Ten TV Theme's with Secret Lyrics

So last time I talked about theme songs I mentioned how some theme's are extended into full length songs. But an even cooler thing some may not know is that a lot of iconic instrumental theme's do in fact have lyrics. Some were created for the show but never used, others added after the fact for whatever reason.


Here are ten theme's with the lyrics which you may have never heard before:





I Love Lucy

This one isn't really a surprise the instrumental version practically screams the words. Truth is though, as is the case with most of these, it's a lot better without the words.

The Andy Griffith Show
Yep they weren't just whistling Dixie during that classic opening. It was an actual song with actual lyrics.

MASH
Ok Ok this is no surprise, especially if you saw the original movie where "Suicide is Painless" is sung in it's entirety. Truth is I prefer the TV version (and man is that movie boring by the way). But the actual song is pretty haunting.

Dick Van Dyke Show
Here's another one which is a surprise I think. The music is so awesome that it's practially iconic. And yes there were lyrics to it, written by the show's co-star Morey Amsterdam Sorry about the clip, best I could find.

Bewitched
Apparently this show was always supposed to have lyrics, they even got Steve Lawrence to sing it. And while I have no problem with Lawrence, the version we got is a tad better.

I Dream of Jeannie
So why not?

Bonanza
Yep this theme had lyrics. In fact they recorded the male leads singing it in the original intro to the show. Why was this never used? Um, give it a listen sometime!

Star Trek
This one blew my mind when I stumbled on it many moons ago. Even though he knew he would never use them, Gene Roddenbverry created words to go with the iconic music. Why? Well let's just say Roddenberry wasn't always the nicest guy.

Mama's Family
I love the bouncy little theme this show had. It's even cooler that it had lyrics. The only clips I could find were concert footage people took of Vicki Lawrence singing the theme, obviously not mine, so enjoy.

Roseanne
Yeah yeah I shared this one before, and it's a cheat since the theem eas very much used on the show. But I felt I had to add it here, mostly because I needed to round the list out and couldn't come up with a last one. So if you like Blues Traveler, take a listen.

Finally, this one is by no means a secret it was sung every episode I think. But I decided to share since it's a beautiful song and worth sharing. I give you the theme to The Carol Burnett Show, "I'm So Glad We had This Time Together".

Tried to find something a little more recent but came up kind of short. Guess these days it's no secret where theme's come from, assuming a show has one at all! If I did miss your favorite comment and let me know. So since Halloween just ended, it was only fair to leave you with one last one you not have heard. Which one? Take a listen.