Songwriters Anonymous - Part Six
by Mary Dawson
In our Songwriters Anonymous meetings we have been introducing you to the writers of the songs the whole world sings!
These hits are known and loved by millions, but most music fans have absolutely no idea what inspired them or who wrote
them. The songwriter is the "unsung hero" who quietly creates the soundtrack of our lives, hardly being noticed at all.
But among this very anonymous group, there is an even more obscure group of writers who are responsible for songs that
are so familiar to us that we can whistle or sing them on command -- even if we have absolutely no musical talent at all.
Who are these geniuses? They are the composers of our favorite television theme songs. Let's take a look at just a couple
of the names behind the melodies that have become part of our society's hard drive.
Earle Hagen
"Hi, my name's Earle and I'm a songwriter." "Hi Earle."
Earle's story starts out sounding pretty ordinary. Born in 1919, he started playing trombone as kid -- in an era when Big Bands
were popular and television sets were still just a futuristic dream. Earle's talent was so remarkable, however, that even as a
teenager he had opportunities to play with many of the Big Band legends of his day -- Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Ben Pollack and
Ray Noble, just to name a few.
By the time he was twenty, Earle began to show an interest in arranging and orchestration and wrote his first instrumental
composition entitled, Harlem Nocturne -- inspired by the musical innovations of Duke Ellington. The composition established the
young man as an emerging musical talent. After serving in the US Army Air Force Band, Earle found a job as an arranger with
20th Century Fox.
Working with music legends like Alfred Newman at Fox, Earle began to see the possibilities that were emerging in the new media
known as television. Earle found a mentor in Sheldon Leonard, a well- known actor and director who became one of the first and
most successful producers of television shows. One day Sheldon approached Earle with the assignment of writing a theme song
for a new series he was producing called the Andy Griffith Show.
Earle quickly captured the folksy, homespun vibe of the program with a whistling melody that was so simple and so hooky that
everyone who heard it could sing it. There are even rumors that several parrots have been trained to whistle this tune! While
officially entitled "The Andy Griffith Theme," the song has also been called the "Fishin' Hole Song" because of the images of
Andy and Opie, fishing poles in hand, coming back from an afternoon by the lake -- and because of the lyrics to the song by
Everett Sloane, an even more anonymous songwriter who was better known as an actor. (I'll bet you didn't even know that the
"Andy Griffith Theme" had lyrics, did you?) Everett Sloane's wonderfully crafted lyrics were never even used!
Simple...but well-written. That's what made Earle Hagen's song the classic it has become. The first six notes identify it forever
as "Opie and Andy's song" and make us turn toward our TV sets to see another episode of one of our all-time favorite shows.
And just think about the royalties that simple song has earned! The Andy Griffith Show ran for eight years on prime time and
finished at Number One...and then, there is the syndication that still goes on today. Kudos to Earle Hagen, who had the genius
to use simplicity to its highest potential.
To hear the song -- with lyrics -- sung by Andy Griffith himself, please visit http://www.andygriffithshow.net/theme.php
Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart-Angelo
One thing about Twelve Step meetings -- you always hear unbelievable stories. And here's one for the books.
In 1981, Gary Portnoy was a songwriter experiencing one of the many lows in this roller coaster ride we call the Music Business.
He had just been fired as a staff writer for a major music publishing company and he also needed a new songwriting partner. At
the same time, Gary's friend, Judy Hart-Angelo had just enrolled the youngest of her three kids in school and was out to dinner.
She found herself seated next to a Broadway producer who was looking for writers to score his latest musical.
Judy approached Gary with the proposition. Gary had never written anything for theater and Judy had never even written a song
before. Since they had nothing to lose, they decided to give it a go! Working on an upright piano in Judy's apartment, they
composed a song called "People Like Us" for the musical entitled Preppies.
Although the musical never really took off, the songwriting team were delighted when several months later a sitcom producer
from LA contacted them to say that he had heard a tape of "People Like Us" and was convinced that the song was perfect for a
new series that was to air on NBC that fall. The show was called Cheers. There was only one caveat -- the lyrics had to be
completely re-written to fit the plot. Gary and Judy were thrilled and set about to re-write the words. But when the
Broadway producer of Preppies heard the news, he was irate! He owned the copyright for "People Like Us" that had been written
expressly for the musical. The writers could not legally use that song for any other purpose.
See what I mean about roller coasters? The business of Music can literally make you nauseous with all its highs and lows.
Anyway, back to Gary and Judy... Disheartened beyond description, they gave the Cheers producers the bad news, but the
producers encouraged them to try writing another song instead. So back to the upright piano they went. Naturally, they
found themselves trying to write another song as close to "People Like Us" as possible, and came up with a song called
"My Kind of People" which was promptly rejected by the Cheers team.
Now, Gary and Judy were really depressed. But somehow, the Cheers producers continued to believe that these songwriters
were the ones to write the theme song. So they encouraged them to try yet again -- this time, they suggested, maybe it
would be helpful to actually read the script. As Judy and Gary read the clever pilot, they were convinced that the
show was a hit waiting to happen. They were sitting on the edge of a goldmine! So back to the piano again -- this time,
coming up with a song called "Another Day," which was again promptly rejected by the writers and producers.
What would you have done at this point? I venture to say that most aspiring songwriters would have totally given up
and would have spent the rest of their lives in therapy. But not Gary and Judy! They had fallen in love with the sitcom
and although every song since "People Like Us" had been rejected, they again went back to the piano. Gary began tinkering
with a few notes, but everything they tried sounded wrong -- far too sad for a sitcom theme song. Then, suddenly, a few
minutes...or hours later, one little four-word phrase surfaced: "Sometimes you wanna go..." Words began to pour...the music
started to soar...they were on it and they knew it! They kept writing...one verse, two verses, three verses...the punchy
chorus...more song than they really needed for a TV theme.
Hurrying to a recording studio, the two put down a demo and sent it to the Cheers team who shared their enthusiasm
about the song. But they still didn't get a completely green light. The lyrics needed tweaking to make them perfect
for the show, which by now everyone believed would be a long-running series. Gary and Judy were still changing words
as they rode to the studio to record what became THE version of the Cheers theme we all know and love.
But there is even more to the happy ending of this story. The sitcom producers loved Gary's simple demo so much that
they decided to have him sing it for the show even though he was relatively unknown. The song was such a hit as the
theme for the sitcom that Gary later recorded the entire song which became a single and a worldwide hit.
Well, after this Songwriters Anonymous meeting, I bet you'll never watch an Andy Griffith episode or a re-run of
Cheers -- or any other TV show, for that matter, without thinking about the writers behind the scenes. If you're like
me, you'll remember Earle Hagen's genius for simplicity...Everett Sloane's great "Fishin' Hole" lyrics that were never
used...and the persistence of an unlikely songwriting team at an upright piano. You'll think about the need for
excellence in your craft, what persistence really means and how great songs are not written...they're RE-written.
And then, perhaps you'll decide to try your hand at writing for TV and film. If you find your song attached to a
program like Andy Griffith or Cheers, you may simply decide to retire to your Caribbean island where you can
count your money in peace!
See you next time at Songwriters Anonymous!
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**From her earliest childhood years writing simple songs and poems with her father, through her twelve years as an overseas
missionary, to her present, multi-faceted career as an author, lyricist/songwriter and conference speaker,
Mary has always been adept at using words to communicate her heart to others. She is the President of
CQK Records & Music of Dallas, Texas, a company which creates and produces songs in a panorama of musical styles for a
variety of audiences, She is the host of "I Write the Songs," a nationally syndicated radio talk show,
especially created to inspire and instruct the more than 40 million aspiring songwriters in the U.S.
Mary is a frequent public speaker and seminar lecturer and teacher of songwriting in her popular Living Room Seminars.
She is a Contributing Editor for The Internet Writing Journal ®. You can visit her website at:
www.cqkmusic.com. You can reach Mary by email.
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