Theme to Neighbours

"Neighbours"
Single by Barry Crocker
A-side	Neighbours
B-side	Neighbours (Instrumental)
Released	1988
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	1984
Genre	Pop
Length	2:48
Label	Sony
Writer(s)	Tony Hatch Jackie Trent

The Neighbours theme song is the theme tune to the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Composed by Tony Hatch with the lyrics written by his then wife, Jackie Trent, it has been voted the world's most recognised television theme song. The song was originally recorded by Barry Crocker, who also recorded the updated version, subsequent versions have been recorded by a variety of artists.

After Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch relocated to Australia in the 1980s, they were asked to write the theme song for Neighbours. The soap opera was going to be called Ramsay Street, before the couple penned the song. Trent told Jessie Stoelwinder from The West Australian, "We wrote the song as Neighbours because we said Ramsay Street was too close to Coronation Street, which was the major soap in Britain." The theme was written and recorded in a day and Trent said "We called in Barry Crocker at about 10pm to put his voice on it and it was on the producer's desk by 10am the following morning. And they loved it, so the series was then called Neighbours."

Since 1985, there have been eight different renditions of the theme broadcast on television. They were sung by the following artists:

Depending on the broadcaster, each theme has received edits for timing purposes, the most edited versions being broadcast by the BBC in the UK. To begin with this was due to the fact the BBC could not broadcast the advertising featured at the end of Neighbours credit roles, it was also due to a 30-second timing restriction imposed on all programming. Other broadcasters have usually shown the credits uncut leaving the theme song at its original length.

The full closing theme of version one that was attached to Seven Network- commissioned episodes received a few edits following the # day #, # away #, # blend # and # friends # climaxes when it was shown on the BBC, but was left untouched in the rest of the world. When Network Ten episodes aired on the BBC the full uncut version was used.

Version one was released in 1988 as a single, charting at #84 and remaining on the chart for 5 weeks This version contained the full closing theme and the last verse being repeated twice. The opening also featured a guitar section, as well as additional piano chords (which was also heard in 1990 often during the pre-titles episode recap)

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