Happy Saturday! Jane Lui x Paul Dateh got together to do a Cartoon Medley. (Earlier this week, the two were on Paul Dateh’s Violince Episode 9.) Remember those Saturday morning cartoons. It’s a blast from the past. The pair go through 10 cartoon theme songs. Here’s the list complete with trivia:

1. Inspector Gadget – by Shuki Levy
Inspired by Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King”

2. Pinky & The Brain – by a team of composers, led by supervising composer Richard Stone. A 40-piece Orchestra was arranged for this small theme song!!!

3. The Pink Panther – by Henry Mancini
RCA Records released the tune as a single in 1964; it reached the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards.

4. Ducktales – by Mark Mueller
Mueller also wrote the theme song for “Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers”.
Wiki: There are several notable similarities between the DuckTales Theme and Hall & Oates’s 1980 single “You Make My Dreams,” whose catchy rhythm and bass line may have served as inspiration.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – by DC Brown and Chuck Lorre
Wiki: There was a concert tour in 1990 where the live action turtles played a concert as a band. (Donatello; keyboards, Leonardo; bass guitar, Raphael; drums & sax, Michelangelo; guitar)

6. Smurfs – no info found on composer!
Wiki: the cartoon was based on the Belgian comic series “The Smurfs”, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo. The Smurfs was noted for its frequent use of classical music in the background, quoting Beethoven, Liszt, Debussey, Berlioz, and more.

7. Animaniacs – by Richard Stone
Using a 35-piece orchestra, every episode featured at least one original score, this idea came from Steven Spielberg.

8. Ghostbusters – by Ray Parker Jr.
A huge hit, this song stayed #1 for three weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. This theme may have added $20m to the box office!

9. Looney Tunes – adapted from “The Merry-go-around Broke Down” by Cliff Friend & Dave Franklin (1937)
The original was about a date between a young couple while riding the malfunctioning carousel.

10. Tasmania – by Richard Stone
The man behind the voice of Taz, Jim Cummings, was also the 1991 alternate of the Shredder for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series, where he also voiced Leatherhead, the mutant alligator.

Also check out BEST Cartoon Theme Songs EVER with Jimmy Wong & friends.

Cartoon Medley by Jane Lui x Paul Dateh