Cartoon Music Part 4

Today is a tribute to cartoon music in television. This is a category that is far too big for me to cover in post, so I'm sure I will miss something. If there's a particular song or show that you would like to recognize, please post it in the comments.

Television animation is rife with music. There are many shows in which the music is almost a character in the show, such as Animaniacs. The writers and performers were lucky on this show. Since the entire Warner Bros. orchestra was sitting around with not much to do, the show was given access to them. As such, Animaniacs features tons of musical numbers and is underscored nearly every second. Here's one of my favorite musical numbers from the show:

Now the music in Animaniacs ranged from "educational" like this one or "The Presidents Song" or "50 US Capitals" to completely silly and ridiculous like "The Monkey Song."

But when it comes to educational musical television, the grandaddy of them all is Schoolhouse Rock! Animated segments that teach children all about things from grammar to math to political science. This one is probably the most iconic, and one of my favorites:


Partially I like it because it features jazz man and comedian Jack Sheldon, who you you might also remember as Louie the Lightning Bug on the old safety PSAs from the eighties.



You'd also be remiss in not mentioning The Simpsons for their contribution to animated television music. Alf Clausen and his orchestra have related many memorable songs for the show, but this one is my favorite. The last couple of seconds is probably my favorite moment in Simpsons history.


That is not do discount numbers like "The Stonecutters' Song," "See My Vest," or the musical version of Planet of the Apes.

Spongebob Squarepants also has some great Musical moments. Tom Kenny and the Andy Paley orchestra are great with coming up with wacky little songs for the show. Though this is not one of the original songs, here is a great one:



But You might also enjoy "The Ripped Pants Song" or "The Campfire Song."

And, of course, we cannot talk about television animation's music without talking about theme songs. I love theme songs. I have over 7 hours of theme songs in a playlist on my iTunes right now. They are so silly and fun. A little weird party trick I can do is to sing the them song to any show you can name. I have been tested, and always pass. But animated series tend to have really great theme songs especially. Here's a little playlist of some of the best from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's.

I leave you with the theme song to my favorite animated TV series of all time. But as I said at the beginning, if there is anything that has been left off that you think should be included in a TV Cartoon Music post, please post it in the comments or over at the Facebook Page.

CG