Theme Song
The theme song was written by the songwriting team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and sung by Livingston. However, they took a theme of the German Romantic era composer Emile Waldteufel as the basis of their song...After using only the music to open the first seven episodes, a decision was made to replace the instrumental-only version with one containing the lyrics. Livingston agreed to sing it himself, at least until a professional singer could be found; however, the producers liked the songwriter's vocals and kept them on the broadcast.
A joke/controversy concerning the theme song has existed since at least the 1980s: that the tune contains "satanic messages" if played in reverse. This YouTube video suggests that some portions reverse to "sing this song for Satan" and "Satan is the singer". Over the years, many radio stations have kept this rumor alive, mostly as a parody of the whole "backmasking" controversy.
Read more about this topic: Mister Ed
Famous quotes containing the words theme and/or song:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm CXXXVII (l. CXXXVII, 4–5)