"''SpongeBob SquarePants'' Theme" is the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

to the animated television series ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

''. It was composed by musicians Blaise Smith and Mark Harrison, with lyrics by the series' creator,

Stephen Hillenburg Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 – November 26, 2018) was an American animator, writer, producer, director, voice actor, and marine biology educator. Hillenburg was best known for creating the animated television series ''SpongeBo ...

, and creative director, Derek Drymon. It is performed by Painty the Pirate—a painting of a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

portrayed by

Patrick Pinney Patrick Cullen Pinney (born June 30, 1952) is an American singer and voice actor. Early life, family and education Pinney was born in San Francisco County, California. His mother's maiden name is his middle name. He attended college at Univers ...

—and a chorus of children. The song is a

sea shanty A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ...

, inspired by " Blow the Man Down", and it features a

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

between the pirate and the chorus. The series has gained popularity since its debut in 1999, and its theme song became widely recognized among

Millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...

and

Generation Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2 ...

. The ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' franchise has featured

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of the theme song by

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

in ''

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ''The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'' is a 2004 American adventure comedy film, animated adventure comedy film based on the television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by series creator Stephen Hill ...

'' (2004) and by

CeeLo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway-Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green or simply Cee-Lo), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Green came to initial pr ...

in '' Truth or Square'' (2009). Artists who have performed the song in concerts include

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...

, who plays the show's titular character, and

Corey Taylor Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist, guitarist, ly ...

. The song has inspired multiple viral phenomena and been used as the walk-up music for baseball player Oscar González.

Background and composition

'' is an animated television series that debuted on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

on May 1, 1999. It was created by

, an animator and former

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

. The series is about the titular character, a

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

, and other marine animals who inhabit Bikini Bottom. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' became Nickelodeon's longest-running series and sparked a franchise that includes multiple movies. The

's melody was composed by Mark Harrison and Blaise Smith. They adapted the tune from a

titled " Blow the Man Down". Its lyrics were written by Hillenburg and Derek Drymon, the series's creative director, who had previously worked as an animator on Hillenburg's series ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American Television comedy, comedy animated television series created by Joe Murray (animator), Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic Australian ...

''. Drymon later said in a DVD commentary, "Steve's idea was to try to make the most annoying song you can, to—so when Saturday morning, when kids turn the TV on and parents are trying to sleep, you have this

screaming in the other room for the kids to jump on the floor."

Music, lyrics, and opening sequence

Stylistically, the ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' theme song is a sea shanty. It is performed by the character of Painty the Pirate, voiced by

, and a chorus of children. Pinney had no other roles in the series. Several people have claimed to voice the children, including the child of animator

Tuck Tucker William Osborne "Tuck" Tucker III (August 20, 1961 – December 22, 2020) was an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, songwriter, and director who worked on ''Hey Arnold!'' and ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. He directed '' Hey Arnold!: The ...

. The pirate introduces the song by saying, "Are ya ready, kids?" before starting a lyrical call and response with the children, and it ends with the chorus repeatedly singing the show's title. The first lyrics describe the titular character: The

opening sequence A title screen (also called an opening screen or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often an opening theme song with visua ...

shows Painty the Pirate as an

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

of a pirate, inspired by an item Hillenburg had found at a

thrift store A charity shop is a retail establishment run by a charitable organization to raise money. Charity shops are a type of social enterprise. They sell mainly used goods such as clothing, books, music albums, shoes, toys, and furniture donated by ...

. Hillenburg's mouth is superimposed on the painting,

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

ing to the opening words. This is followed by a

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

image above the water before transitioning to

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

. This was filmed in a pool owned by

Genndy Tartakovsky Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky (; born January 17, 1970) is a Soviet-born American animation, animator, screenwriter, film producer, and film director, director. He is best known as the creator of various animated television series on ...

In official media

A cover of the song by

was the first song in the soundtrack album of ''

'', released in 2004. An album review by ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' David Moore called her version "pretty excruciating". The series's tenth anniversary special, '' Truth or Square'', released in 2009, featured a cover by

over a

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

opening sequence. '' SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical'' includes the theme song as its final number. The 2020 film '' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run'' featured the song " Agua" by

Tainy Marco Efraín Masís Fernández (; born August 9, 1989), known professionally as Tainy, is a Puerto Rican record producer, songwriter and record engineer. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he entered the world of reggaeton with his wor ...

and

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

, which interpolates the theme song, including the part in which SpongeBob plays his nose as a flute. The cast of the series recorded a version of the song ahead of a virtual

table read The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading of the screenplay or script is conducted around a table by the actors with speaking parts. In addition to the c ...

the same year.

Reception and legacy

The song became popular alongside its series. It was described by ''

Ultimate Guitar Ultimate Guitar (Ultimate Guitar USA LLC), also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is an online platform for guitarists and musicians, started on October 9, 1998 by Eugeny Naidenov and based in San Francisco, US. Its website and mobile ...

'' Justin Beckner as "perhaps the most famous part of the show" and by ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' Tina Benitez-Eves as "one of the most iconic animated openings". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' listed it as number 42 on its list of "Best TV Theme Songs of All Time", with Tatiana Krisztina calling it a "perfect introduction". Krisztina, as well as '' Reactor Magazine'' Cole Rush, wrote that the line "Are ya ready, kids?" universally elicited a response among

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...

. Rapper

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

negatively reviewed the song in a

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

video, saying that the chorus's amelodic screaming " uinedthe song".

, who voices SpongeBob, has performed the theme song at several concerts with his band Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas. Heavy metal vocalist

has performed the song at solo shows, first performing it as an encore in 2011 in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. He said in 2020, "It drives me nuts that it's one of the most requested songs at my acoustic shows, and yet the whole reason I learned that song was so me and my son could connect on music." He performed it with Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas at the 2023 Huntington Comic and Toy Convention, in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

. Kenny introduced Taylor, who said it was "the most nervous I've ever been in my whole career" before starting the improvised duet. ''Rolling Stone'' said it was Taylor's "peak". Rapper Machine Gun Kelly performed a live vocal version of the song in 2021, which ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' called "unspeakably bad". In a 2013 interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Hillenburg mentioned a video of

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

members marching to the song. Viral phenomena that use the song include a 2019

halftime show A halftime show is a performance given during the brief period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of di ...

by the Ohio State University Marching Band, a

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

translation by Judaic scholar Eddy Portnoy in 2022, and a 2022

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

version by

musician Neil Schneider that mashed up the song with "Mistakes Like Fractures" by

Knocked Loose Knocked Loose is an American hardcore punk band from Oldham County, Kentucky, formed in 2013 and currently signed to Pure Noise Records. The band released their debut studio album, ''Laugh Tracks (album), Laugh Tracks'', in September 2016 thro ...

. Baseball player Oscar González began using the song as his walk-up music playing for the

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

in 2022, and continued after joining the

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

later that year. He explained that "kids love that song and this is a kid's game after all". His use of the song became popular among fans, and he gained the nickname "SpongeBob".

Personnel

lead vocals * Devin Johnson, Sara Paxton, Camryn Wallingvocals *

, Derek Drymon, Mark Harrison, Blaise Smithsongwriting * Mike Crehore, Al Houghtonmastering

References

{{SpongeBob SquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants Animated series theme songs 1999 songs Sea shanties