Monday, January 2, 2012

Forgotten TV Lyrics: The Love Boat

The #forgottentvlyrics to The Love Boat!
The song was written by Charles Fox (music) and Paul Williams (lyrics). It became the theme music of the popular American television series The Love Boat, broadcast between 1977 and 1986. Jones's version was used as the opening tune for most of the seasons, only to be replaced by Dionne Warwick's cover in the last one.
(From the Wikipedia article.)

This is one of the rare TV themes available at karaoke bars. I like to sing it, as it has a nice disco beat, with a lounge lizard style. (Nothing against Mr. Jones, it's just the way I sing it.)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

#ForgottenTVLyrics: An Explication

I've got a lot of eclectic musical tastes.
I love when marching bands cover popular music.
I can sing the aria to "What's Opera, Doc?"

...and...

I'm fascinated by television theme songs, especially those with lyrics, specifically those with lyrics which are rarely heard on television.

It started when "Cheers" went off the air.  One of the entertainment magazines featured the lyrics, which were never heard on air:
All those night when you've got no lights, 

The check is in the mail; 

And your little angel 

Hung the cat up by it's tail; 

And your third fiance didn't show; 

[...]

Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead; 

The morning's looking bright; 

And your shrink ran off to Europe, 
And didn't even write; 
And your husband wants to be a girl; 


WOW!  Those were pretty cool!  
Then I remembered that M*A*S*H had lyrics in the movie, which never aired on television because those lyrics were specific to a story in the movie.  

Then, in 1997, there was an official history book for Star Trek, to celebrate the 30th (sigh) anniversary of the series.  Inside, was the original sheet music to the theme song, WITH LYRICS!  (Roddenberry, in a money-grubbing move, added lyrics so he could earn half the royalties on the theme.  Alexander Courage was not pleased.)

It slowly snowballed from there, as I picked up trivia from various sources and found sheet music collections.

Thanks to YouTube and other resources, it's now less difficult to find the original recordings (on vinyl!) online.

Thus, in 2013, I created a hashtag #forgottentvlyrics, and began posting to social media.  Twitter and Facebook didn't have good indexing, so I placed everything on Google Plus.  Since then, I've realized, why not transfer everything here, so I can at least make a few pennies.  (And who knows how much longer Google Plus will remain viable?)

The following is a list of what I've found so far. As I copy posts over to here, I'll include links in the titles.  

One more note... I'm doing all this in 2015, but placing everything in 2012, which was empty of posts.  I don't want to clutter up my regular feed.  


The list (so far)
  1. The A*Team [full theme]
  2. Alfred Hitchcock Presents [full theme]
  3. All in the Family
  4. All In The Family [closing theme with lyrics!]
  5. American Bandstand
  6. The Andy Griffith Show
  7. Angie
  8. Baretta (Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow)
  9. Beverly Hills 90210 [no lyrics, just the full theme]
  10. Bewitched
  11. Buck Rogers in the 21st Century
  12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer [theme only]
  13. Charlie's Angels
  14. CHiPS [theme only, but a rockin' 12" version]
  15. Davy Crockett
  16. The Dick Van Dyke Show
  17. Duck Tales 
  18. The Dukes of Hazzard
  19. The Facts of Life
  20. The Fall Guy
  21. Flo
  22. Gilmore Girls
  23. The Greatest American Hero
  24. Gunsmoke
  25. Happy Days [alternate lyrics]
  26. Have Gun Will Travel
  27. Hogan's Heroes
  28. The Paper Chase
  29. I Dream of Jeannie
  30. I Love Lucy
  31. Joannie Loves Chachi
  32. Laverne & Shirley (Making Our Dreams Come True)
  33. Leave It To Beaver (The Toy Parade)
  34. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
  35. The Love Boat
  36. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  37. M*A*S*H
  38. Makin' It
  39. Malcolm in the Middle
  40. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  [I need a source!]
  41. Merrily We Roll Along (Merrie Melodies)  [I need a source!]
  42. The Merry Go Round Broke Down (Looney Tunes)
  43. Moonlighting
  44. The Munsters
  45. The Odd Couple
  46. Peter Gunn
  47. Star Trek
  48. Taxi [full theme]
  49. To Tell The Truth
  50. 21 Jump Street
  51. Welcome Back Kotter
  52. WKRP in Cincinnati
  53. Wonder Woman
  54. The Bill Cosby Show (Hicky Burr)
  55. Ironsides [theme only]
  56. The Untouchables [theme only]
  57. Route 66
  58. Naked City
  59. The Rogues [the previous four are by Nelson Riddle]
  60. Peter Gunn [alternate lyrics?]
  61. Mr. Lucky
  62. NBC Mystery Movie
  63. What's Happening!!
  64. Tic Tac Dough (1990 version)
  65. Once Is Not Enough
  66. Newhart
  67. Hotel
  68. Remington Steele
  69. Ripley's Believe It or Not [All by Henry Mancini]

That reminds me... I wonder how long the Dallas theme runs?  
That's got a nice disco beat as well!
Hmmm.... maybe I'll do a separate post on remixes!

WHEW!