History of Cheers theme - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

FOLN@NFan · 04-07-2002, 08:22 PM

NOTE: sum of the info ive been gettin lately has been from Snowpeck, from this board. just thought i'd let u know. like this: lol also this will b on my website soon:

The history of the Cheers theme song is actually a long story. In early 1982, Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy were working on their new musical called “Preppies.” Judy sent a tape cassette of several of the songs to a friend in California, who, coincidentally, was the brother of co-creator of Cheers, James Burrows. James, who was developing the show with the Charles brothers at the time, heard the tape, and liked one of the songs, thinking that it could be the theme song for his new show. It was called “People Like Us.” He called Judy and told her, and she told Gary. They were happy, but realized that they had a tough choice. This song was already an important part of their play, and they couldn’t take it out to use elsewhere, so they agreed to write a new one for the show. Judy quoted, “Now, it would be nice to be able to say that we went to the piano and promptly tossed off the theme to ‘Cheers’ as it is known today. In actuality, since they already wanted our other song, we did what any songwriter would do: we sat down and attempted to clone it.” This second song was rejected, but the trio creators told the song writers not to be boxed into their original concept, to try new things that they felt might fit. They wrote two more possibly-to-be-used themes. They liked one of them so much, they wrote a much longer version, with verses which they “speculated on all sorts of life situations that might compel a person to take refuge at a place like Cheers.” (Hint: One of these verses began with ‘Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee’s dead…”) They immediately went out into a tiny eight-track studio, and made a piano-voice demo of the song. If you haven’t guessed already, this song was “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” but it wasn’t how we knew it yet.

Singing the blues when the home teams lose

It’s a crisis in your life

On the run ‘cause all your girlfriends

Wanna be your wife

Wouldn’t you like to get away?...

This was the original first verse to the song. If you can’t tell, they wrote it with Sam Malone as the inspiration (home team – sports, baseball/girlfriends – uh, girlfriends! lol). However, the producers, who weren’t sure how this show would go, asked Judy and Gary to write more general lyrics. Finally came “Making your way in the world today…” The producers asked Gary, who sang the demo, to actually sing the song for the show. He did, but unfortunately, it was not the great-quality song that most of us know today. In fact, it was Theme 1.1 (on this site), which sounds flat, and has lots of static. The song, with its series of infamous drawings and photographs, won an Emmy after season 1. The song itself was also nominated, but didn’t win.

The original demo, today, has probably been lost, or at least in some Cheers archive hidden away somewhere. The other possible-themes have also disappeared. I have actually never heard of a musical called “Preppies,” and have never heard “People Like Us,” though now I want to! Gary and Judy DID sing a majority of the song for the 200th anniversary episode (but not all), and more on the post-finale Jay Leno show, but never sang the original first verse again. So the story of the theme is a little long…but it’s what makes Cheers, Cheers.

TALLguyinKY · 04-08-2002, 08:03 AM

Wow, what a fascinating story! Thanks for lettin' us know all that!

04-07-2002, 08:22 PM	#1
FOLN@NFan Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 27, 2001 Location: PA Posts: 706	History of Cheers theme NOTE: sum of the info ive been gettin lately has been from Snowpeck, from this board. just thought i'd let u know. like this: lol also this will b on my website soon: The history of the Cheers theme song is actually a long story. In early 1982, Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy were working on their new musical called “Preppies.” Judy sent a tape cassette of several of the songs to a friend in California, who, coincidentally, was the brother of co-creator of Cheers, James Burrows. James, who was developing the show with the Charles brothers at the time, heard the tape, and liked one of the songs, thinking that it could be the theme song for his new show. It was called “People Like Us.” He called Judy and told her, and she told Gary. They were happy, but realized that they had a tough choice. This song was already an important part of their play, and they couldn’t take it out to use elsewhere, so they agreed to write a new one for the show. Judy quoted, “Now, it would be nice to be able to say that we went to the piano and promptly tossed off the theme to ‘Cheers’ as it is known today. In actuality, since they already wanted our other song, we did what any songwriter would do: we sat down and attempted to clone it.” This second song was rejected, but the trio creators told the song writers not to be boxed into their original concept, to try new things that they felt might fit. They wrote two more possibly-to-be-used themes. They liked one of them so much, they wrote a much longer version, with verses which they “speculated on all sorts of life situations that might compel a person to take refuge at a place like Cheers.” (Hint: One of these verses began with ‘Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee’s dead…”) They immediately went out into a tiny eight-track studio, and made a piano-voice demo of the song. If you haven’t guessed already, this song was “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” but it wasn’t how we knew it yet. Singing the blues when the home teams lose It’s a crisis in your life On the run ‘cause all your girlfriends Wanna be your wife Wouldn’t you like to get away?... This was the original first verse to the song. If you can’t tell, they wrote it with Sam Malone as the inspiration (home team – sports, baseball/girlfriends – uh, girlfriends! lol). However, the producers, who weren’t sure how this show would go, asked Judy and Gary to write more general lyrics. Finally came “Making your way in the world today…” The producers asked Gary, who sang the demo, to actually sing the song for the show. He did, but unfortunately, it was not the great-quality song that most of us know today. In fact, it was Theme 1.1 (on this site), which sounds flat, and has lots of static. The song, with its series of infamous drawings and photographs, won an Emmy after season 1. The song itself was also nominated, but didn’t win. The original demo, today, has probably been lost, or at least in some Cheers archive hidden away somewhere. The other possible-themes have also disappeared. I have actually never heard of a musical called “Preppies,” and have never heard “People Like Us,” though now I want to! Gary and Judy DID sing a majority of the song for the 200th anniversary episode (but not all), and more on the post-finale Jay Leno show, but never sang the original first verse again. So the story of the theme is a little long…but it’s what makes Cheers, Cheers.

04-08-2002, 08:03 AM	#2
TALLguyinKY Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 18, 2002 Posts: 1,439	Wow, what a fascinating story! Thanks for lettin' us know all that!