Lkeller said:Interesting. I believe that there was discussion to this effect on this board once before. Maybe Archie and Edith were singing about things that Carroll and Jean would have been too young to remember or really experience. (Born in 1924 would have made him still in grade school when "Hoybutt Hoovah" was president.) Maybe he got himself a deal on a used LaSalle! ;Dfirepoint525 said:Given that the last LaSalle was made 73 years ago (1940), you would have to be pushing 80, and be a childhood auto enthusiast - to remember it. Assuming Archie was Carol O'Connor's age (b. 1924), even he would have been young (16) when the last LaSalle was produced.71dude said:For the longest time, I thought that "Edith" (Jean Stapleton) was singing something about "sour red grapes" in the All in the Family theme song, when she was actually saying that their "LaSalle ran great." Given that I am nowhere near old enough to remember the LaSalle, I suppose that confusion was understandable. (Just as an aside, I always found it humorous that Archie sat at the piano with Edith to sing that theme song, while anywhere else during the rest of the show, Archie was always complaining about her singing!)
Nearly everything that Homer and Marge sang about in the Simpsons parody song, I remember!
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Lousy theme songs
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
johnny marks said:
In the mid-70's, "Movin' On," a show about truckers starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse, was essentially Route 66 in a rig, since it was also filmed on location all over the country. It only lasted two seasons, with the first season having West Coast locales, while season two saw them primarily on the East Coast and in the Carolinas.
I was not one of them! ;D Although I remember kids at school singing the line about Herbert Hoover, and not understanding even that line until then!BD Sullivan said:Enough people wrote to the producers about not understanding what Edith was saying that in the updated version of the opening she and Carroll O'Connor did, she v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y said "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great."firepoint525 said:For the longest time, I thought that "Edith" (Jean Stapleton) was singing something about "sour red grapes" in the All in the Family theme song, when she was actually saying that their "LaSalle ran great." Given that I am nowhere near old enough to remember the LaSalle, I suppose that confusion was understandable. (Just as an aside, I always found it humorous that Archie sat at the piano with Edith to sing that theme song, while anywhere else during the rest of the show, Archie was always complaining about her singing!
Maybe that is why they opted for the instrumental theme to Archie Bunker's Place. Well, that, and killing Edith off!
Gonna nominate another one. The theme to Good Times. Not necessarily because it was a bad song, or even a "lousy" one, but for the same reason that it was spoofed on VH-1's I Love the '70s series by one of those washed-up "comics": because "temporary layoffs" are definitely NOT "good times."
onairb said:
Pretty sure it was Season Six (1975-76) when the change was made. Reportedly, the stars also wanted to update their look, since the old one had been filmed in 1970-71.
The AITF spinoffs reminded me of this one, Gloria. My sister and I snarkily suggested back then that they should have scrapped this theme song, and replace it with Laura Branigan's "Gloria," which had recently been a hit back about that time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvNcSFzda4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvNcSFzda4
firepoint525 said:
Laura Branigan's "Gloria" wasn't a hit until about December '82--so the "Gloria" TV theme in your suggestion wouldn't have been possible until mid-season.
Well, I DID say that we were being snarky. And I also suggested replacing the theme song about that time, so it still would have worked.Tim from Springfield said:
Found a couple of different season openers right here. The laughter after Edith hits that high note (in the first one) only makes it funnier!BD Sullivan said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ6tLqpmJOw
That line, along with 'easy credit rip-offs', was meant to be sarcastic/facetious.firepoint525 said:Gonna nominate another one. The theme to Good Times. Not necessarily because it was a bad song, or even a "lousy" one, but for the same reason that it was spoofed on VH-1's I Love the '70s series by one of those washed-up "comics": because "temporary layoffs" are definitely NOT "good times."
Sometime in the last 20 years, all these stupid 'washed-up comics' lost the ability to understand subtle humor, and they've been junking up those VH-1 shows ever since, with their 'I'm hip, I'm postmodern, everything from my childhood sucks!..and, uh, what kinda word is fuh-see-shus?'' commentary. :
firepoint525 said:Gonna nominate another one. The theme to Good Times. Not necessarily because it was a bad song, or even a "lousy" one, but for the same reason that it was spoofed on VH-1's I Love the '70s series by one of those washed-up "comics": because "temporary layoffs" are definitely NOT "good times."
The REAL knock on the theme to "Good Times" is that it's almost impossible to make out all the lyrics to the song. People think they hear all sorts of words and phrases in the theme that aren't there at all. Even cast member Bern-Nadette Stanis ("Thelma") mentioned this phenomenon.
...which, in turn, leads us to the intentional gibberish of the closing credits theme for WKRP in Cincinnati...Dighton Rockhead said:
There's that, too. And it has already been mentioned here (in a general sense), but I am going to mention it again. The Jeffersons theme song. I loved it (still do!) and it was very catchy, but there was quite a bit in there that I did not understand, and what I was able to understand did not make much sense. "(Something) didn't burn in the kitchen, beans don't burn on the grill." I have never tried to grill beans, so I wouldn't know! And for the longest time, I didn't know what it took a lot of, just to get up that hill. It was trying. It took a whole lot of trying just to get up that hill. But they sang it as "took a whole lot of turr-ry-in, just to get up that hill." Anytime that you elongate a syllable, or emphasize a syllable that should not be emphasized, it is not going to make a lot of sense to the viewer or listener.Dighton Rockhead said:The REAL knock on the theme to "Good Times" is that it's almost impossible to make out all the lyrics to the song. People think they hear all sorts of words and phrases in the theme that aren't there at all. Even cast member Bern-Nadette Stanis ("Thelma") mentioned this phenomenon.firepoint525 said:Gonna nominate another one. The theme to Good Times. Not necessarily because it was a bad song, or even a "lousy" one, but for the same reason that it was spoofed on VH-1's I Love the '70s series by one of those washed-up "comics": because "temporary layoffs" are definitely NOT "good times."
Now someone is going to reply here and tell me that I have these lyrics all wrong, but if you do, you are only proving my point for me! ;D
Whenever VH-1 does I love the 2000s, they will do a segment on I love the '70s/'80s/'90s and the comics who comment on I love the 2000s will snark about how lame those earlier comics were! What goes around comes around! ;Donairb said:That line, along with 'easy credit rip-offs', was meant to be sarcastic/facetious.firepoint525 said:Gonna nominate another one. The theme to Good Times. Not necessarily because it was a bad song, or even a "lousy" one, but for the same reason that it was spoofed on VH-1's I Love the '70s series by one of those washed-up "comics": because "temporary layoffs" are definitely NOT "good times."
Sometime in the last 20 years, all these stupid 'washed-up comics' lost the ability to understand subtle humor, and they've been junking up those VH-1 shows ever since, with their 'I'm hip, I'm postmodern, everything from my childhood sucks!..and, uh, what kinda word is fuh-see-shus?'' commentary. :
For the record, Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States ion 1924. Herbert Hoover was elected in 1928.
Also for the record, we were discussing how old Carroll O'Connor was when Hoover was president, NOT who was president when Carroll O'Connor was born. We were saying that Archie Bunker (if he were the same age as Carroll O'Connor) would have been in grade school (and thus not voting age yet) when Herbert Hoover (whom he sang about in the theme song) was president.johnbasalla said:
I thought that I made the above abundantly clear for everyone, but apparently not. :
Coincidence...or not?
The themes to "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times" DO share one common element:
The lead singer for both themes is singer/actress Ja'net DuBois (who also happened to play the gossipy next door neighbor "Willona", on "Good Times".
It stands to reason that her particular style of singing is what makes these two themes almost incomprehensible.
The themes to "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times" DO share one common element:
The lead singer for both themes is singer/actress Ja'net DuBois (who also happened to play the gossipy next door neighbor "Willona", on "Good Times".
It stands to reason that her particular style of singing is what makes these two themes almost incomprehensible.
American Idol theme song sounds like fingernails on a blackboard, but it is almost impossible to avoid, because almost all the other programs on TV discuss what happens on Idol, so even if you (like me) have never watched Idol, that scratchy theme music is almost impossible to avoid! The hype over the show is unbearable, but the theme music is even worse!
- Status