TV Theme Songs: Welcome Back

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Happy Friday! I’m up and pestering you early because I have a hot lunch date with my sister-in-law. Before I leave you’re going to be hit with another song on my list of favorite theme songs from television series. I’ve used a number of songs where I didn’t particularly care for the show, and today’s entry is one of them. Welcome Back - John Sebastian The show was going to originally be called just “Kotter,” but even a great songwriter like John Sebastian couldn’t find things to rhyme with “Kotter.” He wrote this song, then as just “Welcome Back,” prompting the series to be named Welcome Back, Kotter. It was a “welcome back” of sorts for John Sebastian. The Lovin’ Spoonful frontman (later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with that band) had a long lull in music after the Lovin’ Spoonful broke up, causing the man who wrote songs like “Nashville Cats” (as well as the song “Stories We Could Tell,” which was covered by the likes of Jimmy Buffett and the Everly Brothers) to make more money from selling real estate than his music. Then along came this song, and this show…and, well, it was pretty much Sebastian’s last hurrah. He’s been popular in the folk circles since then, but this was his last big hit. And, as many of you know, the series was the launching pad for the career of John Travolta. He was a “teen idol” in those days, even recording a hit called “Let Her In.” If you can’t tell by his vocals in Grease, singing wasn’t his strong suit. I never watched Welcome Back, Kotter. It didn’t appeal to me for some reason. Maybe because I didn’t think Travolta was that “hunky”? But the song was released as a single and went to #1 in 1976, and I liked it quite a bit. A great memory from the eclectic era of 70s music. Welcome Back Written by John B. Sebastian Recorded by John Sebastian From Welcome Back, Kotter, 1975-79 We tease him a lot: