This looks familiar, vaguely familiar,
Almost unreal, yet, it's too soon to feel yet.
Close to my soul, and yet so far away.
I'm going to go back there someday.
Written by Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams, and performed by The Great Gonzo, originally appearing in The Muppet Movie, this song IMHO is the spiritual opposite of "The Rainbow Connection" which appears earlier in the film.
Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls.
Is that a song there, and do I belong there?
I've never been there, but I know the way.
I'm going to go back there someday.
The scene where this song is sung, is at night in the desert in the middle of nowhere. The Muppets' car has broken down beyond their ability to repair it, and things are looking bleak. Sitting around a campfire Rowlf starts playing a tune on a harmonica, and is joined by Fozzie Bear on a ukulele, then Gonzo starts to sing this little diddy. The setting of the scene and tone of the song is a clear allusion to that of cowboys out on the open range, singing sad songs around the campfire, about times past, loves lost, and opportunities squandered.
Come and go with me, it's more fun to share,
We'll both be completely at home in midair.
We're flyin', not walkin', on featherless wings.
We can hold onto love like invisible strings.
Whether you agree or not, "The Rainbow Connection’s" overtly happy tune hides a line of melancholy underneath the jovial banjo playing frog. Whereas "I’m Going To Go Back There Someday" is overtly sad, but under that is a well optimism.
There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met.
Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place?
You can just visit, but I plan to stay.
I'm going to go back there someday.
I'm going to go back there someday.
It’s a song sung by someone who, even when in the close company of friends, feels alone and lost. Gonzo struggles to put words to what he’s trying to say, but he is both too confused and too shy to come out and say what he feels. But he knows that even when things get bad, or no matter how lost he may get, he has felt love, and there are people he can depend on to help him along his way.
Like the "I will Always Love You" segment from The Muppets Take Manhattan which eventually was the inspiration for Muppet Babies, I believe this scene was the eventual inspiration for Muppets From Space due to the allusions to space and travel, as well as Gonzo's continued longing to find himself.
There is another slightly more up beat version of this song on the Muppets From Space Soundtrack sung by Gonzo using guitars, chimes, and a quicker pace. But the original version, I think, is much better and maintains the meaning of the song more.
Sources: The Muppet Movie, Muppets From Space Soundtrack, Memory, and http://www.whysanity.net/muppets/someday.html
Jet-Poop: I really think "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday" is a superior song {to "The Rainbow Connection"}, mainly 'cause it still sounds beautiful when being sung by a chicken with a lousy singing voice.