I was driving around last night and all of a sudden I started to chuckle. I didn’t think of something funny and I was alone so no one said anything funny! The reason I was laughing is the theme song to "Welcome Back, Kotter" came on the radio. For me it brought back some fun times during my childhood and the show. I still remember John Travolta doing his thing and Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington and Gabe Kaplan! Just a very funny show.
I really like the theme song and it gave me a chance to pause and think about TV theme songs. Here are a few that I came up with and some comments:
- The Love Boat – I actually liked the star-studded show and thought the theme song was catchy
- Cheers – Being from Boston how do I not put this on my list!
- Mr. Ed – Ok I didn’t love the theme song so much as I liked the talking horse
- Laverne & Shirley and show that has "Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated" in a song has to make the list. I thought the show was hysterical and a great spin-off
- Green Acres – catchy song and a funny show starring Eddie Albert and Zsa Zsa Gabor
- The Addams Family theme song made me laugh
I think my favorite of all-time starts out with "Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful ship . . . " which is the theme song from Gilligan’s Island.
- What is your favorite TV theme song?
- What do you think of my list?
- Describe the memories the theme songs bring back for you
- What theme songs do you know the words to?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Diane Bullion says:
Good list Merrill but you forgot one of the most memorable theme songs – The Brady Bunch!! You named one of my favs though – Welcome Back, Kotter. Thanks to satellite radio, I can hear this one often.
Rachel Campbell says:
I saw this in my email and immediately started singing the theme song to Cheers!
And now can’t get the theme for I Dream of Jeanie out of my head
Michael Braunberg says:
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol’ Jed’s a millionaire,
Kinfolk said Jed move away from there
Said Californy is the place you ought to be
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is.
Swimmin pools, movie stars.
Bill Priest says:
Archie and Edith Bunker singing Those Were The Days is classic.
J.R. Venza says:
Taxi……..still love that song !
Janet Baldi says:
I love the theme to Mary Tyler Moore…..”Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile…..”
Kenyon woods says:
Dubes- Always loved the theme for “Hogan’s Heroes,” I Dream of Jeannie,”Get Smart,” and The World ’s Greatest Super Hero.”. Also think “ER” has great theme for it’s genre.
leslie says:
how about the courtship of eddy’s father?! ‘people let me tell you bout my best friend… ‘
chris hauck says:
is there any other – Hawaii 5-0 of course!
Beverly Redler says:
Didn’t like the show so much, but the jaunty tune to the show Sanford & Son w/ Redd Foxx is catchy. Also, Chico and the Man. Courtship of Eddie’s Father was the first one I thought about. If you think about some of the words, some are really poetic (Mary Tyler Moore) or great story-tellin’ (Gilligan’s Island, Beverly Hillbillies).
I have a book that has the words to various theme songs–did you know Star Trek actually had words?! If you’d ever see them, you’d understand why they decided to keep it instrumental!
Joe Baldi says:
Janet Baldi that’s what you do for me every day of my life.
Love,
Dad
Merrill Dubrow says:
Joe,
What a nice comment for you to say about your daughter and share with all of us.
Have a great weekend.
Merrill
Willie Martin says:
Merrill.
Im an old school cat, so I’ll begin with a series that I thought caught the mood of the young nation circa 1970…My list in no particular order…
1.The Mod Squad
2.Dragnet
3.Good Times
4.Chico and The Man ( the closing tune, not the opening one)…
5.Mash…aka ‘Suicide is Painless…
Will Morris says:
Lot’s of good ones and I can sing them all. But my very favorite is Cheers. We had a local bar in Fort Smith with the same atmosphere and everybody knew our names. Bobby Vick sat on the stool at the end of the bar, Bill Treat stood next to him, Carey Meadors, David Vandergriff, Blake Harper, and I alternated between sitting at the other bar stools. The owner of the bar, Angelo J. Batounis, was from NYC and had a baseball autographed by the 1927 Yankees. He worked at the Waldorf and new all the sports celebrities of the day. And Nanci, was the oversexed barmaid that kept everybody in line. We were Cheers.
Lovejoy says:
my faves were “the dukes of hazzard” – Just two good old boys, never meanin’ no harm….
Beats all you never saw, been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born.
the jeffersons – Well, we’re movin’ on up (movin’ on up)
To the east side (movin’ on up)
To a deluxe apartment in the sky
Movin’ on up (movin’ on up)
To the east side
We finally got a piece of the pie
Fish don’t fry in the kitchen
Beans don’t burn on the grill
Took a whole lotta tryin’
Just to get up that hill
Now we’re up in the big leagues
Gettin’ our turn at bat
As long as we live, it’s you and me baby
There ain’t nothin’ wrong with that
Well, we’re movin’ on up (movin’ on up)
To the east side (movin’ on up)
To a deluxe apartment in the sky
Movin’ on up (movin’ on up)
To the east side
We finally got a piece of the pie
(had to include all of that one!)
and of course the love boat!
Bob Graham says:
OK, off the top of my head:
CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU? One of the greatest sitcoms and one of the greatest theme songs ever (too bad, it’s all but forgotten today):
“There’s a hold up in the Bronx
Brooklyn’s Broken out in fights,
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem,
That’s back up to Jackson Heights,
There’s a scout troop short a child,
Kruschev’s due at Idlewilde,
Car 54 Where Are You?”
CHEERS
TALES OF THE VIKINGS (another great, obscure one)
“From Out of the north like an icy wind,
Swept Odin’s bold warrior breed…”
IVANHOE (with Roger Moore)
“…There’s justice in his banner, freedom in his sword,
He rides against the manor, where tyranny is lord…”
ADDAMS FAMILY
and my current favorite:
“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Sponge Bob Square Pants!
Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!
Sponge Bob Square Pants!”
Bob Graham says:
How could I forget:
“Baby, if you ever wondered,
Wondered, whatever became of me,
I’m livin’ on the air in Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, WKRP…”