# That Instrumental Movie or TV theme has LYRICS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722 "2019-01-31T14:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/1 "2019-01-31T14:01:05Z")
A lot of us know that the **Bonanza** theme actually has lyrics, which there’s footage of the actors actually singing (although I don’t think that they ever did on the show proper) And I learned that \*\*star Trek\*\*'s theme actually has lyrics (I think I first read this in the book \*The Making of Star Trek\*) > **['Star Trek': Words and Music](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/unthemely-behavior/)** > > The theme to the original 'Star Trek' television series officially includes never-used lyrics. And Bill Murray on SNL played a lounge singer singing “Star Wars” https://player.vimeo.com/video/148990643?h=e53e3fdf19&app_id=122963 But what I’m referring to here are other, less obvious cases where you can fit the movie title into the lyrics, and it was probably intended that way. **It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World** – This one is actually kind of obvious if yyou see the opening credits, because a little animated figure pops out of the “world” and starts to “sing” the title. In my defense, I’d only heard the theme music for a long time, and it wasn’t until well after the film came out that I finally saw the opening. If nothing else, I can use the film music as a handy mnemonic for how many times the word “Mad” appears in the title. Saul Bass did the title animation \*\*Around the World in Eighty Days\*\* -- animation in the extensive closing titles also by Saul Bass, but it's blocked by Warner Brothers so you can't watch it. Again, the theme music by Victor Yound has a significant cadence that "around the world in eighty days" perfectly fits into. Here’s the sequencd as series of stills: [http://annyas.com/screenshots/updates/saul-bass-around-the-world-in-eighty-days-title-sequence-1956/](http://annyas.com/screenshots/updates/saul-bass-around-the-world-in-eighty-days-title-sequence-1956/) Any others? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/2 "2019-01-31T14:14:20Z")
[The Hogan’s Heroes March.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnqJHorpOkk) [The Andy Griffith Show theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3OBiFflHI) The song “Around The World” was pretty popular, IIRC. Trek lore is that Roddenberry scribbled some bullshit lyrics so he could grab half the music royalties from Courage. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/3 "2019-01-31T14:18:56Z")
I’ll bet there’s a sizable amount of people who didn’t see the movie MASH or play piano who were surprised to find the theme has lyrics ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/4 "2019-01-31T14:22:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Around the World in Eighty Days** – animation in the extensive closing titles also by Saul Bass, but it’s blocked by Warner Brothers so you can’t watch it. Again, the theme music by Victor Yound has a significant cadence that “around the world in eighty days” perfectly fits into “[Around the World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFkaPz9emmc)” sung by Bing Crosby ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/5 "2019-01-31T14:23:03Z")
The [Bob Newhart Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOeRSfzkV0E)? (relevant part around 1:05) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/6 "2019-01-31T14:23:48Z")
The lyrics to “Suicide Is Painless” were written by director Robert Altman’s 14 year old son Mike. He’s made far more money in royalties from the movie than his father. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/7 "2019-01-31T14:25:06Z")
[“I love Lucy, and she loves me …”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fn7PKzf5tk) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/8 "2019-01-31T14:34:03Z")
On an appearance on NPR’s _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me…_, Dick van Dyke revealed - and sang - the lyrics to the Dick Van Dyke Show theme tune, written by Morrie Amsterdam. It was neat, but the title of the show was not included. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/9 "2019-01-31T14:37:34Z")
[Dick Van Dyke singing the lyrics.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-S3nJuy-AI) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/10 "2019-01-31T15:27:49Z")
In a lot of those cases the lyrics were written after the fact, sometimes long after, like Manilow’s lyrics to Bandstand Boogie. That is, the words were written after the song had been presented as an instrumental. There’s a video of Carol O’Connor singing the ending song to All in the Family, and he explains that he didn’t even notice the music until a few episodes had been aired, then he asked the composer for permission to write lyrics. So it could be argued that the lyrics aren’t really “official” in those cases. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/11 "2019-01-31T15:33:47Z")
I think the following were all originally instrumental and then subsequently adapted for voice with lyrics. “Theme from Star Wars (Main Title”), sung by [Carrie Fisher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hH8rxarVG8&feature=youtu.be&t=5485) and from _The Star Wars Holiday Special_. “Somewhere, My Love”, adapted from “Lara’s Theme (Theme from Dr Zhivago)”. Various vocal versions, including [Andy Williams’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrRMQsnSvAE). “Speak Softly, Love”, adapted from “Love Theme from The Godfather”, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQBW6G0hSrs) sung by Andy Williams again. “He Was Beautiful”, adapted from “Cavatina (aka Theme from The Deerhunter)”, with lyrics and vocals by [Cleo Laine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQnxfTDVizU). ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/12 "2019-01-31T16:00:35Z")
The title music for [House](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4h-zAV0yP8) is actually the start of the song [“Teardrop”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7K72X4eo_s) by British Trip-Hop group Massive Attack, in case anybody in here doesn’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/13 "2019-01-31T16:16:10Z")
But I see that’s not what OP asked. And what the OP asked is actually my thing, so here it goes: Na-nah-nanananah-nanananah- nanananah- Gameofthroooones. Madmen- madmen- madmen- madmen maaaaaad meeeen Duh daaah dududududahhh- welcome to The Office ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/14 "2019-01-31T16:36:00Z")
Well, in that case, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/15 "2019-01-31T16:39:05Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > I think the following were all originally instrumental and then subsequently adapted for voice with lyrics. > > “Theme from Star Wars (Main Title”), sung by [Carrie Fisher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hH8rxarVG8&feature=youtu.be&t=5485) and from _The Star Wars Holiday Special_. > > “Somewhere, My Love”, adapted from “Lara’s Theme (Theme from Dr Zhivago)”. Various vocal versions, including [Andy Williams’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrRMQsnSvAE). > > “Speak Softly, Love”, adapted from “Love Theme from The Godfather”, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQBW6G0hSrs) sung by Andy Williams again. > > “He Was Beautiful”, adapted from “Cavatina (aka Theme from The Deerhunter)”, with lyrics and vocals by [Cleo Laine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQnxfTDVizU). the way Disney took Tchaikovsky’s _Grande valse villageoise_ from his ballet_Sleeping Beauty_ and turned it into “Once Upon a Dream”? Or the way we turned _Treulich geführt_ from Wagner’s _Lohengrin_ into “Here Comes the Bride” \* (“Bridal Chorus,” the other common title, doesn’t fit the music)? \*According to Dave Barry, you can’t help but sing the next line as "Big, Fat, and Wide\> ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/16 "2019-01-31T19:39:21Z")
It’s probably worth pointing out that the Looney Tunes music has a title and lyrics – **The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down**. Daffy Duck actually sings it in an early cartoon. It was used in _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_, too (Judge Doom even reads the title off a record). > **[The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merry-Go-Round_Broke_Down)** > > "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is a song written in 1937 by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin and published by Harms Inc., New York. It is best known as the theme tune for the Looney Tunes cartoon series and Merrie Melodies reissued cartoon series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, used from 1937 to 1969. > The original version contains an introductory verse that leads up to the main part of the song, as a young man tells of his date with a young woman, in which they go to an amusement park and find... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/17 "2019-01-31T19:43:36Z")
Here’s a bunch of other TV show themes I didn’t know had lyrics – \*\*The Munsters The Odd Couple Bewitched I Dream of Jeannie Leave it to Beaver \*\* (!!) and **The Tonight Show** They also give the lyrics, mentioned above, to **The Dick Van Dyke Show** [https://www.writerofpop.net/2018/07/tv-show-theme-songs-lyrics-you-didnt.html](https://www.writerofpop.net/2018/07/tv-show-theme-songs-lyrics-you-didnt.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/18 "2019-01-31T19:45:07Z")
…aaaaaannd here’s one for **Roseanne** > **[11 Famous TV Theme Songs That Secretly Have Lyrics](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31167/11-tv-theme-songs-secretly-have-lyrics)** > > Chances are, you've been humming these classic TV theme songs for years. Now you can get their lyrics stuck in your head, too. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/19 "2019-01-31T19:47:44Z")
An earlier thread that’s not perfectly coincident with this one, but covers much the same ground, mentioning lots of other TV show themes that had unexpected lyrics [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-704143.html](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-704143.html) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722/20 "2019-01-31T19:54:15Z")
If we’ve broken free of the TV/film restriction, there’s [Stars and Stripes Forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5bcpjUjLpU), lyrics by the same J.P. Sousa. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-instrumental-movie-or-tv-theme-has-lyrics/828722.md?page=2)