Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Went to a bartender...


The beloved sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati is probably best remembered for its catchy theme song. Sure, it was hilarious as well, but even people who have never seen the show probably know the words to the theme song.

But what about the infamous closing song? Even people who have heard the song thousands of times have a hard time deciphering it. Most people seem to agree that the first line is "Went to a Bartender" but what follows is anyone's guess. Even stranger- the song was produced exclusively for the show; unintelligible lyrics and all.

The backstory to the song's creation is actually quite amusing in itself. CBS, which aired the show in the United States, asked for music of some kind to go over the ending credits. An innocent sounding request. However, at the time the network had an announcer speak over the end credits of each show, reminding viewers to stay tuned for more CBS programming. CBS was asking the show to produce music that would not actually be heard. The show's producers who were pranksters at heart, decided to throw together something that would be indecipherable because it wouldn't matter if anyone understood the lyrics to a song that wouldn't be audible during the show's network run anyway. It wasn't until the show aired in syndication that the bizarre song was actually heard. The show's fans have been trying figure out the lyrics ever since.