# Theme songs that became more popular when repurposed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2018, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096 "2018-09-28T07:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/41 "2018-09-29T01:27:00Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > See Post #21. The Lark Representative at 30 seconds into that commercial is Barney Phillips, the guy most of us would know as the “Three-eyed Venusian” in the classic TZ episode “Will the Real Martian Please Stand up”. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/42 "2018-09-29T01:29:12Z")
I’m just old enough to remember the Marlboro theme song but not quite old enough to watch _The Magnificent Seven_ when it premiered. Very few people know what the song Solfeggio is. A few people might remember it as the Song of the Nairobi Trio from The Ernie Kovacs Show, most people remember it from the Colt 45 commercial. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/416o9b_pjQk/hqdefault.jpg "Ernie Kovacs - The Nairobi Trio "Solfeggio" - ABC Television Network Videotaped Version") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=416o9b_pjQk) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/43 "2018-09-29T01:39:46Z")
I don’t know if John Sebastien’s “Welcome Back” was repurposed, but the theme song to “Welcome Back Kotter” actually reached number one for a week. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/44 "2018-09-29T01:47:55Z")
Monty Norman’s song [Good Sign Bad Sign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EuzGhIyRQ)was re-purposed as the James Bond theme. Or at least the dum-diddy-dum, dum-dum-dum, dum-diddy-dum part. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/45 "2018-09-29T04:41:46Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > The Lark Representative at 30 seconds into that commercial is Barney Phillips, the guy most of us would know as the “Three-eyed Venusian” in the classic TZ episode “Will the Real Martian Please Stand up”. He was also Doc Kaiser on _ **12 O’Clock High** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/46 "2018-09-29T04:50:52Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Monty Norman’s song [Good Sign Bad Sign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EuzGhIyRQ)was re-purposed as the James Bond theme. Or at least the dum-diddy-dum, dum-dum-dum, dum-diddy-dum part. Laurie Johnson’s “The Shake” became the theme for _ **The Avengers** _. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/47 "2018-09-29T04:52:06Z")
“Ride of the Valkyries” isn’t exactly a theme song, but it sure got extra mileage from _Apocalypse Now_. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/48 "2018-09-29T05:02:42Z")
The _Mission Impossible_ theme song–after the TV show but just before the movies–made for a catchy jingle for some brand of salsa back around 1990. There was an album in the late 90s called _Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits,_ where then-hot musicians covered the theme songs of bygone cartoon favorites. The Ramones’ “Spider-Man” was included, but was already kind of a hit from one of their earlier albums. Other great inclusions by Liz Phair, Frente and the Butthole Surfers. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/49 "2018-09-29T05:16:38Z")
“Procession of the Nobles” by Rimsky-Korsakov was the theme song for _Agronsky and Company_ (the news talk show that became _The McLaughlin Group_ after Martin Agronsky died). I grew up in the DC area and the show might have been a bigger deal there than nationally. I can’t find much about the clip online, but recall it was performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/50 "2018-09-29T05:34:28Z")
Aram Khachaturian’s “Adagio from Spartacus” became the theme for the BBC series _ **The Onedin Line** _. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FFeTP10DnEM/hqdefault.jpg "The Onedin Line (Alternative Orchestra version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFeTP10DnEM) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/51 "2018-09-29T08:33:41Z")
Not sure if you’d call it a “theme” in its original form, but a tune from Leonard Bernstein’s musical _Candide_ became the theme to Dick Cavett’s 1970s TV talk show. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/52 "2018-10-01T12:42:30Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t know if John Sebastien’s “Welcome Back” was repurposed, but the theme song to “Welcome Back Kotter” actually reached number one for a week. > > Weird. “Welcome Back” was written for the show - in fact, they changed the name of the show from “Kotter” to “Welcome Back, Kotter” because the theme turned out to be so catchy. [Welcome Back (John Sebastian song) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Back_(John_Sebastian_song)) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/53 "2018-10-01T13:29:59Z")
Didn’t Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer get a push when it was used in The Sting? ---
**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:** [October 1, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/54 "2018-10-01T14:00:49Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Didn’t Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer get a push when it was used in The Sting? It did, but it was not written as the theme song to anything. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/55 "2018-10-02T06:15:33Z")
For years I only knew “Pomp and Circumstance” and Randy “Macho Man” Savage’s theme song. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/56 "2018-10-02T19:07:10Z")
This one’s a little more obscure. When I was a kid, the local ABC 10 o’clock newscast in Chicago used an instrumental opening theme. Years later, the first time I saw _Cool Hand Luke_, I was surprised to hear [the Channel 7 News thene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOWkPk2ETXc) as background music! (I’m pretty sure the movie came first.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/57 "2018-10-02T20:27:39Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Now there’s a coincidence! Just yesterday, I happened to catch part of a dreadful old western called “Five Bloody Graves” (yes, of course John Carradine’s in it). > > You can watch it on [dailymotion here,](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2q7mti) but don’t. Just skip ahead to 32:10, which is about where I came in. I thought I recognised the music, but it took me a few seconds to realise it was the [theme for ITN News At Ten](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ir2_u50I8Ck) — absolutely iconic in the UK. > > I have no idea how that obscure bit of soundtack of an obscure film came to be repurposed for a major nightly news programme. Actually, the tune predates either of them. It’s a library piece called [The Awakening by Johnny Pearson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCVYQKHbp4s). Excerpt starts at 3:29. I imagine it was used in several films. News At Ten started using it in 1967, Five Bloody Graves was made in 1969. [Wiki on News at Ten theme.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_News_at_Ten#Theme_music_and_opening_sequence) ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/58 "2018-10-03T00:05:51Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > This one’s a little more obscure. When I was a kid, the local ABC 10 o’clock newscast in Chicago used an instrumental opening theme. > Years later, the first time I saw _Cool Hand Luke_, I was surprised to hear [the Channel 7 News thene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOWkPk2ETXc) as background music! (I’m pretty sure the movie came first.) [The movie was first.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21235958&postcount=6) 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/59 "2018-10-03T00:30:42Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was an album in the late 90s called _Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits,_ where then-hot musicians covered the theme songs of bygone cartoon favorites. The Ramones’ “Spider-Man” was included, but was already kind of a hit from one of their earlier albums. Other great inclusions by Liz Phair, Frente and the Butthole Surfers. This is one of my favorite CDs of all time. They weren’t Top 40 hot. Much more punk and college. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096/60 "2018-10-03T00:41:22Z")
“To Anacreon in Heaven” was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen’s club of amateur musicians in London. The tune became a bit more famous when it was re-purposed to support the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner.” So, yeah, our national anthem is a filk song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theme-songs-that-became-more-popular-when-repurposed/822096.md?page=4)