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Barenaked Ladies Explain 'The Big Bang Theory' History of Everything

  • Posted on Mar 31st 2010 9:00AM by Jason MacNeil
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Ed RobertsonBarenaked Ladies' singer/guitarist Ed Robertson can cram a lot of lyrical content into a small amount of time, as his rapid-fire raps in the band's hit single 'One Week' proved. But when producers of the hit CBS television series 'The Big Bang Theory' asked him to write the show's theme song, even he found it challenging.

"I'm delighted and I'm really proud of that song and I'm really happy they asked me to write it," Robertson tells Spinner while in Toronto promoting the band's new album 'All in Good Time.' "It's a really smart and funny show. The creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady were big fans of the band and they called. They said, 'We love your writing. All we need from you is sort of a history of everything in about 32 seconds.'"

After getting a look at the pilot episode as well as a script, Robertson went to work on meshing the lyrics with a montage of "fast-forwarding series' of images."

"I just thought, 'Oh I hope I get this gig, I worked really hard on it,'" he says. "And they were great to work with."

Perhaps what was also in Robertson's favour for the theme -- which was later fleshed out to a full-length song -- was pure coincidence.

"I'm a total science geek and I had just read a book by Simon Singh called 'Big Bang: Everything You Need to Know About the Most Important Discovery of All Time,'" he says. "It's kind of a layman's explanation of every scientific discovery that led up to cosmological theory. So I had just read that and then I got asked, 'Would you be interested in writing a theme song for a show called The Big Bang Theory?' 'Yes! Yes!' So yeah, it was really fun."

  • Filed under: Television, Canada
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Bernie

Soft Kittie was hilarious! Especially when they sang it row, row, row, your boat style. The interaction between Penny & Sheldon is priceless. ie: He hugs her at Christmas Season 1, He tutors her in Physics and she spews the information as if she is Sheldon, She gives him a napkin with Leonard Nimoy's DNA on it. Classic!

April 04 2010 at 8:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Rich

The creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady are just a myth... we all know that the show slowly evolved out of a primordial ooze.

April 04 2010 at 5:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Pammers

Great show. Intelligent dialog. As for the big-bang debate - God created the heavens and the Earth. And to those who think differently,that we can replicate such a creation and life...Then creat a human being, a person. First you start by creating dirt. Good luck with that one!

April 04 2010 at 4:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
JT Wallace

it's all about what? but here's what i believe, someone most advance being created us.

April 04 2010 at 4:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Shoshannah

I grew up near the Cal Tech campus in Pasadena, and my best friend and I used to "hang out" with the guys up there all the time. My parents allowed me to hang with "college boys" despite my being only 15 at the time, because they were so socially "awkward" (I hesitate to use the word "backward") and I myself was somewhat of a "nerd" back in those days. Of course, many of the students (back in the 60s, still all male)were as young (if not younger) than I, with brilliance just beaming from their eyes! The best part was that these guys were so very clever and believed in "playing hard" as well as "studying hard". In the time before video games, that meant using their imaginations to create some of the most memorable (and fun!) parties I remember attending in my youth! Oh, and when I had a problem I was stumped on in chemistry or physics, I'd call one of the dorms (they were listed in the local phone book!) and just ask for someone "willing to give a bit of help to a high school senior" (despite the fact that my dad was a scientist and chemical engineeer) and there were more than enough volunteers! I love the show because it is so very clever, but also because I feel as though I knew those guys many years ago! Don't let the fact that it's a sitcom fool you---those characters are very real! Also, the other day a scary thing happened---I discovered myself humming "Soft Kitty" to myself while doing work around the house! Yikes! Say it isn't so, Sheldon!

April 04 2010 at 3:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
William Crandall

Yes, it's so much easier to conceive of an all-powerful superbeing appearing from no where and making everything on an off week.

April 04 2010 at 3:28 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Laura

My favorite comedy! I love it so much. The actors & their characters are brilliant, as is the writing. Awesomely smart & funny.

April 04 2010 at 2:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
kayteeforkeeps

THERE IS NO GOD. One day the world is going to have to just grow up and realize this. augh.

April 04 2010 at 2:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Gina

The theme song is perfect for the show and "Soft Kitty" (sung by Sheldon and Penny) is even better.

soft kitty
warm kitty
little ball of fur
happy kitty
sleepy kitty
purr purr purr

Rock paper scissors lizard Spock!

April 04 2010 at 2:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Gina's comment
rcm0850

as she rubbed his chest with vics vapor rub LMAO

April 04 2010 at 3:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Bernie

Can't we all get along?

Lyrics:

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!

April 04 2010 at 1:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Bernie's comment
david

Thank you so much, kind Sir!

April 04 2010 at 2:48 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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