Underdog Theme Song

From LoveToKnow Music

The Underdog theme song has made a resurgence recently, thanks to its use in the Rachel Maddow Show. The Underdog theme is one of the most recognizable theme songs from an animated series, and it holds an important place in popular culture. Have a hankering for knowing more? There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here! Well, ok, LoveToKnow is here, really, but we’ve got the info you need.

Underdog – The History

The Underdog series first aired in October, 1964 on the NBC network. The show was actually created by a team of ad executives in charge of promotion for General Mills cereal. They created a series of cartoons to use as an advertising tool to sell the cereal to younger viewers. W. Watt Biggers was the main person responsible for the development of Underdog. Biggers was heavily involved in scripting the show and for writing the music that appeared in the show.

Although Underdog was initially conceived of as an advertising tool, the series was a great success. Biggers and some of his co-workers decided to leave their advertising agency – Dancer Fitzgerald Sample – behind to work on Underdog full time. They formed a television production company called Total Television to work on the show and develop new projects. Ironically, Total Television collapsed when General Mills withdrew their sponsorship from the shows.

The character of Underdog is based on Superman. Underdog has an alter ego without superpowers called Shoeshine Dog, but much like Clark Kent becoming Superman, Shoeshine Boy heads to a phone booth and transforms into Underdog when trouble strikes. Underdog flies like Superman and shares many of his powers.

The trick with Underdog is that he is something of a bumbling superhero. He often botches the job he’s doing and flies into things. He’s known for damaging property when he’s on a mission and would frequently say of the destruction he’d caused, “I cannot be bothered with such details.”

He also differed from Superman in that he had some unique powers, including “super breath” and “a great calculating brain.” Also, Underdog spoke in rhyme almost exclusively on the show.

In addition to Underdog and Shoeshine Boy, some recurrent characters on the TV show included Sweet Polly Purebread, Simon Bar Sinister and Riff Raff.

New episodes of Underdog were halted in 1973, but the show continues on in syndication in several countries.

The Underdog Theme Song

The Underdog theme song was written by W. Watt Bigger, Chester Stover, Treadwell Covington and Joseph Harris. A snippet from the song goes:

When criminals in this world appear,
And break the laws that they should fear,
And frighten all who see or hear,
The cry goes up both far and near for
Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog!
Speed of lightning! Roar of thunder!
Fighting all who rob or plunder!
Underdog! Underdog!

You can get the full lyrics by clicking here. You can hear the song while watching the original opening credits by clicking here.

Underdog Theme Song Trivia

The band The Butthole Surfers recorded a version of the theme song to Underdog in 1995 for the MCA Records compilation Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits.