3 Saturday-Morning Theme Songs You Grew up With and Never Forgot

For kids, Saturday morning is sacred. You wake up maybe around 7:30 a.m. and you head downstairs in your pajamas. You find your favorite cereal, pour it in your special giant bowl, and add the milk. And then you find the comfiest couch and the brightest television. It’s time to be hypnotized by some great TV shows.

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But one of the things that draws you into those shows are the theme songs. They’re emblazoned onto your psyche after a while. And here below, we wanted to explore three such offerings. A trio of Saturday-morning staples from the past that just hit different. Indeed, these are three Saturday-morning theme songs you grew up with and never forgot.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Written by Chuck Lorre for the show that first aired in 1987, this song does a lot of work in a short time and it does so with magnetism. OK, so here’s the idea: It’s a cartoon and there are four heroes and they’re turtles and they’re mutants and they’re ninjas and … and … not an easy sell and not an easy thing to encapsulate in a single minute. But Lorre did it and he deserves an EGOT for it. And for those who loved the show, you might as well have it tattooed onto your arms and legs,

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Heroes in the half shell
Turtle Power!

They’re the world’s most fearsome fighting team (We’re really hip!)
They’re heroes in a half shell and they’re green (Hey – get a grip!)
When the evil Shredder attacks
These turtle boys don’t cut him no slack

Pee-wee’s Playhouse

Written by Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee), George McGrath, and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, this opening theme song for the indelible 1980s show Pee-wee’s Playhouse was performed by Cyndi Lauper (though it’s credited to Ellen Shaw). In some ways, this tune was the Platonic ideal of a kid’s theme song. Wacky, colorful, fast-paced, and everything else. Like a bowl of visual cereal. And on the tune, Lauper sings,

Come on in and pull yourself up a chair (Like Chairry)
Let the fun begin, it’s time to let down your hair
Pee-wee’s so excited (Uh-huh)
‘Cause his friends have been invited (That’s you!)
To go wacky at Pee-Wee’s Playhouse

Scooby Doo

This is probably a theme song that every person in the United States has at least once sung to themselves while doing some other task. It’s ubiquitous. It’s just fun to say the words “Scooby Doo” and rhyme them with “Where are you?” Written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh for the classic cartoon show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! What began in the late 1960s continues today—a troop of young detectives and their trusty dog. What could be more fun to sing about, repeating the words,

Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?
We got some work to do now
Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?
We need some help from you now

Come on Scooby Doo, I see you
Pretending you got a sliver
But you’re not fooling me, ’cause I can see
The way you shake and shiver

Photo by Bobby Bank/GC Images