Just as Three’s Company hit record ratings when it first premiered on television as a pilot in 1976, its earworm theme song was one that stuck in most heads during the heyday of the show, from the late ’70s through the early 1980s.
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The man who wrote the Sesame Street theme song, and many other compositions for the children’s series, ended up composing the theme song for the then-new adult-driven sitcom.
Joe Raposo and ‘Sesame Street’
Born in Fall River, Massachusetts on February 8, 1937, Joe Raposo was a multi-instrumentalist who began working in musical theater and writing the theme song for the TV show The 4:30 Movie before meeting Jim Henson. At the time, Henson was helping develop the muppet characters on a then-fledgling children’s show Sesame Street.
The two became friends, and Raposo joined the Sesame Street gang where he ended up writing the “Sesame Street Theme,” along with some of the most iconic songs used on the show throughout the years, from Cookie Monster anthem “C is for Cookie” and Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not That Easy Being Green” (performed by Henson as Kermit), along ABC-DEF-GHI” and “Sing.” In 1973, The Carpenters also recorded their version of “Sing,” which went to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In the earlier years, Raposo could be heard singing many of the songs he composed for the show himself. Throughout the 1970s, he also worked on another children’s series, including The Electric Company, from 1971 through 1974.
[RELATED: Top 10 TV Theme Songs from the 2000s and 2010s]
‘Man About the House’
Three’s Company was originally based on the British TV series Man About the House, which aired from 1973 through 1979. The premiere episode of the UK show shared a similar scenario to American Three’s Company. The story centers around two women who throw a party to send off their other female roommate and later find Robin Tripp (i.e. Jack Tripper) left over from the party and sleeping in their bathtub. He later becomes their third roommate, and their neighbor is also named Larry, and the landlords are Mr. and Mrs. Roper.
When Three’s Company first premiered in the U.S. in 1977, the first episode was also called “A Man About the House.” The show had already been given a permanent primetime slot after reaching record ratings with its pilot a year earlier and had one of the catchiest theme songs on television.
Co-executive producer Don Nicholl is also credited with initially writing the lyrics to “Come and Knock on My Door, ” which may have seemed silly at first, but the song invited viewers into the roommate world of Jack, Chrissy, Janet, and the Ropers.
The song was sung as a duet by Julia Rinker and Ray Charles (not the R&B legend).
Come and knock on our door
We’ve been waiting for you
Where the kisses are hers and hers and his
Three’s company, too
Come and dance on our floor
Take a step that is new
We’ve a lovable space that needs your face
Three’s company, too
[RELATED: Top 8 Musical Cameos on ‘Sesame Street’]
Later Years
Raposo would also compose the theme song for the Three’s Company spin-off The Ropers, which aired from 1979 through 1980, along with several more television shows.
Throughout his career, Raposo also composed for film, and he continued working with Sesame Street from 1969 through his death in 1989 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 51.
Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
