Johnny's Theme
| "Johnny's Theme" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Paul Anka and Johnny Carson | |
| Published | September 12, 1962 |
| Genre | |
| Writer(s) | Johnny Carson (lyrics) |
| Composer(s) | |
| "Johnny's Theme (The Tonight Show Theme)" | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||
| Single by The Tonight Show Band | |||||||||
| from the album The Tonight Show Band | |||||||||
| A-side | "Johnny's Theme (The Tonight Show Theme)" | ||||||||
| B-side | "Skyliner" | ||||||||
| Released | 1986 | ||||||||
| Recorded | August 5–7, 1986 | ||||||||
| Length | 1:17 | ||||||||
| Label | Amherst Records | ||||||||
| Writer(s) |
Paul Anka Johnny Carson |
||||||||
| Producer(s) | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
"Johnny's Theme" is an instrumental jazz song played as the opening theme of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from the show's inception in 1962 through its finale in 1992. The piece was composed by Paul Anka and Johnny Carson, based on a previous composition by Anka. It was performed by The Tonight Show Band, which released an arrangement by Tommy Newsom in 1986 as part of its Grammy Award-winning eponymous debut album. The single release also garnered a Grammy nomination.
"Johnny's Theme" has since been released in cover versions and on compilation albums. It has appeared in several films, and been played live in concert by school bands and by amateur and professional musicians, including Doc Severinsen's Big Band.
"Johnny's Theme" began life as "Toot Sweet", a pop instrumental composed in 1959 by Paul Anka and recorded by Tutti's Trumpets. It was released on Disney's Buena Vista label as the B-side to The Camarata Strings' single "Lost In a Fog".
"Tutti" Camarata, who was Annette Funicello's producer at the time, asked Anka to write some songs for Funicello's first album to follow her work on The Mickey Mouse Club. Anka added lyrics to "Toot Sweet" and published them under the title "It's Really Love", and the song was released as part of Annette Sings Anka. He recorded his own version of "It's Really Love" that same year for the French film Faibles Femmes; it was released on seven-inch EPs in France, Italy and Spain.
...
Wikipedia