"Meet the Flintstones", also worded as "(Meet) The Flintstones", is the theme song from the 1960s television series The Flintstones. Composed in 1961 by Hoyt Curtin, Joseph Barbera and William Hanna. One of the most popular and best known of all theme tunes with its catchy lyrics "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they're a modern stone-age family", it has since become a jazz standard, often played during medleys for comic relief.
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Background
The opening and closing credits theme during the first two seasons was called "Rise and Shine", a lively instrumental underscore accompanying Fred on his drive home from work. The tune resembled "The Bugs Bunny Overture (This Is It!)", the theme song of The Bugs Bunny Show, also airing on ABC at the time, and may have been the reason the theme was changed in the third season.
Starting in Season 3, Episode 3 ("Barney the Invisible"), the opening and closing credits theme was the familiar vocal "Meet the Flintstones". This version was recorded with a 22-piece jazz band, and a five-voice singing group called the Skip Jacks. The melody is believed to have been inspired from part of the 'B' section of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 (The "Tempest"), Movement 2, composed in 1801/02, and reharmonized. The "Meet the Flintstones" opening was later added to the first two seasons for syndication. The musical underscores were credited to Hoyt Curtin for the show's first five seasons; Ted Nichols took over in 1965 for the final season. During the show's final season, "Open Up Your Heart (And Let the Sunshine In)", performed by Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, in a clip from that season's first episode, was used as alternate close music.
Popularity
In 2010, a PRS for Music survey of 2,000 adults in the UK found that the "Meet the Flintstones" theme tune was the most recognised children's TV theme, ahead of those for Top Cat and Postman Pat. Recorded in the key of B-flat major, it has since become a jazz standard; in addition, harmonically it conforms to the structure known as rhythm changes, a well known kind of composition for jazz musicians. It is often played for the amusement of audiences as part of a medley, forming what is referred to as "jazz humor". The International Association of Jazz Record Collectors refer to it as "campy" and "cheek by jowl". Often performed at an exhilarating pace, it is technically challenging for some, and ABRSM, the exam board of the Royal Schools of Music, has recommended performing the piece on piano as a "refreshing" alternative to classical music. The song has been performed in the middle of a jazz medley with "It Never Entered My Mind" and "I Love Lucy". In 2015, The Brian Setzer Orchestra recorded a version with Christmas-themed lyrics entitled "Yabba-Dabba-Yuletide" on his Christmas album Rockin’ Rudolph.
The theme song was featured in the sitcom Full House and its successor Fuller House.
Covers
In April 1994, The B-52's released a cover version from the film The Flintstones with an extra verse. The single, (Meet) The Flintstones, peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the band's highest entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart at number 3 (tying with "Summer of Love" from 1986).
On May 1, 2016 Jacob Collier released his multitrack a cappella jazz vocal cover version of the theme song as the 2nd single from his In My Room album. In 2017 this track was awarded a Grammy in the category Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals.