The theme for the 1964 TV series ''
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...
'' was written and arranged by longtime
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
film and television composer
Vic Mizzy
Victor Mizzy (January 9, 1916 – October 17, 2009) was an American composer for television and movies and musician whose best-known works are the themes to the 1960s television sitcoms ''Green Acres'' and ''The Addams Family''. Mizzy also wrote ...
. The song's arrangement was dominated by a
harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...
and a
bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...
, and featured
finger-snaps as
percussive
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
accompaniment. Actor
Ted Cassidy
Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction works, such as ''Star Trek'' and ''I Dream of Jeannie'', and he played Lurch on '' The Addam ...
, reprising his "
Lurch" voice, punctuated the lyrics with the words "neat", "sweet", and "petite". Mizzy's theme was popular enough to enjoy a single release, though it failed to make the national charts.
The closing theme was similar, but was instrumental only and featured such instruments as a
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
, a
wooden block, a
siren whistle
The Acme siren is a musical instrument used in concert bands for comic effect. Often used in cartoons, it produces the stylized sound of a police siren. It is one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of an orchestra.
The instrument is ...
, and a
duck call
A duck call may be either the sound-imitation process used in waterfowl hunting, by which a hunter lures waterfowl, or the actual tool which the person uses to do so. Early duck call tools were basic woodwind instruments, while later innovations a ...
.
See also
*
Addams Groove
"Addams Groove" is a single performed by hip-hop artist Hammer that was released as the theme song to the 1991 film ''The Addams Family''. It was the second single from his 1991 album, ''Too Legit to Quit'', included in the track list for the cass ...
– a single performed by hip-hop artist
Hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...
that was released as the theme song to the 1991 film ''
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...
''.
*
My Family
''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...
– a single performed by
Migos
Migos () were an American hip hop group founded in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in 2008. The group was composed of rapper Quavo, his nephew Takeoff, and their "cousin" friend Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia, while Offset and Takeoff were bo ...
,
Karol G
Carolina Giraldo Navarro (born February 14, 1991), known professionally as Karol G, is a Colombian singer. Considered as one of the most influential reggaeton and Urban contemporary music, urban pop artists, she has received awards including a ...
,
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
,
Rock Mafia
Rock Mafia is an American record production team, consisting of Tim James and Antonina Armato who have been active since the early 2000s. They have written and produced 38 top ten singles, and have sold over 50 million records worldwide. They ...
as the theme song to the 2019 film ''
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...
''.
*
Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All) – a single by goth metal band
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was an American gothic/doom metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1989 by Peter Steele (bass, lead vocals), Kenny Hickey (guitar, co-lead vocals), Josh Silver (keyboards, backing vocals), and Sal Abruscato (drums ...
that includes a short reference of the theme.
Legacy
Charles Addams
Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Family, and were subsequently populari ...
loved the show's theme more than the show itself.
The song has become popular as a staple of the Addams Family. In 2007, it was used as the theme for an advert for
Tetley Tea
Tetley is an English beverage manufacturer founded in 1837 in Yorkshire. It is the largest company of tea in the United Kingdom and Canada, and the second-largest in the United States by volume.
Since 2000, Tetley has been a wholly owned subsi ...
. In May 2012, Horrible Histories parodied the Addams Family theme, singing about the Borgia family
In the 2022 series
Wednesday
Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week.
In English, the name is derived from Old English and Middle English , 'day of Woden', reflecting ...
the code to enter the sanctum of the secret society of the Nightshades is to snap twice (similar to how snapping twice is part of the song).
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...
recorded her own version of the song for ''
The Addams Family 2
''The Addams Family 2'' is a 2021 animated supernatural black comedy film based on the characters created by Charles Addams and the sequel to ''The Addams Family'' (2019). It was directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon and co-directed by ...
'' soundtrack in 2021.
References
External links
* from the
original television series.
*
Vic Mizzy, His Orchestra and Chorus - Discographyat 45cat.com
*
Comedy television theme songs
The Addams Family music
Halloween songs
Horror television theme songs
Film theme songs
1964 songs
Songs about fictional characters
Songs about families
{{US-music-stub