Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas [Original Soundtrack]

Jim Henson’s 1977 TV special adaptation of Russell Hoban’s riff on O. Henry’s bittersweet holiday classic “The Gift of the Magi” was and remains one of his most warmly ambitious efforts all around beyond the core Muppet crew, and in that effort regular Henson collaborator Paul Williams provided some of his most delightful numbers. The hilarious Alice Cooper/KISS shock rock of “Riverbottom Nightmare Band” is amazing, but it’s the otter songs of “Bar-B-Que,” “Brothers” and especially the moving “From The River To The Sea” that hit the hardest.