He may have worked with Count Basie and Frank Sinatra, but jazz composer Neal Hefti will likely be best remembered for a piece of music: The Batman Theme. Hefti passed away last week at the age of 85. You can find his obit in the Washington Post here.
Not only did Hefti create The Batman Theme, but he also was responsible for another classic TV tune, The Odd Couple Theme.
(Sadly, we spent like a half-hour looking for the “nanananana fishing” clip from The Simpsons, but couldn’t find it. Shame.)
FYI: The above album is actually still available from Amazon.
UPDATE:
Posted by Mark Coale.
http://download.lardlad.com/sounds/season9/leader2.mp3
Ah… another Nebraskan who followed his dream and found success in New York City.
And the Odd Couple Theme actually has lyrics…
“Music….. BAT Music!”
Millions of Neal’s fans will miss him and his compositions/arrangements. And so will I. We’d have long phone conversations about a variety of topics, ranging from his boyhood days in Omaha, struggling to make a living in the 1940s and 1950s, and enjoying some of the funny things that happened to him. In later years he didn’t like to travel, but was thrilled when family members came to California to see him. Naturally, we had a ball! He would be pleased to see references to him with his name spelled the Irish way, NEAL. Our mother had a ScotsIrish background as a Conway. The other half of Neal’s family tree was Swiss-German. What a combination, eh?
Does anyone know who did the art for the theme song? Was it an actual cartoonist?