What Is the Theme Song for ‘The Brady Bunch’?
To this day, The Brady Bunch remains an iconic TV show. Along with airing for several seasons, it also reran for years in syndication, spawned a spinoff, and even inspired a pair of tongue-in-cheek ’90s movies.
The show is memorable for many reasons, including its cast. But one of the most enduring aspects of The Brady Bunch is the theme song. Whether you grew up in that era or not, you probably know the words to the show’s theme. Here’s the story of that song.
What was the premise of ‘The Brady Bunch’?
The Brady Bunch was an American sitcom that debuted in 1969. It was about two families coming together as one. Mike Brady was a single father with three boys, while Carol Brady was a single mother with three daughters around the same ages as the boys. Mike’s sons, brown-haired boys, resembled him. And Carol’s blond daughters looked like her.
When Mike and Carol married, they moved into one house, where hijinks and hilarity ensued. Throw in the family’s wisecracking housekeeper, Alice, and it was a recipe for a hit.
The show was impossibly cheery and bright. It was a family-friendly series with squeaky-clean content in an era when TV was just starting to test the boundaries of what was considered acceptable to air. The Brady Bunch is a throwback to a different TV and movie era when curse words were taboo.
Who wrote ‘The Brady Bunch’ theme song?
Series creator Sherwood Schwartz wrote the show’s iconic opening theme song, MeTV reports. If you’re wondering how he could craft such a catchy theme song with easily memorable lyrics, his history will leave you unsurprised. Schwartz also penned the equally unique lyrics to another ’60s sitcom: Gilligan’s Island. He even asked the composer of that show’s theme song to help him work on the one for The Brady Bunch, but the composer was busy at the time.
Schwartz then reached out to Frank De Vol. The accomplished composer had worked with musical legends such as Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. He had also earned four Academy Award nominations for scoring Hollywood movies. For his trouble, De Vol created one of the most instantly recognizable tunes in TV history. He also got a cameo in The Brady Bunch, appearing in a Season 4 episode.
What is the theme song?
The song is simply called “The Brady Bunch,” with Schwartz credited as the writer and De Vol as the composer. The lyrics are a simple retelling of the show’s premise. It begins with the words, “Here’s the story of a lovely lady …,” and most TV fans can take it from there.
But what many people don’t know is the name of the backing band that performed the recorded version. The Peppermint Trolly Company (about as ’60s of a name as you can get) played the melody. According to the band’s keyboard player/singer, Danny Faragher, they made quite the contribution:
“[Our producer] Dan Dalton played us a tape of guy just speaking the words, Here’s a story of a lovely lady … The recording didn’t really have the melody or even the instrumentation … We arranged it, and I can remember making up chords for it. We worked on the vocal parts, too.”
Danny Faragher via MeTV
From there, all of the song’s collaborators came together to make TV history. They created one of the most memorable opening themes of all time, one familiar even to people who never saw the show.
