"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale" of a time when television shows began with awesome TV Theme Songs. "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" and sometimes you want to go back to when TV Theme songs were special. "Here's a story... of a lovely" time when TV Theme Songs served to identify, distinguish and set the stage for the television program that followed. "You take the good, take the bad, take them both and there you have" what unfortunately has become a lost artform. "Believe it or not", sadly it seems no effort or pride is taken in the TV Theme Song ever since Seinfeld proved a short synth-bass riff could be used instead. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” This regular feature may not "make all our dreams come true", but it will remember some of the best TV Theme Songs from years past (with a focus on the '80s decade). "Come aboard, we're expecting you."
This time we will cover the theme song for Married... with Children which is "Love and Marriage". "They go together like a horse and carriage." Married... with Children debuted in April 1987 and ran for 11 seasons and 259 episodes as one of the original cornerstone shows on Fox. Instead of creating an original theme song to introduce the Bundy's each week, producers decided to go with an existing song by an iconic voice. "Love and Marriage" was written by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen back in 1955. It was first performed by Frank Sinatra in the 1955 television production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Sinatra then included it on his 1956 album This is Sinatra! and released it as a single in late 1955. "Love and Marriage" did quite well peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late January of 1956 and actually won the Emmy for Best Musical Contribution in 1956 as well. It was also recorded by Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Eddie Fisher and Frankie Vaughan among others. In 1987, producers decided to not only use the song, but use Frank Sinatra's version of "Love and Marriage" as their theme song for a show that probably had relatively low expectations at first. I wasn't really familiar with the song personally previous to the show airing and now it is indelibly linked for me forever with Al Bundy sitting on his sofa handing money to his family. Here is a cool video synching the opening credits for all seasons of Married... with Children featuring “Love and Marriage” performed by Frank Sinatra…
Who would have thought that Married... with Children would last until 1997 and live on in syndication to this day? Can I get a Whoa Bundy? After 11 seasons, even though it is not an original song created just for this television series, I still feel Sinatra's "Love and Marriage" deserves some recognition. "You can't have one, you can't have none, you can't have one without the other."
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!