B-side "Warm Baby" Format 7" single Genre folk rock, blues rock | Released March 1976 Recorded 1976 Length 2:51 | |
"Welcome Back" is a popular record that was the theme song of the 1970s American television sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. Written and recorded by former Lovin' Spoonful frontman John Sebastian, it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in May 1976 after only five weeks on the chart, and also topped the adult contemporary chart. (The show itself had become an instant ratings success upon its premiere the previous fall.) It also reached #93 on the country chart.
Contents
History
TV producer Alan Sachs wanted a Lovin' Spoonful-like theme song for a new ABC sitcom entitled Kotter. Sachs's agent, Dave Bendett, also represented Sebastian and arranged for a meeting between the two.
Initially, Sebastian had considerable difficulty with the lyrics since including the title character's didn't lend itself to a sufficient number of obvious rhymes. Instead, Sebastian decided to focus the lyrics on the idea of the series' premise of Kotter returning to the very place he grew up and dreamed of leaving to do something positive there.
The producers liked the resulting song so much that they changed the name of the series to Welcome Back, Kotter. Co-produced by Steve Barri and Sebastian, the song eventually sold over one million copies.
The song originally had one verse, meant for the TV series. Because of the popularity of the show, Sebastian, in the single version, added a second verse to the song, as well as an instrumental section featuring a harmonica solo, before he resumed finishing up the verse, as well as the repeated chorus and coda to finish the song. The single version would eventually be used during the closing credits of Welcome Back, Kotter.