BEWARE OF EARWORMS

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Flower Moon
Anniversary - Boys' Clubs
Birthday - Malcolm X (civil rights activist)
Birthday - Pete Townsend (musician)
Youth and Sports Day (Turkey)
Victoria Day (Canada)

 

I have just procured a theme song.  It is one of my favorite TV theme songs ever, dammit, and I will tell you why.

 

But first, this also reminds me, I have a retraction to print here. A while back, I stated that my absolute favorite line in a theme song ever was from the old Transformers cartoon. The song goes like this:

 

Transformers!

More than meets the eye!

Transformers!

Robots in disguise!

AutobotswagetheirwartodestroytheevilforcesoftheDecepticons!

 

Don’t get me wrong. This is a fabulous song. That last line is 21 syllables long, which is about 15 syllables too many. The theme song does not accomplish this addition very gracefully at all. But it is following the very simple concept of those TV theme songs that try to tell you what’s to expect in the show, like those of Mystery Science Theater 3000 *, The Brady Bunch**, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,*** and for some reason those always amuse me—I like to see what kind of plot elements fit into an opener like that.

 

But I just procured the song that beats all of these. In the most amazing distillation ever, one that has made it famous for 40 years, it tells you exactly what to expect in the show with the following, unbeatable lyrics, which I reprint in their entirety:

 

BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN!

 

That, my friends, is the greatest theme song lyric ever written.

 

And now it’s on my iPod.

 

 

ALSO on my iPod: the old X-Men animated series theme song.

 

We really should not let me get anywhere near music downloads.

 

 

*“We’ll send him cheezy movies—the worst we can find, lalala …”

 

**“… till the one day when the lady met this fellow …”

 

***“They’re the world’s most fearsome fighting team! They’re heroes in the half-shell AND THEY’RE GREEN!”

Comments

[ninjakitten]

Good choices. And Batman is utterly classic. But my favourite is still:

Inspector Gadget!
Ooh ooh!
Inspector Gadget!

Inspector Gadget!
Ooh ooh!
Inspector Gadget!

Go, Gadget, go!
Go, Gadget, go!

Inspector Gadget!
Ooh ooh!
Inspector Gadget!

Insert awesome instrumentation yourself. ;)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Almost mentioned that one. Another truly awesome one.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

it is also impossible to drive the speed limit while listening to BATMAN!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

My brother has a whole playlist of speed limit defying songs. I'll have to ask him if he put this one on there after I sent it to him.

Get off my lawn, you damn kids!

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Ah youth...

You missed such classics as The Far out Space Nuts* and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters**.

*The spaceship is ready to chart the stars
To go where no one's ever gone
Flight preparations were almost made

Barney: Breakfast, Lunch, I said LUNCH, NOT LAUNCH!

Where in the world did the Spacenuts go
And how will they ever return
Now they got a home, where the strangest creatures roam
Honky's their to help them along

Step right up, take a look at the stars
You're leaving the world behind
Step right up, you won't believe your eyes
At what those Far Out Space Nuts find
At what those Far Out Space Nuts find

**Series/Season 1, Beginning:

Spoken:
Sigmund, you're a rotten sea monster
Sigmund you're through!
Scram, get outta here.

There's nothing like a day out on the beach,
When all it does is rain.
You need somebody else to make,
The Sun come out again.

When you find that special someone,
You never expected too.
It'll make you believe in magic,
It's a change of life for you.

Chorus:
Talk about, friends, friends, friends.
Knockin' at you're door, friends, friends, friends.
That's what friends are for,
Friends when you're young or old,
Everybody needs, friends, friends, friends.

Now, friends, friends, friends.
What's it all about? friends, friends, friends.
Can't live without,
Friends won't let you down,
You gotta have, friends, friends, friends.

I must admit my life has changed,
Since you came on the scene.
And everything is twice as nice,
If you know what I mean.

I can't change the way I feel,
And wouldn't if I could.
I never had someone before,
Who made me fell so good.

(repeat chorus)

Series/Season 2, Beginning:

Let me tell you a tale, a very strange tale
About two boys that were surfing one day
On a very weird beach around Deadman's Point
Where there are haunted sea caves they say
And strange sea monsters have been sighted there
When you're travelling in the area, beware, beware, beware, beware

Spoken:
Sigmund, you are a rotten sea monster
You're a disgrace to the family
Go out and scare a human or you're though
Get outta here

Meanwhile back on the beach
Johnny & Scott are combing in the rocks
Unaware that behind them Sigmund lurks
Prepared to give them a shock

BOO!
In total surprise the boys eye
This blob what can it be?
And then it groans and moves and lo
It's a monster from the sea

Now, Sigmund the Sea Monster and Johnny and Scott are friends
The finest of friends that ever can be on the land or on the sea
The finest of friends that ever can be on the land or on the sea

Ending:


You better run, you better hide
We gotta keep you out of sight
Be careful Sigmund.

Cover your tracks when you leave
Cause you know Zelda won't believe
Your friend is Sigmund.

Who ever heard of a friendly seamonster
Lovin and laughin his life away?

You better run, you better hide
We gotta keep you out of sight
Be careful Sigmund.

The other monsters put you down
cause you're not mean
And now we've found
A friend in Sigmund.

Who ever heard of a friendly seamonster
Lovin and laughin his life away?

The other monsters put you down
cause you're not mean
And now we've found
A friend in Sigmund.

He's alright
He's out of sight
He makes me smile
I like his style
I hope he stays awhile
And he's doin' fine
He's a friend of mine.


Sigmund featured Jody of Buffy and Jody of Family Affair. I was always a sucker for FA, as Brian Keith was in it ( I'd watch him in anything, I don't know why ). The premise was that Mr. French, the butler/nanny, played by Sebastian Cabbet, was more of a father than Keith was. Supposedly they travelled all around the world, but we never saw that, just hotel rooms. Very clever of them...
Jody did few musical numbers on the show, and it didn't survive him hitting puberty.

[(Anonymous)]

The X-men animated theme is unrivaled badassery.

[marajade893.livejournal.com]

Oops, 'twas me. But I'm sure anyone would agree. The X-men animated series was just all-around amazing.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

You forgot all the dananana nanananas.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

But are they lyrics or ad libs?

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

BTW, if you have the appropriate piratical gear, download a copy of the mashup of Electric Six's "Gay Bar" with the Neal Hefti Batman theme. It's glorious.

[kurupira.livejournal.com]

Did you ever see Clone High? I think it's another great example of plot encapsulation in a theme song:

"Way way back in the 1980s'
Secret government employees
Dug up famous guys and ladies
And made amusing genetic copies

Now the clones are sexy teens, now
They're gonna make it if they try
Loving, learning, sharing, judging
Time to laugh and shiver and cry!"

(There's more, but that's the important part)

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

Personally, I like the theme song to "The Nanny". Ok, so I like the show, too. So sue me.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a good one! Replete with silly animated sequence!

I admit I admire Fran Drescher just for being so herself. She's kinda cool. But I am not a huge fan of most sitcoms because of the way they're set up.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

*nods* I tend to be rather unimpressed with the "com" portion of most sitcoms. I do not, for example, find "Seinfeld" in any way humorous. Every once in a while, though, I just fall in love with a show for being charming-- like "The Nanny", or "Golden Girls". And then I get sucked into the actual storyline. I have to confess, Fran is my "fairy princess" fantasy in many ways-- the modern "My Fair Lady". I'm all about having some rich British guy fall in love with me ;)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I admit I like The Golden Girls (I'm so in love with Bea Arthur) and have a shameless soft spot for Full House. But I always get frustrated by the elaborate measures taken to make the miscommunications and jokes work. If they'd all just sit down and have one conversation, the entire 22 minutes of breaking and entering and the chicken suit and the fake gun and the crate of orange-flavored candy-canes that look like regular candy canes and the flight to Hong Kong wouldn't be necessary!

... Which is why I would make a really bad sitcom writer, I guess.