# Big Bang Theory theme song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097 "2017-02-17T19:33:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/1 "2017-02-17T19:33:39Z")
There’s something that has always bothered me about this, and I don’t know if it’s just me. _Our whole universe was in a hot dense state When nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started - Wait!_ Except, it really _really_ sounds to me like he’s singing “million” and not “billion.” I try to listen for the _b_ every time, but I don’t hear it. Not sure why this bugs me so much, but it truly bugs me. Maybe it’s because they do a pretty decent job of getting the science right on the show, and “fourteen million years” is just so _wrong_. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CMSYv_Z4SI8/maxresdefault.jpg "The Big Bang Theory Song by Barenaked Ladies from The Big Bang Theory (TV series)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMSYv_Z4SI8) ---
**Author:** ![pieceoftheuniverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@pieceoftheuniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pieceoftheuniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/2 "2017-02-17T19:35:58Z")
You’re not alone. I hear the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/3 "2017-02-17T19:36:27Z")
It sounds like “million” to me as well. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/4 "2017-02-17T19:56:06Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > There’s something that has always bothered me about this, and I don’t know if it’s just me. > > _Our whole universe was in a hot dense state > When nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started - Wait!_ > > Except, it really _really_ sounds to me like he’s singing “million” and not “billion.” I try to listen for the _b_ every time, but I don’t hear it. > > Not sure why this bugs me so much, but it truly bugs me. Maybe it’s because they do a pretty decent job of getting the science right on the show, and “fourteen million years” is just so _wrong_. > > [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CMSYv\_Z4SI8](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CMSYv_Z4SI8) What bugs me is it sounds like - _Our whole universe was in a hot dense state When nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started **waiting** _. Expansion started waiting??? We are still expanding dammit. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/5 "2017-02-17T19:58:51Z")
:smack: I read the thread title and started singing “In the not too distant future…” Bad\*\* gigi\*\*! Wrong nerdy show! ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/6 "2017-02-17T20:31:08Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > What bugs me is it sounds like - _Our whole universe was in a hot dense state > When nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started **waiting** _. Expansion started waiting??? We are still expanding dammit. Well, maybe one could say we are waiting for it to stop expanding? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/7 "2017-02-17T20:51:29Z")
Sing it for yourself, it’s always gonna come out sounding like 14 Million! It’s the singing that hurts the enunciation, I think. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/8 "2017-02-17T21:35:39Z")
But how are autotrophs supposed to drool? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/9 "2017-02-17T21:37:11Z")
Also, I’ve always wondered in what sense one could say “the autotrophs began to drool.” Autotrophs are plants, right? While they may drip, exude or otherwise produce liquids, drool is specifically saliva. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/10 "2017-02-17T22:04:53Z")
According to a couple of different sites, the lyrics are: [QUOTE=Bare Naked Ladies] Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. **Wait** … The Earth began to cool, The autotrophs began to drool, Neanderthals developed tools, We built a wall (we built the pyramids), Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery, That all started with the big bang (bang)! [/QUOTE] So, the Big Bang, pause, and things start happening on Earth (once there is an Earth) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/11 "2017-02-17T22:29:58Z")
Yeah, they really screwed up the science in the lyrics. It should be: Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. **Wait** … The Earth began to cool, and then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes. (I couldn’t believe it.) And it all started with the Big Bang. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/12 "2017-02-17T23:01:26Z")
Yeah, definitely sounds like “million” to me, but both “m” and “b” sounds are made at the same point in the mouth with both lips (bilabial) so maybe it’s just the way it comes out when enunciated for singing? I don’t know, but I can’t make it sound like “billion” no matter how much I try to. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/13 "2017-02-18T01:15:16Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Yeah, they really screwed up the science in the lyrics. It should be: > > Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, > Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. **Wait** … > The Earth began to cool, > and then the dinosaurs came, > but they got too big and fat, > so they all died and they turned into oil. > And then the Arabs came > and they bought Mercedes Benzes. > And Prince Charles started wearing > all of Lady Di’s clothes. (I couldn’t believe it.) > And it all started with the Big Bang. They rejected this laaAAAaaarger version of the song. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/14 "2017-02-18T01:32:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, definitely sounds like “million” to me, but both “m” and “b” sounds are made at the same point in the mouth with both lips (bilabial) so maybe it’s just the way it comes out when enunciated for singing? I don’t know, but I can’t make it sound like “billion” no matter how much I try to. I have an old-fashioned tape recorder, and I can make it sound like billion, no problem. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/15 "2017-02-18T12:34:38Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Yeah, they really screwed up the science in the lyrics. It should be: > > Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, > Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. **Wait** … > The Earth began to cool, > and then the dinosaurs came, > but they got too big and fat, > so they all died and they turned into oil. > And then the Arabs came > and they bought Mercedes Benzes. > And Prince Charles started wearing > all of Lady Di’s clothes. (I couldn’t believe it.) > And it all started with the Big Bang. This prompted a rare, honest-to-goodness LOL right here right now! I’ve got tears in my eyes! Well done!! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/16 "2017-02-18T13:56:25Z")
Sounds like “billion” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/17 "2017-02-18T14:02:39Z")
I always heard “billion”, too. And whenever I encounter something like that in pop culture, I always stop and think “is that the right number?”, so I think I would have noticed. What’s probably causing the confusion is that the immediately-preceding sound is the “n” at the end of “fourteen”, and of course “n” sounds a lot like “m” (and in fact, the difference between “n” and “m” is very close to “b”). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/18 "2017-02-18T14:24:56Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I have an old-fashioned tape recorder, and I can make it sound like billion, no problem. No, I mean, I can’t make the recorded version sound like “billion” to me. That is, knowing what the lyric is and knowing it’s supposed to be “billion,” I can’t listen to the original recording of it and hear a “b” in there no matter how hard I try to. I realize my original sentence was ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/19 "2017-02-20T10:19:17Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > But how are autotrophs supposed to drool? > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Also, I’ve always wondered in what sense one could say “the autotrophs began to drool.” Autotrophs are plants, right? I read it as “(some of) the autotrophs (became heterotrophs and) began to drool” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097/20 "2017-02-20T12:16:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > No, I mean, I can’t make the recorded version sound like “billion” to me. That is, knowing what the lyric is and knowing it’s supposed to be “billion,” I can’t listen to the original recording of it and hear a “b” in there no matter how hard I try to. This. Try as I might, I still hear “millions”. But if I’m actually reading the lyrics along with the singing, I can hear “billions”. And I also hear “Neanderthals developed toes”… which seems a little anachronistic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-theme-song/780097.md?page=2)