Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
Speaker 1: and iHeartRadio. Guess well, will what's that?
Speaker 2: Mango?
Speaker 1: So I have been practicing mentalism.
Speaker 2: I hate to say this, but I actually find that
Speaker 2: hard to believe.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna prove it to you so I can make
Speaker 1: you and everyone listening to this think of the same
Speaker 1: word at the same time. All Right, I'm ready, Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. Who are you gonna call?
Speaker 2: Ghostbusters? I mean, that's funny, but I don't think that
Speaker 2: counts as mentalism. Mango.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. It just really proves how iconic the
Speaker 1: song is. But apparently the Ghostbuster's theme song was difficult
Speaker 1: for composer Ray Parker Junior to write. And why is
Speaker 1: that Well, for one very specific reason. He had trouble
Speaker 1: figuring out a way to fit the word ghostbusters into
Speaker 1: the lyrics. It turns out it's a pretty weird word
Speaker 1: to put in a song starting with what are you
Speaker 1: gonna rhyme with Ghostbusters? Lackluster?
Speaker 2: I get a feather duster insurance adjuster, Like. It feels
Speaker 2: like he had a few options there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but none of those are going to get people
Speaker 1: hyped at a party. But According to Ray Parker Junior,
Speaker 1: the director Ivan Rerightman was adamant that the word ghostbusters
Speaker 1: being the lyrics. Apparently, the music itself came pretty easy.
Speaker 1: When Parker joined the project, the movie was in the
Speaker 1: editing stage with I Want a New Drug by Huey
Speaker 1: Lewis as a placeholder theme song, so Parker created a
Speaker 1: track with a similar riff, but he just couldn't figure
Speaker 1: out how to sing the word ghostbusters in a catchy way,
Speaker 1: and he was actually down to the wire with the
Speaker 1: deadline to get this done. Finally, inspiration struck when he
Speaker 1: remembered that in the movie the guys have a commercial
Speaker 1: with their phone number, and that led to this undeniable line,
Speaker 1: who you Gonna Call Ghostbusters? Which I will now have
Speaker 1: stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
Speaker 2: But I'm not complaining.
Speaker 1: Well, get used to the feeling, because today we're uncovering
Speaker 1: some real earworms. We've got nine catchy facts about theme songs,
Speaker 1: so let's dive in.
Speaker 2: Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm
Speaker 2: Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
Speaker 2: friend Mangesh hot Ticket. And there on the other side
Speaker 2: of the booth. Wait, where did where did Dylan go?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I think I hear that song
Speaker 1: Return of.
Speaker 2: The Mac in my earphones. Okay, yeah, he's actually walking
Speaker 2: into Return of the Mac like it's his own personal
Speaker 2: theme songkh He's so smooth. That's our paler introducer Dylan.
Speaker 1: That song is catchy, and I'm also really glad he
Speaker 1: returned to the book.
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too. We need this episode recorded. And actually,
Speaker 2: to bring it back to your incredible mentalism trick, my
Speaker 2: next theme song has a similar widespread impact. It's the
Speaker 2: one that starts in West Philadelphia ring a bell.
Speaker 1: There born and Raise exactly.
Speaker 2: It's from the Fresh Prince of bel Air. And here's
Speaker 2: what's funny. The show almost didn't have that iconic wrap
Speaker 2: because executive producer Quincy Jones wrote a whole different song
Speaker 2: for the theme. But when Will Smith heard it, he
Speaker 2: hated it.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine telling Quincy Jones that you don't like
Speaker 1: something he wrote.
Speaker 2: I have never told Quincy Jones that. But he had
Speaker 2: produced so many hits, from Sinatra's Fly Me to the
Speaker 2: Moon to Ray Charles in the Heat of the Night
Speaker 2: to We Are the World, so many of Michael Jackson's
Speaker 2: hits from bad to thriller, don't stop to you gain enough?
Speaker 2: I mean Will Smith knew Quincy was a very big deal.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Of course, Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff had won
Speaker 2: a Grammy in nineteen eighty nine for parents Just Don't Understand,
Speaker 2: which I think puts them in exact same selon right.
Speaker 2: So this was Smith's first major acting job. So as
Speaker 2: he was telling Jazzy Jeff he couldn't speak up about
Speaker 2: the songs, Jazzy Jeff came up with a different solution.
Speaker 2: He said, why don't we try recording our own version
Speaker 2: of a theme song?
Speaker 1: So much humors? Yeah? I know.
Speaker 2: So in a later interview, Jeff explained that Will Smith
Speaker 2: often struggled with developing a concept for a song, but
Speaker 2: once the concept was there, like in this case, the
Speaker 2: plot of the show, it was easier for him to
Speaker 2: write the lyrics. So it actually came together really quickly.
Speaker 1: And how does Quincy Jones react to all of this?
Speaker 2: So, according to Smith, when he played it for Jones,
Speaker 2: he said, quote, that's good. Mine's a piece of You
Speaker 2: can use your mentalism to fill in the blank. So
Speaker 2: the song was approved and just in the Nick of
Speaker 2: time jazz. Jeff remembers there being just three weeks between
Speaker 2: recording the theme song demo and the day the show
Speaker 2: actually premiered.
Speaker 1: That is incredible. Well, I think we can give Quincy
Speaker 1: some consolation with this next one, because even if he
Speaker 1: didn't write the Fresh Prince song, he did did write
Speaker 1: the Austin Powers theme and he did it in just
Speaker 1: twenty minutes.
Speaker 2: I actually didn't remember I had anything to do with that,
Speaker 2: and that is unbelievably.
Speaker 1: Fast, truly, and it's a piece with so many parts.
Speaker 1: There are flutes, trombone, drums, and they all add so
Speaker 1: much character throughout the track. The song is called Soul
Speaker 1: bossa Nova. I love that, but he didn't write it
Speaker 1: for the movie. Jones actually wrote this piece way back
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two, so that's over three decades before
Speaker 1: Mike Myers danced to it in the opening scene of
Speaker 1: Austin Powers. The song is really a product of its
Speaker 1: time though. Bossa Nova was a trendy genre of Brazilian
Speaker 1: music in the early sixties. And I didn't know this before,
Speaker 1: but the term means new thing or new style.
Speaker 2: Which I guess could also describe Mike Myer's comedy in
Speaker 2: the nineteen nineties. But what set this new style apart well.
Speaker 1: The bossonova genre was defined by its quieter sound compared
Speaker 1: to the traditional samba. It was rhythmically complex and this
Speaker 1: jazzy style, but it usually featured flute and saxophones. Quincy
Speaker 1: Jones had spent time in Brazil during this Boston Nova
Speaker 1: movement and he got inspired, so he wrote Soul Bosonova
Speaker 1: soon after he left the country. He'd eventually make a
Speaker 1: self proclaimed fortune on the song, but that almost didn't happen.
Speaker 1: In his autobiography, Jones writes about a failed tour of
Speaker 1: Europe where his all star band was incredibly successful, but
Speaker 1: the budgeting was terrible and he calls it an economic disaster.
Speaker 1: He said the tour taught him the difference between music
Speaker 1: and the music business, and he had to actually sell
Speaker 1: his music catalog to make up for the losses. But
Speaker 1: as he made money, he bought back the rights to
Speaker 1: his song for one hundred five thousand dollars, a price
Speaker 1: seven times higher than he sold him for. But as
Speaker 1: Quincy Jones put it, quote that song, it won't go away.
Speaker 1: Mike Myers used it for the themes of Austin Powers films.
Speaker 1: It was also used in the movie The Pawnbroker and
Speaker 1: a Woody Allen film, Take the Money and Run. But
Speaker 1: perhaps most importantly, it was the theme song for a
Speaker 1: popular Canadian game show called Definition that ran from nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy four to nineteen eighty nine, which is how he
Speaker 1: really made his money on this song, and it's also
Speaker 1: where young Mike Myers.
Speaker 2: First heard it.
Speaker 1: By the way, the piano player on the track is
Speaker 1: Leilo Schiffrin, who wrote the Mission Impossible theme song, which
Speaker 1: I know is on your list.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, spoilers, stopped piking my list, but yes, the
Speaker 2: Mission Impossible theme song was written by Argentinian jazz pianist
Speaker 2: Leilo Schiffrin. This was in nineteen sixty six, and this
Speaker 2: song is known for its unique use of a five
Speaker 2: to four time signature. I think we can all hear
Speaker 2: it in our heads. But the notes go from two
Speaker 2: long beats to two short beats and then that repeats.
Speaker 2: Of course, well, those long and short notes can actually
Speaker 2: be translated into Mars code as dash dash dot dot. Now,
Speaker 2: in Morse code M is two dashes and I is
Speaker 2: two dots, so the song actually spells out m I
Speaker 2: that is.
Speaker 1: Really cool, and it's kind of like an easter egg
Speaker 1: in music notes exactly.
Speaker 2: But also that rhythm and those notes make it very identified,
Speaker 2: which is basically Schiffrin nailing the assignment.
Speaker 1: I think, why why is that? Well?
Speaker 2: When the show's creator, Bruce Geller called Schiffrin to ask
Speaker 2: him to write the song, he had a very detailed request.
Speaker 2: He said he was looking for something that when a
Speaker 2: viewer went to the kitchen to get a soda, if
Speaker 2: they heard the theme music, they would immediately know that
Speaker 2: Mission Impossible was playing on TV.
Speaker 1: I love that. That's how he was thinking about it,
Speaker 1: and obviously that's what theme songs do. It's still true today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Schiffrin gained some pretty high profile fans for it. So,
Speaker 2: for example, he went on to score Bruce Lee's Enter
Speaker 2: the Dragon. Lee requested him personally because he liked listening
Speaker 2: to the Mission Impossible soundtrack while he was working out.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of Bruce Lee just like listening
Speaker 1: to the Mission Impossible soundtrack over and over, punching and kicking. Well,
Speaker 1: oddly enough, my next theme song also has a hidden
Speaker 1: message in it, and I want to tell you about it.
Speaker 1: But first a little break. Welcome back to Part Time Genius,
Speaker 1: where we're counting down nine facts about some of our
Speaker 1: favorite theme songs. If you like what you're hearing, be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app, and please
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review. We love, love, love
Speaker 1: hearing from you.
Speaker 2: All right, well, speaking of things we love to hear,
Speaker 2: I'm curious what's your next fact?
Speaker 1: So if you've ever wondered what's going on with the
Speaker 1: Frasier theme song, first of all, you are not alone,
Speaker 1: and second, I have answers. So if you're called a
Speaker 1: theme song, there's a line that goes toss salads and
Speaker 1: scrambled eggs have a combination that no one has ever
Speaker 1: ordered or wanted to eat together. And yet it's in
Speaker 1: the intro to one of the most beloved nineties sitcoms.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to man, I never understood what that
Speaker 2: was about, so apparently there's some metaphor built into it.
Speaker 2: The composer of the song is Bruce Miller, and the
Speaker 2: producer has asked him to create something jazzy and play
Speaker 2: him this Joni Mitchell song for inspiration. They also didn't
Speaker 2: want a song to reference psychiatry, psychology, or really anything
Speaker 2: specific about the plot of the show. I guess unlike
Speaker 2: Fresh Prince.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of the opposite. But Miller went to
Speaker 1: his friend Darryl Finnissy to write the lyrics, and Finishy
Speaker 1: sent back the version We Know and Love Today with
Speaker 1: all that like toss salads and scrambled eggs lines. He
Speaker 1: used those foods as a veiled reference to Fraser's patients,
Speaker 1: things that were quote mixed up, and the rest of
Speaker 1: the lyrics have meaning as well. I hear the blues
Speaker 1: of Colin. Those are obviously Fraser's patients calling into his
Speaker 1: radio show and he's got them pegged, which is how
Speaker 1: he can help them through their problems. And yet those
Speaker 1: toss solads and scrambled eggs calling again at the end
Speaker 1: of the song. That's you know, the callers still calling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I really thought those lyrics were just
Speaker 2: kind of nonsense and more creating a vibe or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, me too. And another interesting tibit is that Bruce
Speaker 1: Miller wanted meltor Mae to sing the theme song, but
Speaker 1: Kelsey Grammer told the show's producers he wanted to sing it,
Speaker 1: and obviously Grammar got the gig.
Speaker 2: Yeah, huh, that's pretty fun.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to one up your old sitcom theme song.
Speaker 2: I'm going even older Mango to the theme the Gilligan's Island,
Speaker 2: written by show's creator and producer Sherwood Schwartz with George
Speaker 2: wil who also wrote the song It's the most wonderful
Speaker 2: time of the year. As most of our older listeners
Speaker 2: will know, the theme song was a TV classic, using
Speaker 2: a sea shanty style to describe how Gilligan and the
Speaker 2: gang they got stranded on this island after what was
Speaker 2: supposed to be just a three hour tour, of course,
Speaker 2: but there were actually different versions over the years. In fact,
Speaker 2: the original Gilligan's Island theme didn't even mention Professor or
Speaker 2: Mary Anne. Can you imagine this?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean those are pretty big characters to leave out.
Speaker 1: So how did this happen?
Speaker 2: Well, the story goes that it was because of actress
Speaker 2: Tina Luise's contract. She played Ginger the movie star, and
Speaker 2: apparently one of the details in her contract was that
Speaker 2: she would be named last in the credits. So the
Speaker 2: song finished with the movie and the rest without any
Speaker 2: mention of the Professor or Mary Anne. Sherwood Schwartz wrote
Speaker 2: a book about his time working on Gilligan's Island, and
Speaker 2: while he didn't exactly confirm that fact, he did write
Speaker 2: that quote. The characters had to be introduced in a
Speaker 2: certain order because of contractual obligations. But before season two,
Speaker 2: the actor who played Gilligan, Bob Denver, requested the other
Speaker 2: two cast mates be added to the song, and of
Speaker 2: course they were, but Don Wells and Russell Johnson, who
Speaker 2: played Marianne and the Professor, seemed unbothered by the original emission.
Speaker 2: According to Wells, they used to write each other notes
Speaker 2: signed love the rest.
Speaker 1: I love that. So jumping from the sixties to the seventies,
Speaker 1: I discovered a story of a theme song composer who
Speaker 1: also wanted to be the lead part in the project.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about Isaac Hayes, who composed the theme
Speaker 1: from Shaft. He was approached to score the movie in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, but he was more focused on whether
Speaker 1: he could play the lead role of private detective John Shaft.
Speaker 1: And he asked the director, Gordon Parks, if he could audition,
Speaker 1: and he kind of got this lukewarm response. The director said, okay,
Speaker 1: but remember you've got to do the music. According to Hayes,
Speaker 1: he went home and immediately started telling all his friends
Speaker 1: about how he's going to try out for the role,
Speaker 1: not even mentioning the actual job he had scoring the music.
Speaker 1: Within about two weeks he found out, however, that Richard
Speaker 1: Brountree was cast a Shaft and he'd just be doing
Speaker 1: the music.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess he overcame his disappointment and did
Speaker 2: make one of the most iconic theme songs of all time.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, it's pretty unforgettable and amazingly, the Shaft single
Speaker 1: and album hit number one. Hayes also earned an OSCAR
Speaker 1: for Best Original Song, making him only the third black
Speaker 1: artist to do so at the time. All right, well,
Speaker 1: let's go back to the small screen for the next one.
Speaker 1: So the Rembrandts are famously known for the Friends theme
Speaker 1: I'll be there for You. In fact, mentalf loss Rights
Speaker 1: quote when Friends producer Kevin S. Bright sent the pilot
Speaker 1: episode to the Rembrandts, its placeholder theme song was RIM's
Speaker 1: It's the end of the World.
Speaker 2: We know it and I feel fine. We all know
Speaker 2: that song very well, which he was hoping they could
Speaker 2: emulate if they took the gig. But before they could
Speaker 2: get to writing. Apparently, Friends co creator Marta Kaufman's husband
Speaker 2: Michael Scloff wrote the song and he got help with
Speaker 2: the words from Ali Willis, who co wrote Earth Wind
Speaker 2: and Fire's hit September, and then the rem Brands brandified it.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you knew that term.
Speaker 1: So now.
Speaker 2: At the time, the rem Brands were working on their
Speaker 2: third album, and because this was just a theme song
Speaker 2: for a TV show, the original version was only forty
Speaker 2: two seconds long, but as the song became a hit,
Speaker 2: the theme song did too. In fact, the band learned
Speaker 2: that a radio station in Nashville was playing the track
Speaker 2: on a loop just to satisfy the crazy call and
Speaker 2: listener demand. But the idea started spreading to other stations too,
Speaker 2: and other DJs got the same idea, So the band
Speaker 2: wrote an extended version to add it to their album,
Speaker 2: even though one hundred thousand copies of the album had
Speaker 2: already been printed. They decided to do this anyway, and
Speaker 2: because the producers of Friends had helped write the theme song,
Speaker 2: they were in the studio along with the Rembrandts working
Speaker 2: on that extended track. Pretty wild, isn't it now? First,
Speaker 2: the rem Brands were pretty annoyed by having to add
Speaker 2: the sitcom track to the album because it didn't really
Speaker 2: fit into the arc of the album that they had
Speaker 2: already made. But in the end they were pretty okay
Speaker 2: with it since it helped them sell a lot more copies.
Speaker 2: By the way, here's a little quiz for you. How
Speaker 2: many claps do you think are in the song after
Speaker 2: that first line? Hmm? It's kind of a trick question.
Speaker 2: What were you going to say?
Speaker 1: Though?
Speaker 2: For I think or okay, there are four claps then
Speaker 2: a drum comes in. But for anyone who was unsure,
Speaker 2: there's no need to be embarrassed. Apparently Matt LeBlanc didn't
Speaker 2: know how many claps to do when filming the recent
Speaker 2: Friends Reunion either.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of friends, that ties perfectly into my last
Speaker 1: fact about two unlikely friends brought together by a theme song.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about Paul Simon and baseball great Joe DiMaggio.
Speaker 1: And the song, of course is Missus Robinson, written by
Speaker 1: Simon for the film The Graduate. Now the song today's
Speaker 1: the lyric where have you Gone? Joe DiMaggio? Only Joe
Speaker 1: DiMaggio didn't know how to feel about that question at first,
Speaker 1: and a few years after it came out, Simon and
Speaker 1: Dmaggio ran into each other at a restaurant. According to Simon,
Speaker 1: DiMaggio said, quote, what I don't understand is why you
Speaker 1: ask where I've gone. I just did a mister coffee commercial.
Speaker 1: I'm a spokesman for the Bowery Savings Bank. I haven't
Speaker 1: gone anywhere.
Speaker 2: It's a pretty hilarious way for Joe Demaggio to describe himself.
Speaker 1: Right, And this gave Simon the chance to explain the line.
Speaker 1: What it meant was where have all the heroes gone?
Speaker 1: You know, all the great heroes? And he didn't mean
Speaker 1: Demagio specifically. And I guess the explanation satisfied Demagio because
Speaker 1: the two became friends for life. Simon even wrote an
Speaker 1: obituary for DiMaggio after he passed and sang the song
Speaker 1: in centerfield of Yankee Stadium to honor him. Now, the
Speaker 1: irony is, according to Paul Simon, he was always more
Speaker 1: of a Mickey Mantle guy.
Speaker 2: I have to say a mango that fact is worthy
Speaker 2: of today's trophy. So congratulations, I love it.
Speaker 1: Well, that is it for today's episod. We'll be back
Speaker 1: next week with another brand new episode, and in the meantime,
Speaker 1: you can find us on Instagram at part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: Research and writing for this episode was done by our
Speaker 1: old friend Meredith Danko. Thank you Meredith, and from Dylan, Gabe, Mary,
Speaker 1: Will and myself, thank you so much for listening. Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This
Speaker 1: show is hosted by Will Pearson and Me Mongage Heatikler
Speaker 1: and research by our good pal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan
Speaker 1: with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced
Speaker 1: for iHeart by Katrina Norvell and Ali Perry, with social
Speaker 1: media support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and buy
Speaker 1: Any Shorey. For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit
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