Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (Photo: Sony Home Pictures Entertainment/The Jim Henson Company)

When songwriting legend Paul Williams met Muppets mastermind Jim Henson in 1976, after appearing on The Muppet Show, the fateful encounter led to a long and fruitful musical partnership, highlighted by Williams’s Oscar-nominated theme for The Muppet Movie, “Rainbow Connection.”

But it all started with the 1977 HBO cult classic Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, which will be screened in theaters nationwide for the first time ever this month, on Dec. 9 and 16. And incredibly, Williams’s twangy Emmet Otter soundtrack has finally been officially released, just in time for this holiday season, with a previously unheard song, “Born in a Trunk,” that didn’t make it to air.

“It was such a wonderful, wonderful little thing to work on. A great story, a spiritual lesson, wrapped up in a children’s Christmas tale,” Williams tells Yahoo Entertainment. “It was the beginnings of a relationship that has lasted for decades and decades, and one of the great lucky breaks in my life.”

Tragically, Williams’s partnership with Jim Henson came to an unexpected end in 1990, when Henson died at age 53 from toxic shock syndrome — although Williams did work on another Jim Henson Company holiday production, The Muppet Christmas Carol, two years after Henson’s death. But in a poignant full-circle moment, Henson requested that one of Williams’s Emmet Otter ballads, “When the River Meets the Sea,” be played at his memorial, which was held at New York’s Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on May 21, 1990. Jerry Nelson — the actor who’d provided the original Emmet character’s voice, and had also reprised “When the River Meets the Sea” as the diminutive Muppet frog Robin on John Denver’s 1979 Christmas special — performed the song at Henson’s service as a duet with Louise Gold. (Nelson passed away in 2012.)

Recalling that sad day, Williams says the various Muppeteers who performed at the memorial “gave a sense of Jim still being there.” And it was perhaps the ultimate, if bittersweet, compliment to Williams’s songwriting that this Emmet Otter song and its beautiful, timeless sentiment had meant that much to Henson.

“I think it was in Jim’s instructions, that he wanted it in there. He had very carefully laid out what he wanted [at his memorial]. I’m sure when he wrote it out, he had no idea that it was going to happen as early and as quickly as it did. Which is an amazing loss. That song is a favorite, and the only thing that ever disappointed me about it is that it had to be played at Jim’s service,” Williams says somberly.

As for why Henson connected so much with “When the River Meets the Sea,” Williams speculates, “I think it’s the message: ‘When the mountain touches the valley/All the clouds are taught to fly/As our souls will leave this land most peacefully/Though our minds be filled with questions/In our hearts we’ll understand/When the river meets the sea/Like a flower that has blossomed/In the dry and barren sand/We are born and born again most gracefully.’

“My favorite line in the song is actually, ‘Like a baby when it is sleeping/In its loving mother’s arms/What a newborn baby dreams is a mystery/But his life will find a purpose/And in time he’ll understand/When the river meets the sea.’ I think that one of the common elements in the songs that I care most about, that I’ve written for Jim and for the Muppets, are songs that don’t have answers, but honor the question.”

Most of Williams’s Emmet Otter soundtrack memories are happier ones. He was already a longtime Henson fan, dating back to Henson’s puppet creations appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, and it was a regular road ritual for Williams to watch Sesame Street when on tour. “It was the ’60s and early ’70s, and in those days, I was usually imbibing heavily and it was a little crazy,” says Williams, who has been sober for the past 28 years. “But you wake up in the morning and you’re watching Bert and Ernie, and there’s something calming, sort of an infusion of spiritual health and humor that you always got from the Muppets.”

Williams was therefore delighted when Henson offered him the Emmet Otter job — but he was also surprised, since the music he was writing at the time for the Carpenters and Three Dog Night was a far cry from the bluegrass/alt-country fare needed for a band of a shaggy, washtub-banging, banjo-strumming otters living in a rustic village called Frogtown Hollow.

“I had no real background in Americana; I wasn’t somebody that followed that kind of music. I mean, I liked Hank Williams and traditional country and the like, but none of these songs were right down the pike for me,” says Williams. However, the TV special’s Gift of the Magi-like story, based on a children’s book by Russell Hoban, inspired him immediately. “Those were the easiest songs I think I’ve ever written in my life. They poured out of me. I don’t think I ever had songs come out of me so quickly for a project. They sprang forth. At some point, you give yourself to the emotion that the story inspires, and sometimes you get really lucky.”

As for whether it was a challenge at all to pen original music for otters — or for puppets in general —Williams, who says Gonzo is his all-time favorite Muppet, emphatically says, “No, because the fact is they’re not puppetry. They’re not little furry bits of felt or whatever to me.”

Paul Williams on The Muppet Show in the 1970s (Photo: ITV)

Williams was especially excited to dig into one scene featuring the soundtrack’s non-Americana anomaly, “Riverbottom Nightmare Band,” the eponymous, hard rock anti-authority anthem of Frogtown Hollow’s villainous biker gang. “’The Riverbottom Nightmare Band’ is every parent’s nightmare. I don’t know anything more fun than to write something like that,” he chuckles. While the psychedelic stomper evokes Black Sabbath and Edgar Winter (and a bit of the Muppets’ Dr. Teeth & the Electric Mayhem, for whom Williams has also composed), Williams had another inspiration.

“My favorite band ever, when I was in my late 20s, I saw a band at the Troubadour, called the Original Delaney & Bonnie. Oh my God, I love Delaney and Bonnie,” Williams gushes. “Their first album was called Accept No Substitute. They had Leon Russell on keyboard; they had at one point Eric Clapton playing guitar. It was very gospel-rock, so different from what I was writing — and listening to it, I just lit up.”

Williams, who reveals that he’s been writing recently with Portugal. The Man, adds: “Everybody assumes that I want to sit down and write that big ballad with some smooth group, but I want to write with the guys that scare me! I want a lot of angst and piercings! It’s interesting — my wife Mariana’s brother is Joe Escalante, the leader of the Vandals, a very successful punk band. And there’s part of me that keeps wanting Joe to please cover ‘Riverbottom Nightmare Band.’ Let me have the joy of hearing my brother-in-law’s band play that song!”

Despite his surprising interest in nasty hard rock and punk, Williams remains fond of Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas because of its sweet, holiday-appropriate message of sacrifice, togetherness and kindness. “I think one of the great commodities in this world is kindness; I’ll take all the kindness I can get, anytime, anywhere. And in every experience that I’ve had with Henson’s family, and with the Muppet performers, again and again and again, I felt that celestial brightness of spirit and that kindness that was Jim Henson,” he says.

And so, more than four decades later, Henson’s charming little Christmas parable about a family of underdog otters chasing their talent-show dreams is as heart-warming as ever. And Williams is grateful that its long-lost soundtrack — “one of my favorite things I’ve ever done” — is finally being heard by a wider audience and a new generation, just as Henson would have wanted.

“The people that loved Emmet Otter when it came out got married, had kids, and sat the kids down and said, ‘You’re going to watch this!’ It’s one of the reasons that I always said that the career that I have today — I lay it at the feet of the people that loved what I did in many, many years ago and passed it down. It’s exciting,” he says. “That creative spirit that we’re born with, somehow it gets tamped down or shoved out of us; something tells us that we can’t do this anymore. But Jim never, ever lost that. And more importantly, I think he activated that in his audience.”

Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and the Last Shadow Puppets may have been the large-font bands on Outside Lands‘ 2016 lineup poster, but the Bay Area music festival’s promoters really buried the lead here. The true headliners were actualpuppets, or more specifically, Muppets. Sunday afternoon on OSL’s main stage, psych-rock legends Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem finally made their historic live festival debut, in the flesh — or in the felt, as it were — after four decades of backing everyone from Alice Cooper to Miley Cyrus.

The hippie city of San Francisco was the perfect place for Dr. Teeth, Janice, Floyd, Zoot, Lips, and everyone’s rock ‘n’ roll animal, Animal, to unveil the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational Muppet show ever. As they kicked out new-school jams (the Mowglis’ fitting “San Francisco,” Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ “Home” reimagined as a Floyd/Janice duet) and old-school classic like the Band’s “Ophelia” and a Joe Cocker-inspired “With a Little Help From My Friends” (the latter with a little help from the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir), Dr. Teeth declared this “the first stop on our world tour — and the only stop on our world tour!” However, it all went so well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Electric Mayhem headlining Coachella or Glastonbury in 2017.

Before this once-in-a-lifetime live event, I had a chance to catch up with the good Doctor himself backstage at Outside Lands. Of course, like any real rock star, he brought an entourage with him (the above-mentioned gospel choir), and he was definitely the best-dressed of the fest, in a top hat/boa/striped jacket combo that even Marc Bolan would have coveted back in the day. (Side note: Speaking of clothing, I hope Dr. Teeth didn’t think I was some sort of Muppet stalker fangirl for showing up to this interview in my freshly purchased “Electric Mayhem Roadie” tour T-shirt. Second side note: Actually, I am a total Muppet stalker fangirl, let’s get real.)

Although our chat was brief because Dr. Teeth had to rest up and presumably polish his 10-carat grill before the big show, the iconic bandleader did share some gold-filling’d nuggets of wisdom — fielding queries about what it’s like to tour with the infamous Animal and why the Electric Mayhem never played Woodstock… although he pleaded with fifth when asked if it’s really that he fashioned his signature glistening incisor from melted gold records (which is just about the most rock ‘n’ roll urban legend ever).

It’s time to get things started. Read the Great Toothy One’s full Q&A below!

This is your live festival debut. What did you do to prepare for this historic event?

Well, you know, the Electric Mayhem is always ready to jam! You could wake us up in the middle of the night, and we’d start playing loud. Just ask our neighbors.

How come you never played any other festival before? Didn’t Woodstock want you?

Oh no, we’ve played all the biggest rock festivals, from Woodstock to Bonnaroo. But mostly in the parking lot. This is the first time they actually let us go onstage. 

What are your festival survival tips and must-haves?

Get lots of rest, drink plenty of liquids… and always listen to the Doctor! Can you dig it!?

What’s on your backstage rider?

Our backstage rider? That’s Animal. If it’s backstage, he’ll ride it.

What are your tips and rock ‘n’ roll festival style?

Personally, I go with the gold tooth, voodoo pouch, and feathered hat. You oughta try it; it absotively, possolutely never goes outta style.

If you were booking your own dream festival, like “Mayhemfest,” who would be on the bill?

Everybody from AC/DC and ABBA to ZZ Top and Jay Z. And of course, my inspirational mentor, that loquacious luminary of Louisiana soul: my good friend, Dr. John.

You’ve worked with so many people: Alice Cooper, Debbie Harry, Paul Williams, Weezer, OK Go, Miley Cyrus, the list goes on. Who’s been your favorite?

Well, we don’t play favorites. We’re honored to have shared the shared with them all. And we apologize for any damage we may have inflicted upon their careers.

Who are your dream musical collaborators?

We’ve played with most of our dream collaborators — everybody from Elton to Johnny Cash to Dave Grohl. But the Mayhem is always ready to play with anyone, anywhere at anytime. No gig too big, no ball too small. For bookings, call Floyd Pepper — you don’t mind if I trawl for work, do you? And Animal has always wanted to do an album with Mariah Carey, Diddy, and Weird Al. Think you can you help set that up?