"The Simpsons Theme", also referred to as "The Simpsons Main Title Theme" in album releases, is the theme song of the animated television series The Simpsons. It plays during the opening sequence and was composed by Danny Elfman in 1989, after series creator Matt Groening approached him requesting a retro-style theme. The piece, which took two days to create, has been noted by Elfman as the most popular of his career.[1]. The theme as used for the opening sequence was re-arranged during season 2, and the current arrangement by Alf Clausen was introduced at the beginning of the third season. It has also been edited many times to coincide with edits of various lengths for the opening sequence, and there have been extended edits and re-recordings for lengthened opening sequences. Several versions of the saxophone solo riff, ostensibly played by Lisa Simpson in the animated sequence, have been created over the course of the series.
A slightly different arrangement of the theme usually plays over the end credits of the show. Originally, there were two main versions of the closing theme, with the longer version ending in a lower key. Both versions were re-arranged for season 3, but only the short version was in use by the end of season 4, and that version was edited to be even shorter during season 7.
The first two notes of the theme form an augmented fourth, known as a tritone.[2]
Awards
The theme won the National Music Award for "Favorite TV Theme" in 2002, and has won the BMI TV Music Award in 1996, 1998, and 2003. In 1990 the theme was nominated for the Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music".[3]
Alternative versions
In addition to the standard closing theme arrangement, certain episodes have had alternate versions of the closing theme used; some are composed in-house by Alf Clausen in alternate styles or as homages to other musical works, and some are covers by musical artists. Most of the time, these are used to tie into the plot of the episode itself. For example, several police or law-related episodes have ended with homages to the themes from Dragnet, and Hill Street Blues. Most of the Treehouse of Horror halloween episodes have opened with a horror or monster movie-styled arrangement, or with homages to themes such as The Addams Family. Other versions are performed by guest stars heard in an episode, such as a "Psychedelic rock" version performed by Yo La Tengo, a "Grunge" version by Sonic Youth and a Los Lobos version. The "Grunge" version by Sonic Youth, which aired at the end of the episode "Homerpalooza", has been ranked among the best versions of the theme by Matt Groening[4] and also by Chris Turner in his book Planet Simpson.[5] Other performers include Tito Puente, NRBQ, Fall Out Boy, and an a capella version by Canvas.
The Simpsons Movie
In 2007, Green Day recorded a cover version of the theme song for The Simpsons Movie and also released it as a single.[6] It placed as high as #106 on the Billboard Hot 100, #19 on the UK Singles Chart, and #16 on the UK download chart.[7] Also for The Simpsons Movie, Hans Zimmer, who composed the score for the film, arranged his own version of the theme in an orchestral style consistent with the original,[8] and also inserted "tiny fragments" of it into the rest of his score.[9]
See also
References
