{"id":4911,"date":"2013-07-04T10:13:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T18:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=4911"},"modified":"2021-09-24T06:17:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T10:17:19","slug":"what-weird-reason-did-abc-have-for-baretta-having-an-instrumental-theme-song-originally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/07\/04\/what-weird-reason-did-abc-have-for-baretta-having-an-instrumental-theme-song-originally\/","title":{"rendered":"What Weird Reason Did ABC Have for Baretta Having an Instrumental Theme Song Originally?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/tv-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">TV URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: The theme song for Baretta did not have lyrics at first for a slightly out of the ordinary reason.<\/p>\n<p>The TV series Baretta debuted in 1975 on ABC (check out <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/30\/was-baretta-originally-conceived-as-a-reboot-of-another-series\/\">this previous installment<\/a> of TV Legends Revealed for some more information about the origins of Baretta)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/baretta.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B00006J6XH&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The series, which starred Robert Blake as the titular detective, became a popular series and a well-received show from a critical audience, too (Blake was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series). <\/p>\n<p>However, when it debuted, the network was a bit unsure about just how successful the series would be.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the theme song for the series is fairly well-known for being sung by Sammy Davis, Jr.<\/p>\n<p>The song, &#8220;Keep Your Eyes On The Sparrow,&#8221; is even on Sammy Davis Jr.&#8217;s greatest hits album!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/fred_bird_baretta-797674.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B001NYO3O6&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>However, initially, the song was an instrumental!<\/p>\n<p>Why?<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAccording to <a href=\"http:\/\/sammydavisjr.info\/music\/releases\/original-albums\/the-song-and-dance-man\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sammy Davis Jr.info<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The original composer Dave Grusin supervised this full recording of the classic. The lyrics were mostly written by Morgan Ames, a good friend of Baretta\u2019s star Robert Blake. When initially recorded for the show, singer Jim Gilstrap recorded the vocals but the studio baulked. According to Ames the message was \u201cYou can\u2019t open a \u2018white\u2019 show with a black singer\u201d. The vocals were removed and a wobbly electric guitar added to make Season 1\u2019s opening instrumental only. When the show was a hit, Blake insisted Ames\u2019 lyrics be put back into the theme for Season 2. Sammy was called in to lay down the vocals and the result is widely regarded to be one of the top themes in TV history.  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sammydavisjr.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The legend is&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: True<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bc&#114;&#x6f;&#x6e;&#x69;n&#64;l&#101;&#x67;&#x65;&#x6e;ds&#114;&#101;&#x76;&#x65;&#x61;le&#100;&#x2e;&#x63;&#x6f;m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far. TV URBAN LEGEND: The theme song for Baretta did not have lyrics at first for a slightly out of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-1hd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4662,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/30\/was-baretta-originally-conceived-as-a-reboot-of-another-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":4911,"position":0},"title":"Was Baretta Originally Conceived as a Reboot of Another Series?","date":"April 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. 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