# TV theme song questions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** music
**Created:** [April 25, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510 "2025-04-25T22:43:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/1 "2025-04-25T22:43:39Z")
Ever wondered exactly what was being said in the theme songs of your favorite shows? I know that today we can look up the answers online but that wasn’t true back when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. Please chime in with your “what were they saying?” theme songs.
Here’s one that’s always confused me:
In the _Diff’rent Strokes_ theme song is it “they got nothing but their genes” (because they’re brothers) or “nothing but their jeans” (because they’re poor)?
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/2 "2025-04-25T22:50:26Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#):
>
> Here’s one that’s always confused me:
> In the _Diff’rent Strokes_ theme song is it “they got nothing but their genes” (because they’re brothers) or “nothing but their jeans” (because they’re poor)?
Heh, interesting question (and post). I always took it as “jeans”, but now that you mention it, it’d be cool to think the songwriter was doing a clever play on words. But I don’t think it’s that deep.
Can’t think of my own example right now, but I’ll chime in later if I do.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/3 "2025-04-25T23:00:14Z")
From Wikipedia:
A Yiddish saying explains that “a _schlemiel_ is somebody who often spills his soup and a _schlimazel_ is the person it lands on”.
You’re on your own for “hasenpfeffer incorporated”.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/4 "2025-04-25T23:13:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> A Yiddish saying explains that “a _schlemiel_ is somebody who often spills his soup and a _schlimazel_ is the person it lands on”.
Am I right in guessing Laverne was a _schlemiel_ and Shirley was a _schlimazel_?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/5 "2025-04-25T23:25:47Z")
For years, I thought the _ **Top Cat** _ theme went “Close friends get to call him TC, _or by name it’s Worthington T_.” This made _no_ sense to me when I was six or seven, but I kept thinking it anyway.
It wasn’t until I saw it in print around 1980 that I learned it’s “_pro-vi-ding it’s with dig-ni-ty_.”
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/6 "2025-04-25T23:26:20Z")
Two lines in the _All in the Family_ theme song:
The first line “Boy, the way Glenn Miller played”. I heard “Boy the wiggling millipede”. I thought it was the name of a dance.
And “Gee our old LaSalle ran great”. I couldn’t get this one; I heard “Gee are all the sallan great” but I knew that wasn’t right.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/7 "2025-04-25T23:27:10Z")
The way I heard it, it’s “beer,” not “soup.”
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/8 "2025-04-25T23:37:24Z")
> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> And “Gee our old LaSalle ran great”. I couldn’t get this one; I heard “Gee are all the sallan great” but I knew that wasn’t right.
That line was so notoriously misheard that in later seasons they re-recorded it to be almost comically slow and over-pronounced.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/9 "2025-04-25T23:41:11Z")
The closing lyrics to **WKRP In Cincinnati** are not words at all, the singer made up pseudo-words in the studio.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/10 "2025-04-25T23:42:06Z")
I used to have a copy of the _ **American Bandstand** _ theme, sung by Barry Manilow.
In more than one place, it’s hard to understand what it is he’s saying, but I spent hours listening to this part and still couldn’t tell what it was until I saw it in print:
_The singers’ croonin’_
_He ain’t the greatest, but, gee_
_My baby’s swoonin’_
_In front of all of TV_
_So if you tune in_
_You’ll see my baby and me_
_On the Bandstand (Bandstand)._
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXWf2_H0FI)
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/11 "2025-04-25T23:42:56Z")
And then Plissken tore up the tape! 😄
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/12 "2025-04-25T23:46:01Z")
I was so happy when I heard the Gilligan’s Island theme song added “_the Professor and Maryann_”
I thought they were dissing them.
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### Author:  [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/13 "2025-04-25T23:53:46Z")
Always wondered what the lyrics to The Gary Shandling Show theme were.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/14 "2025-04-25T23:57:43Z")
That was done on the orders of Bob Denver himself, since he thought they were indeed dissed by being called “and the rest.”
The tittles were being redone in color anyway, and Denver thought they deserved to be mentioned by name. (They were also entitled to pay raises at the start of the second season, which they got.)
When the producers pushed back, Bob said “Fine, then move me from the start of the titles to the end,” which he could do under the terms of his contract. The producers caved in, so “and the rest” became “the Professor and Mary Ann.”
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/15 "2025-04-26T00:13:03Z")
And y’know, it’s not like we’re talking about a whole boatload of people (if you’ll pardon the expression), “…and the rest” is _two friggin’ people!_ How hard is it to squeeze two more people in?
Maybe they didn’t know what “role” to assign Mary Ann in the theme song (“Kansas farm girl” was probably too many syllables) so they just said screw it, it’s “and the rest”.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/16 "2025-04-26T00:13:57Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> The closing lyrics to **WKRP In Cincinnati** are not words at all, the singer made up pseudo-words in the studio.
Which were supposed to be only temporary but TPTB _loved_ 'em and said, essentially, “don’t bother!”
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/17 "2025-04-26T00:16:26Z")
Works for me — they’re great!
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/18 "2025-04-26T00:23:55Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#):
>
> I know that today we can look up the answers online
Oh really?
As a kid I was bothered by not knowing what they were saying in the theme to this cartoon, particularly the last 5 seconds. As an adult in 2025, with the assistance of the whole internet and deep learning AI, we can now confidently say the answer is: fuck knows.
> **[The Little Green Man Intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Z3BufXDAw%2F)**
>
> The Little Green Man was a cartoon based on stories from Matthew Smith and which voiced by Jon Pertwee.It followed the adventures of Skeets, Greeny, Zoom Zoo...
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/19 "2025-04-26T00:26:10Z")
Oh, that’s just awful on so many levels.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-theme-song-questions/1017510/20 "2025-04-26T00:31:58Z")
The story I heard (maybe on this very board) was that the initial theme song was composed before the full cast of characters was figured out. So the Professor and Mary Ann weren’t slighted or dissed, they just didn’t make the cut.
As @terentii pointed out, kudos to Bob Denver to fight the status quo after that, and get them included.
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