I have always been fascinated by the world of TV theme songs. Whenever I watch a show like The Simpsons or Friends I always wonder how much the songwriter got paid to write the theme song. Did he/she get paid a one-time fee or does he get a check every time the show airs? Does writing one hit theme song make you enough money to retire for life? Well, who better to ask than Gary Portnoy, whose song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" from the sitcom Cheers is widely considered to be the most popular and famous theme song of all time. Cheers aired 275 episodes over 11 seasons and was eventually syndicated to 40 countries and 180 American TV markets. And now with the advent of technology like iTunes and Netflix streaming, it's very likely that an episode of Cheers is playing somewhere in the world 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But how does that affect a guy like Gary Portnoy, who was a broke 20-something songwriter when he wrote what would become one of the most famous songs of all time?
Gary gives a very detailed and fascinating history of how the song originally came about on his website GaryPortnoy.com. I highly recommend everyone take a minute to check out his site and visit his iTunes page to hear some of his greatest hits including "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" as well as the themes to Punky Brewster and Mr. Belvedere!
The interview:
The song was recorded August 13th 1982. What did you feel immediately after finishing the track? Did you know it was going to be a hit? Or was it just another job?
As a child of TV, I grew up watching shows with classic themes like Andy Griffith and The Adams Family. And I would teach myself to play and sing as many of the theme songs as I could. So then, 20 years later, I was really excited to have the opportunity to actually write and sing a TV theme of my own.
You had written many songs before this for artists like Air Supply and Dolly Parton. When did you know this was something different?
As a young songwriter, I wrote hundreds of songs one after another knowing that, 9 times out of 10, nothing would ever happen with them. I knew this song was special. But I also knew that 9 out of 10 TV shows go nowhere. So I was really worried that the show might fail and that, if it did, the song would most likely be lost forever. However, once I was shown an uncut version of the Cheers pilot I knew after just the first two scenes that, if there was any justice in the world, this show was destined for greatness.
When did your life change?
I guess it changed in stages. The day after Cheers first aired, people were calling Paramount asking where they could buy my song. "Where's the sheet music, where's the record?" I had never experienced that kind of reaction before so, obviously, it felt great. In response to that, we quickly recorded and released a full-length version of "Where Everybody Knows Your Name". However, most of America had not yet discovered Cheers and so the song had a hard time getting radio airplay. In hindsight, of course, the record should have come out during the third or fourth season. But, at the time, the idea was to try to use our theme song to attract interest in the show. And some people say it did exactly that.
In those early years, the song and the show fed off each other and together they slowly grew in popularity. But I can honestly say that, for a very long time, I had no real sense of the song's place in the world. I pretty much just went about my life and enjoyed knowing that lots of people were hearing it on a weekly basis. I just didn't realize how much they were feeling it. And that really didn't change until the internet kicked into high gear. In 2003, a friend suggested I put together a website centered around the Cheers Theme. I did just that and it was shocking to me how quickly people responded to it. Shocking! (It was kind of like in the movie "Field Of Dreams"- if you build it they will come!) Immediately I began hearing from people from all over the world saying the most amazing things and letting me know how much the song meant to them. I was caught completely off guard by this. Some of the emails and postings in my guestbook were lighthearted and humorous- others surprisingly serious. And I can tell you that the response to the "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" continues to this day- nearly 20 years after Cheers filmed their final episode. I am incredibly grateful for this song that has left a little footprint in the world.
Did you watch every new episode of Cheers when they aired?
→ Yes.
How does TV songwriting ownership work? If I write a song today that is used on a TV show, do I own it? Do I get paid a one-time fee or is it a residual thing? Do you still own the rights to your songs?
It depends who you are. If Lady Gaga were to write a TV theme today, she could no doubt demand to maintain ownership of every aspect of the song. But if you are a young and relatively unknown songwriter, as I was in 1982, then you are in no position to make those kinds of demands to a large Hollywood corporate entity like Paramount Pictures. Even though I had already written songs for major artists, I still had to sign over the publishing rights to the Cheers theme to Paramount. It was non-negotiable. "Do you want the song on the show? Then we own the publishing." It was as simple as that. I knew that meant that I would never control where and how the song would be used. (Not to mention that I would earn half as much as I would have if I had kept the copyright. Any time the publisher makes $1, the writer makes $1.) But certainly, one would rather receive half the income from a hit TV theme than to own the whole song and make nothing.
That being said, for most writers- and certainly for me- there was another consideration to all of this that had nothing to do with money. There's a part of you that wants every song- each "child"- to have the best life that it possibly can. And making that happen at the start of a career invariably involves making unpleasant- even unfair- concessions. To get the song out there. To share it with the world. Had I not compromised the way I did up front, it is possible that "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" may have sat on a shelf, unheard, for perpetuity.
One perk that I have enjoyed over the years is the fact that since I am also the singer on the Cheers Theme, my permission is required if anyone wants to use my vocal performance outside the show itself. And the recording actually features six singers, all of whom are me, (his vocals were laid onto each other six times) so I can rightfully insist on being compensated as six separate individuals. When people resist, I usually say "What if I had used five other singers with me on the Cheers Theme? You wouldn't be able to say to them ' well, we're only going to pay Gary' ". And if someone still objects, I can say to them, "That's cool. Go re-record it with a different singer." So, every now and then, there are brief moments where I actually have some small influence over how the song is used.
Do you have any advice for aspiring singers/songwriters?
→ Well, first and foremost, follow your muse and your dreams to wherever they take you. But, secondly, be sure to have solid legal representation along the way. Certainly it is important to be aware of the advantages of copyright ownership. And to never surrender it lightly. On the other hand, don't be stupid. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. If a TV or movie studio is offering to expose your work to millions of people- and the deal is all or nothing as far as the copyright is concerned….. hand it over and suck it up. I know many talented writers who refused to ever forfeit any piece of their ownership and, in almost every case, their career never took off.
Did you see The Simpsons send up of the song in the Flaming Moe's episode? What was your reaction to that? Did they need your permission?
→ As mentioned above, no one needs my permission to use "Where Everybody Knows Your Name". They need only the publisher's permission. That was Famous Music (Paramount) back in the day. Today it is SONY/ATV Music. Also, it was not my voice on the Simpsons. I'm not even sure whose it was. At first,
