What EP is this on the Jetsons?

[rockinredeye]

What EP is used on the Jetsons TV show theme song? Doesn't sound like Rhodes or Wurly, so to me it's obscure. Almost like a harp. No need, just curious. Thanks.

[Docbop]

To me it sounds like a Wurly, a reedy sound.    Plus the show hit TV in 1962  and that predates the Rhodes.  That was kind of the Jurassic age of electric instruments. 

[mynameisdanno]

I've always heard it as one of those early Wurlies, like a 112. 

 

 

[analogika]

This (the original) version is definitely a Wurli (a 120, apparently). 

 

 

They redid the theme in the 80s using a Rhodes and shitty drumsounds:
 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

Google is not coming through for me on finding the film orchestra score for The Jetsons.  Those string players are cookin’ throughout those opening two sections.  I’d love to try and play those runs on the keyboard.  Not enough to sit and transcribe them though.

[RABid]

My favorite cartoon opening song ever.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

 

Com..on guys its definately a Valente...

 

But you say "they didnt exist back then????? So Aussiekeys you are talking thru your Antipodean hat." (An Akubra mind you!)

 

Dont you realise this is a documentry from the then future that had somehow slipped thru the time slip of digital transmission to analogue TV of the past. Dont ask me how Im not a scientist...just trust the Science.

 

Its actually a documentary from our present about Elon Musk's life.

 

In episode one we see him heading off to SpaceX in his Self driving flying car. Note how often he removes his hand from the steering wheel (joystick) he is in self driving mode.

 

In episode two we see him after a hard days work being pampered by "AI" in the form of Robomaid (Patt. Pending)  and not to be confused with the brand Rubbermaid.

 

We also see that child labour laws are still being flouted (a still worrying aspect) The documentary even shows that Musk answers to a far greater being than himself. The Dog who thru centuries has become to be reverred as the master. (Secret handshakes ignored). They didnt show in this episode though how we all bow and scrape to "Dog" by showing our dehumanising trait of picking up "DOG POOP". But that dear viewres is an episode to come so stay tuned.

 

[MathOfInsects]

Nord Lead duh.

[Tom Williams]

I peg it as a Wurly as well, but it got me wondering -- could it also be a Hohner Pianet? 

 

I also wonder, did Danny Elfman have have a bit of the Jetsons' theme running through his subconscious when he wrote the opening to the Simpsons?

[AUSSIEKEYS]

12 minutes ago, Tom Williams said:

 

 

I also wonder, did Danny Elfman have have a bit of the Jetsons' theme running through his subconscious when he wrote the opening to the Simpsons?

 OMG Tom it seems he was a fan

[DJkeys]

14 hours ago, Tom Williams said:

I peg it as a Wurly as well, but it got me wondering -- could it also be a Hohner Pianet? 

 

I also wonder, did Danny Elfman have have a bit of the Jetsons' theme running through his subconscious when he wrote the opening to the Simpsons?

That was my thought, sounds like a Pianet to me.

 

-dj

[harmonizer]

I love it that Mel Blanc did the voice of Mr. Spacely (recall this character's tag line: "Jetson .... - You're Fired!").

[stoken6]

20 hours ago, Tom Williams said:

I also wonder, did Danny Elfman have have a bit of the Jetsons' theme running through his subconscious when he wrote the opening to the Simpsons?

This. So much this. String runs / Lydian harmony / Close-harmony vocals / so much in common.

 

Cheers, Mike

[Lindaru]

All this and a nano-riff of "Chopsticks".

 

[Stokely]

Man that was quite a theme song.

My old, old band in the 80s used to start our shows with a (very) simplified version of it up until "Jane, his wife!", and that's where we did an immediate cut to Jane by Jefferson Starship.

[TommyRude]

On 4/22/2022 at 2:19 PM, ElmerJFudd said:

Those string players are cookin’ throughout those opening two sections. 

 

The music on older cartoons are chock full of insane scores and ripping orchestras, not to speak of incredible dynamics, time and tempo changes

[Docbop]

32 minutes ago, TommyRude said:

 

The music on older cartoons are chock full of insane scores and ripping orchestras, not to speak of incredible dynamics, time and tempo changes

Especially Hanna-Barbera Cartoons they had some great themes and incidental music for their shows.    When I worked the music school one of our composing and arranging students was hired by Hanna-Barbera before even graduated his name was Ron Jones.   He's had quite a successful career scoring TV and media. 

[elif]

21 hours ago, TommyRude said:

 

The music on older cartoons are chock full of insane scores and ripping orchestras, not to speak of incredible dynamics, time and tempo changes

I liked the Top Cat theme so much I charted it for the "Swing Band" band I was in (remember those?). I like the way the rhythm breaks from swing to straight and back again.   Anyway, the trumpet player couldn't hack it so we never perormed it.  I can't recall who wrote it except that it wasn't the name of a TV theme writer I had heard of.

[Docbop]

I wish I still had this CD some really great music.  

 

 

[David Emm]

Praise Carl Stalling, my gateway to Raymond Scott.

 

There is a funny social divide to this, for me. I'm now old enough that Weird Al's parodies often jab at songs I've only heard fluttering by on TV. Its very 'sci-fi' to look up some of the originals on YouTube so I can get the jokes. Ha!

 

I used to open my solo shows with a tricked-out, FX-mad bar piano or Full Swell pipe organ, which I applied to cartoon or TV themes. People still get themes from The Munsters or The Addams Family, but Mr. Ed's would probably leave 20-somethings staring blankly. I know I'm not alone in this bogus conundrum.

 

We're bound by not only the humor of our personal eras, but the theme songs we can whistle. I'm an acolyte of evil, because I taught a friend of mine's parrot the first few bars of "The Rite of Spring."😈 If I'd been able to teach him 20, they would have fried him for dinner.    

[o0Ampy0o]

I am a big fan of Danny Elfman soundtracks. However, it is quite likely that it was The Simpsons’ production loop who had ideas of what the theme song should sound like.