The Pink Panther Theme

"The Pink Panther Theme"
"The Pink Panther Theme" cover
Song by Henry Mancini from the album The Pink Panther
Released	1963
Recorded	1963
Genre	Jazz
Length	2:40
Label	RCA Victor
Writer(s)	Henry Mancini
Producer(s)	Henry Mancini

"The Pink Panther Theme" is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film The Pink Panther and subsequently nominated for the 1964 Academy Award for Best Original Score. The eponymous cartoon character created for the film's opening credits by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune. The tenor saxophone solo was played by Plas Johnson.

The tune was included on the film's soundtrack album and issued as a single (in the United States) in 1964; the single reached the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards.

Various recordings of the tune were featured in the opening credits of all The Pink Panther films, with the exception of A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. It has also been used in countless works featuring the animated Pink Panther character.

"The Pink Panther Theme", originally played in the key of E minor, is noted for its quirky, unusual use of chromaticism which is derived from the Hungarian minor scale (gypsy/romani scale) with raised 4th and 7th degrees.

In the 1978 film Revenge of the Pink Panther, the theme, and much of the soundtrack from this entry in the series, draw heavily from the disco sound of the late 1970s. The theme itself was reworked to include a more dancy bassline, electric piano, and guitar solo. A similar thing was done for 1983's Curse of the Pink Panther, where it had more electronic sounds incorporated.