Best Iconic American TV Theme Songs and Music

By Raymond Lockley

Some people have said that a great television show has to have a great opening to immediately pull in the viewer, and that a key component of that is great music. I think we can cite many examples of that not being true: great shows with little music or poor music, and lousy shows with great music. But still, there is something to be said for a memorable musical opening. Some opening music even transcended catchy and became truly iconic--part of the American pop culture.

Here are my personal lists of iconic TV theme music and songs. (To clarify, I've divided "songs" which have lyrics out from "music" which do not.) Beyond my usual arbitrary judgement, the criteria for being considered great and iconic are that it must be:

instantly recognizable
immediately associated with the show (i.e. not famous in its own right)
frequently sung/hum along with
something that people will actually go out a buy
[and for songs] something that people will memorize all the lyrics

So, while there is some really great and well-loved music on television (such as that on The West Wing and Hill Street Blues, not everything that is fine music is iconic. Here are my lists of iconic TV theme songs and TV theme music...

Iconic American TV Theme Songs from the Classic Age of Television

The "Modern Classics":

Honorable Mention:

Batman (which is fairly minimalistic on words--not counting the iconic "Nuh nuh nuh nuh" repetitions)
The "Davy Crockett" episodes for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
All in the Family (which--let's face it--is not sung so as to be easy on the ears, but qualifies every other way)
The Beverly Hillbillies closing theme song

Iconic American TV Theme Music

Honorable Mention:

The Lone Ranger (which many will insist is better known from Rossini's opera, "William Tell")
"Bugler's Dream" (which has been the theme music for the television coverage of the Olympic Games since 1968)

Special Mention:

It's not an American show, even though it has been shown on American public TV channels for decades. And there are some people who really know it as a great piece of American music in its own right--and in fact, some college graduating classes have marched in to "Pomp and Circumstance", but have marched out to this music with a straight face for over a century. But it is such a great piece, and iconic in its own way, I cannot fail to mention this 1893 march by John Phillips Souza. It's... "The Liberty Bell", the much-loved opening theme music (with flatulent foot splat appended) for Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Iconic TV Theme Music That Has Words (But You Might Not Have Known It)

Star Trek: Theme from Star Trek

Yes, a few of us rabid Trekkers (not Trekkies!) know this piece of trivia, but Gene Roddenberry wrote words for this classic instrumental piece with the iconic opening French horn solo that was composed and conducted by Alexander Courage, (who also composed music for those other 1960s classic sci-fi series, Lost In Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea). The words are never heard or referred to in the TV episodes or movies. However, they were published in the book, The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. Here are the horribly schmaltzy words which go with the beautiful Star Trek theme music:

Beyond
The rim of the star-light
My love
Is wand'ring in star-flight.
I know
He'll find in star-clustered reaches
Love,
Strange love a star-woman teaches.
I know
His journey ends never.
His star trek
Will go on forever.
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.

MAS*H: Song from MASH (Suicide Is Painless)

This cheerful instrumental opening for the TV show M*A*S*H actually comes from its movie predecessor, MASH, and was recorded to a new arrangement to make it upbeat (and shorter). Fans of the movie will remember it as not only the theme music, but as the doleful, guitar-accompanied musical piece sung in the faked assisted suicide scene for the 4077th's dentist, known as the Painless Pole. The music was written by veteran jazz musician Johnny Mandel, whose career included both a Grammy and an Academy Award. The lyrics were written by Mike Altman, the 14 year old son of the movie's director, Robert Altman (who told Johnny Carson that his son earned far more in royalties on the song than he earned for directing the movie).. The song was made even more popular by the long-running TV show, and sold lots of sheet music:

Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be,
The pains that are withheld for me.
I realize and I can see... That

[Chorus]:

Suicide is painless,
It brings on many changes,
And I can take or leave it if I please.

I try to find a way to make
All our little joys relate
Without that ever-present hate,
But now I know that it's too late, and

[Chorus]

The game of life is hard to play.
I'm gonna lose it anyway.
The losing card I'll someday lay.
So this is all I have to say: that

[Chorus]

The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I'm beat,
And to another give my seat,
For that's the only painless feat... 'Cause

[Chorus]

The sword of time will pierce our skins.
It doesn't hurt when it begins.
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin... But

[Chorus]

A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key.
"Is it to be or not to be?"
And I replied, "Oh, why ask me?"

'Cause suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please.
...And you can do the same thing if you choose.

Bonanza

Veteran devotees of the epic Western show know that the words to the theme song were not a part of the opening (or closing) of Bonanza. However, they may also recall that there was one amusing episode where Ben and the Cartwright boys went into town and rip-roarin' drunk; and as they rode back to the Ponderosa, they did an a capella rendition of the words. [I found a posting on YouTube that includes excerpts of that scene. Can you find one that has only that clip?] Wikipedia has an extensive section on the song, mentioning that a rendition was first recorded by country and western great Johnny Cash, and that later, series star < href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA-PdP4k4Xw">Lorne Greene released an album with his cover. The words were not always the same from artist to artist, but here is one version:

We chased lady luck, 'til we finally struck Bonanza.
With a gun and a rope and a hat full of hope, planted a family tree.
We got hold of a pot of gold, Bonanza.
With a horse and a saddle, and a range full of cattle, how rich can a fellow be?

On this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name,
Fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim.
Here in the West, we're livin' the best, Bonanza.
If anyone fights any one of us, he's got a fight with me, Bonanza.

Hoss and Joe and Adam know every rock and pine,
no one works, fights, or eats, like those boys of mine.
Here we stand in the middle of a grand Bonanza.
With a gun and a rope and a hatful of hope, we planted our family tree,
we got hold of a potful of gold, Bonanza.

With a houseful of friends where the rainbow ends, how rich can a fellow be?
On this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name,
fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim.
Here in the west we're livin' the best Bonanza.

With the friendliest, fightingist, loving band, that ever set foot in the promised land,
and we're happier than them all.
That's why we call it Bonanza...Bonanza...Bonanza...

And here's another frequently found shorter set of lyrics:

We got a right to pick a little fight
Bonanza!
If anyone fights anyone of us
He's gotta fight with me!

We're not a one to saddle up and run,
Bonanza!
Anyone of us who starts a little fuss
knows he can count on me!

One for four
Four for one,
This we guarantee.

We got a right to pick a little fight
Bonanza!

And somewhere in my brain, I remember a fragment of a verse that says, "Find a pretty girl, give her a twirl: Bonanza!"

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