When The River Meets The Sea, by Emmet Otter.
I first heard this song in the DVD-era revival of Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Family Christmas, which I had never seen as a child, and loved it dearly. It showed up again on our John Denver / Muppets Christmas CD, which comes from a totally different 1979 television show, which you could watch or not watch (the 1987 Muppets / Sesame / Fraggle mashup show is much, much funnier), but the songs are heartwarming and hilarious at times, of course.
Needless to say, Emmet Otter is not the author of the song, and neither is John Denver, but rather, it’s by Paul Williams. Thanks to our friendly neighborhood Wikipedia page, I have also just learned that Paul Williams is the songwriter behind Rainbow Connection itself, several 1970s pop hit ballads, including “We’ve Only Just Begun,” by the Carpenters, which kinda slaps in its way, and, get this, plays a small role in Smokey and the Bandit, earning him immense street credit on my childhood block.
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I am playing this in E, as John Denver does in the 1979 show’s soundtrack.