written and produced by Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy

 

I threw this page together on June 8th, 2021, which turns out to be a

semi-milestone birthday for singer/songwriter Gary Portnoy, who

turned 65 on this day—so Happy Birthday, Gary!! Before Punky

Brewster and their next hit TV theme came along (which I’d already

catalogued before this date, so the Cheers theme was of course the

natural next choice), Gary and his partner Judy Hart Angelo banged out this pleasant, friendly little ditty about the Boston bar that started out fictitious in 1982 and 11 years later ended up virtually realer than the Bull & Finch pub it was based on. The name of the theme song of course became the bar’s signature tagline and slogan. Around the demo stage, Gary and Judy’d written about five or six verses for the song. When it came time to record the full produced version, in August 1982—a month before Cheers premiered—three of those verses made the cut (pun intended). The demo actually left out the opening verse, and the one and only used in the whittled down TV version (“Makin’ your way in the world today...”). In place of the first verse, the demo’s goes as follows—

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Singin’ the blues when the Red Sox lose / It’s a crisis in your life / On the run ’cause all your girlfriends / Wanna be your wife / And the laundry ticket’s in the wash...

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The finished TV version clocked in at 1 minute and a few seconds’ change. The now legendary and iconic bar theme was heralded as a brilliant example of a song fans of the show could look forward to each week, and not grow tired of in over a decade. Cheers premiered September 30th, ’82, and concluded May 20th, ’93, for an 11-season total of 275 episodes. Plus the full 2½-minute version in the 200th episode special—and factoring in the episodes where the theme was cut to accommodate the episode lengths—that’s 276 plays, working out to probably about 3½ nonstop hours of “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” if you put it all together.

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The 3-verse, 2½-minute version was released as a single in 1983, but wasn’t heard by most until Nov. 8th ’90, the air date of the #200 special. John McLaughlin hosted it, with the cast and crew—including Shelley Long, who’d departed after seasons 1-5. The full theme was featured towards the end of the special, under a delightful and hilarious montage of scenes from the first 199 episodes, literally acting out the theme lyrics like an official music video. I’ll throw in a link to it as well, intro’d by one of Ted Danson’s interview segments. The full-length song didn’t see actual commercial release with superior audio quality until early 2004, when Gary included it on his album Keeper. Cheers spawned one utterly disastrous 1-season spin-off in 1987 (The Tortellis), but made up for inflicting that on America by birthing the big hit, the very disparate but equally successful, acclaimed and long-lasting vehicle for Kelsey Grammer. Pretty much the greatest spin-off in the history of television: Frasier. Also 11 seasons.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full original version

full TV version

original version montage

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Gary’s official website