# Flintstones underscore titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129 "2019-08-23T20:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/1 "2019-08-23T20:43:35Z")
Not only did the original _Flintstones_ cartoon have a great theme song, it also had a very memorable underscore (that is, little snatches of music played over dialogue or during scene transitions in order to establish a mood). Each and every one of those themes has been burned indelibly into my memory through constant repetition in my youth. ([You can hear them all together on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Whj5gwhcpc)) I was wondering whether any of these themes have titles, and if so, does anyone know what they are? I mean, I assume that whoever composed or commissioned them must have given them titles, as the musicians and recording engineers must have needed to refer to them somehow when playing and recording and cataloguing them, and the music director must have likewise needed to refer to them when deciding how to score each episode. I suppose they might have just been given generic numbered titles like “Flintstones Underscore Theme #3”, but as there are an awful lot of them I think more descriptive monikers would have been more useful. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/2 "2019-08-23T23:21:43Z")
Looney Toons did it better. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/3 "2019-08-24T00:56:07Z")
The one starting at 6:55 is a variation on the original theme, which was titled, “Rise and Shine.” (The original theme did not appear in the syndicated reruns, being replaced with the “traditional” opening, albeit slightly out of sync near the end as a line is removed from the theme song for some reason.) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/4 "2019-08-24T01:27:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Not only did the original _Flintstones_ cartoon have a great theme song, it also had a very memorable underscore (that is, little snatches of music played over dialogue or during scene transitions in order to establish a mood). Each and every one of those themes has been burned indelibly into my memory through constant repetition in my youth. ([You can hear them all together on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Whj5gwhcpc)) I was wondering whether any of these themes have titles, and if so, does anyone know what they are? I mean, I assume that whoever composed or commissioned them must have given them titles, as the musicians and recording engineers must have needed to refer to them somehow when playing and recording and cataloguing them, and the music director must have likewise needed to refer to them when deciding how to score each episode. I suppose they might have just been given generic numbered titles like “Flintstones Underscore Theme #3”, but as there are an awful lot of them I think more descriptive monikers would have been more useful. Thank you so much for this! My favorites include (as I call it), “There’s something fishy going on” (starting at 2:01). I also remember a tune not included here that played whenever Fred stepped on a roller skate, or the Bedrock Police gave chase. I called it “Out of Control”. It’s an amazing skill to write music like that, which immediately evokes a feeling, but stays below the radar above which it becomes a familiar song. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/5 "2019-08-24T05:37:16Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Looney Toons did it better. Maybe, but is it really fair to compare theatrically released shorts produced by a major film studio with the low-budget limited animation of a weekly television series? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/6 "2019-08-24T14:25:53Z")
What happened to, “English Country Garden”? (There may have been a minor-key version somewhere in the middle of that track, I’m not sure.) ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/7 "2019-08-24T14:29:27Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Looney Toons did it better. Carl Stalling was a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/8 "2019-08-24T14:49:18Z")
[This is a catchy tune.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGZenzfg3A0) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/9 "2019-08-24T15:58:03Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Maybe, but is it really fair to compare theatrically released shorts produced by a major film studio with the low-budget limited animation of a weekly television series? No, but this is the Dope. We do this sorta thing all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/10 "2019-08-24T16:37:10Z")
I watched the show religiously as a tot, but it never occurred to me that “Meet the Flintstones” was an underscore before it replaced the [season 1 theme](https://youtu.be/_dYTgjQV_0w). Presumably season 1’s theme was replaced because it was too similar to [Looney Tunes "Overture,](https://youtu.be/6GpbY8df3Zo)" which I guess means Looney Tunes did it better. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/11 "2019-08-24T17:02:33Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > What happened to, “English Country Garden”? (There may have been a minor-key version somewhere in the middle of that track, I’m not sure.) It’s one of the tunes in the video I linked. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/12 "2019-08-24T21:30:47Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > I watched the show religiously as a tot, but it never occurred to me that “Meet the Flintstones” was an underscore before it replaced the [season 1 theme](https://youtu.be/_dYTgjQV_0w). And even before that, it was [a melody in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJjoFQtMvg&t=919s). ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flintstones-underscore-titles/839129/13 "2019-08-25T12:53:41Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > And even before that, it was [a melody in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJjoFQtMvg&t=919s). I read about it being essentially a public domain song (which I’m sure is true of Season 1/Overture as well) before, but couldn’t be bothered to remember or look up what it was. I incidentally can’t even really hear it beyond a few notes, not that I disbelieve it was inspired by it.