by idb at 12:32 PM on December 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

this is great! fwiw, the Charles Dickens House Museum (https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/christmas-eve-at-the-charles-dickens-museum) plays The Muppet Christmas Carol on repeat during the season. It’s great fun to see and hear it in the background as you peruse the rooms at this time of year.
posted by mollymillions at 12:51 PM on December 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

I like to tell people that Phantom of Paradise and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas basically have the same themes -- the desire for stardom and rock music ruins people. Yes, this is a joke. Maybe.

People may find me tiresome.
posted by edencosmic at 1:20 PM on December 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

Three brothers:
* Paul Williams: songwriter
* Mentor Williams: songwriter
* John J. Williams: NASA rocket scientist?
posted by pracowity at 2:40 PM on December 25, 2023

I was lucky enough to visit the Dickens house yesterday, and went right from there to a sing-along showing of the movie at the Prince Charles Cinema.

They showed the version with “When Love Is Gone” fully restored and it was glorious. I took a friend who somehow had never seen it, and she was knocked out by it (the songs especially.)
posted by profreader at 3:16 PM on December 25, 2023 [7 favorites]

I can’t remember if I’ve told it here before or not, but perhaps the greatest experience I have had introducing my spouse to something from my childhood that he’d never seen was several years ago when I fired up TMCC, we got to just grazing the rooftops of London town, and he turned to me and said: “Waiiiiit… is this a musical?”
posted by deludingmyself at 4:25 PM on December 25, 2023 [8 favorites]

People may find me tiresome.

Though your music lingers on…
posted by Parasite Unseen at 6:04 PM on December 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

What a great story!

To expand on jzb's Daft Punk mention, it's primarily the song Touch from Random Access Memories - possibly loosely connected to the 'so bad it's good' movie Phantom of the Paradise. This 8-minute video is Paul and his primary collaborator reflecting on working with the robots and what an incredible moment it was in his career.
posted by erebora at 9:46 PM on December 25, 2023 [3 favorites]

To expand even further on the Daft Punk Williams connection, the members of Daft Punk appear in the Making Of Phantom Of The Paradise, pointing to it as why they started their band together. It also features many other major names, all explaining that Phantom is the original seed of a dozen different culture touchstones. Ex. why Darth Vader looks like he does. Definitely track it down, it's jaw dropping.
posted by foxtongue at 2:22 AM on December 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ex. why Darth Vader looks like he does.
I think we've been saved from a Star Wars musical featuring Anakin Skywalker singing laments in a castle on a volcano planet, obviously with the working title "The Phantom Menace."

Related to TFA, my brother revealed at Family Christmas these past few days that he has Disney+ but has not watched The Muppets' Christmas Carol.

Check if your Disney+ has Watch Similar -> Extended Edition with more songs.
posted by k3ninho at 3:56 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I tell everyone who's willing to listen that Phantom of the Paradise is my favorite movie

Are you from Winnipeg, by chance? For reasons I am not totally clear on*, Phantom of the Paradise was a titanic hit in Winnipeg and ran there without cease for four years or something.

*To be accurate, I have learned a couple of times but subsequently forgotten each time. If any Winnipeger mefites want to educate me again, I will bookmark the explanation.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:49 PM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Are you from Winnipeg, by chance?

I am not of that fine city, but I recently learned that Phantom of the Paradise is also inordinately popular among the trans fem community. Make of that what you will.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:43 PM on December 26, 2023