Muppets Most Wanted (soundtrack)

Muppets Most Wanted: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is a soundtrack album released by Walt Disney Records on March 18, 2014 for the musical comedy film Muppets Most Wanted. The soundtrack features six original songs, two re-recordings of popular Muppet songs ("The Muppet Show Theme" and "Together Again"), three cover versions of existing songs (Allen Toussaint's "Working in the Coal Mine", Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger", and Los del Río's "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)"), an orchestral suite by Christophe Beck, five demos by Bret McKenzie, and eight dialogue tracks.[3] Songs not included in the album, but featured in the film include "Long Train Runnin'" by The Doobie Brothers, "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men and Marvin Hamlisch's "I Hope I Get It" (from A Chorus Line).[4]

Overview
In November 2012, it was announced that Bret McKenzie would be returning to write songs for Muppets Most Wanted following the success of its 2011 predecessor, The Muppets.[5] As opposed to the previous film, McKenzie wrote all of the original songs for Muppets Most Wanted; his songwriting influences for the film include the Sherman Brothers, Irving Berlin, Paul Williams, and Harry Nilsson.[6] With song ideas originating from short descriptions in the film's screenplay,[7] McKenzie developed numerous songs and performed demo versions of each by doing impressions of various Muppets. "I'm usually just on piano, with me singing and doing my now quite extensive catalog of Muppet impressions," said McKenzie. "I play a rough version then we get together and work out the best. James [Bobin] often has an idea that's visual that he needs to change the lyric to suit the visual and then we record it with the Muppets."[8]

A music video of McKenzie performing "I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" was released on March 19, 2014 on Funny or Die.[9]