Fraggle Rock Theme

The Fraggle Rock Theme is the main title song for the live-action and animated versions of Fraggle Rock.
In the accompanying footage, the opening begins with a shot of Doc's Workshop, leading to the "Fraggle hole", where Gobo runs down the tunnel to join the rest of the cast, who sing a verse of the song. Then, the Doozers sing a verse and the five main Fraggles announce their names. Gobo then runs to the hole that leads to The Gorgs' Garden, and briefly gets captured by Junior Gorg. However, when Junior shows his Ma that he caught a Fraggle, she screams, causing Junior to accidentally toss Gobo into the well that leads to the "Fraggle Pond". Back in Fraggle Rock, everybody ends the song. The theme ends with Boober saying, "Down at Fraggle Rock".
In the context of the show's internal history, the song was written by the great and wondrous ancient Fraggle named Blundig (as revealed in "Mokey Then and Now"). Red Fraggle parodied the song as "Boober Rock" in the episode of the same title. In "Boober's Dream", Sidebottom sings a part of the theme, right after "Dream a Dream (and See)" ends. Gobo also whistles the theme in "Gobo's School for Explorers" and sings it in "The Riddle of Rhyming Rock".
The opening was severely shortened for airings on TNT, the Odyssey Network, and The Hub. Before the first verse ends with "Down at Fraggle Rock", it cuts right to the end of the final verse, right before Boober ends the song. The Hub's airing of "Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk" leaves the intro sequence unaltered, probably due to the episode's length.
The remade opening for the 2022 reboot Back to the Rock begins with a shot of the Earth before zooming in to Doctor Doc's workshop. After the Fraggles announce their names, the shot pans up from Fraggle Rock to the Gorgs' Garden, with Junior pulling out a radish and dropping it down the well.
==Development==
On the Dance Your Cares Away: Evolution of Fraggle Rock Theme Song bonus feature from the Fraggle Rock: Complete Series Collection, songwriter Philip Balsam explains how the song was conceived. It is revealed that at least 17 different themes were written or recorded, and Jim Henson chose the eleventh version to use as a model for the final theme song. One theme song featured mostly scatting instead of lyrics, and this inspired the closing theme.
The bonus feature includes an excerpt of an early version of the opening which was taped but not used. In this version, the main five Fraggle characters bang the pipes near the Fraggle Pond (a la the Pipebangers), causing Doc to observe his water pipes. Gobo peeks out of the Fraggle Hole, is noticed by Sprocket, then rushes back to the Rock, singing about how great Fraggle Rock is. In one lyric, Boober notes that "Fraggle Rock is the spot where the job that you got is 'whoopie'!" This was then followed by two verses: one by the Fraggles and the other by the Gorgs. 
In a 1998 interview, Terry Angus stated that the original opening "didn't explain the show very well... At that time everything was zipping by so fast they didn't show how everything was connected." The opening theme was re-shot to better express the theme of interconnectedness between the different species and worlds, adding a verse by the Doozers, who didn't appear in the original version. In addition to this, the Gorgs don't have a singing verse.
In The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, two brief clips from the original opening were shown while "Down at Fraggle Rock" was sung twice, before Boober ends the song.
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==Alternate openings==
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Five different endings were filmed featuring each of the five main Fraggles saying the final "Down at Fraggle Rock".Post by Karen Prell on Muppet Central Forum, 2003 These endings were meant to be used in different episodes throughout the series, but only the one with Boober was used regularly. The opening that ended with Wembley was used in "The Terrible Tunnel," and the one with Gobo was used in "The Finger of Light."
While the latter was retained in Disney Channel airings, the regular theme, ending with Boober's line, replaced both versions of the openings for subsequent re-airings, international versions, and DVD releases of the episodes, with the exception of the Dutch and Polish dubs. The ending with Wembley can also be found on the bonus material of the third season DVD set at the end of an HBO promo for "The Terrible Tunnel."
For the 2016 remastered versions of the episodes (as streamed on HBO and released on Blu-ray), the audio of both alternate intros is retained in their respective episodes, but the video is replaced with the typical Boober shot.
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==International Versions==
The French and German co-productions used the same instrumental recording of the theme tune used in the original American version, simply using the new footage of the altered Doc and Sprocket segments and dubbing the lyrics and dialogue in their languages. Other international dubs were simply dubbed over in their respective languages. The UK co-production's opening was edited differently. It still used the original recording of the theme tune, only with some additional music and sound effects laid over to stretch the extended time frame, as there was a long exterior shot of the Lighthouse, and the UK version replaced the shot of Doc and Sprocket from the American version with a panning shot of the Lighthouse's interior.
==Album versions==
The album version of this song was longer. It opened with Sprocket barking at the Fraggle hole and Doc asking what he was barking at. It also had more lines of dialogue, including a verse sung by Junior, and a scat-singing verse performed by Gobo (which uses the same melody as the deleted lyrics from the demo version), followed by an instrumental saxophone solo of the same verse, and another scat-singing rendition of said verse by both Gobo and Wembley. Subsequent album releases often shorten the instrumental break after Junior's verse, resulting in Gobo having only one scat-solo, as well as having the chorus being sung twice at the end, rather than three times. The only album that uses the original TV version is Perfect Harmony, cutting out the part with the Gorgs.
There are also several international edits to the album version:
* For all foreign-language dubs of the album version, the scene with Doc and Sprocket is not heard.
* UK: The theme is slightly remixed and during the beginning, only Sprocket's barking can be heard. Also, the scat-solo is only performed once, with the first half being instrumental and the second half being sung by Gobo and Wembley. This version was used as the opening for the UK Fraggle Songs home video release, with many clips from various episodes shown to stretch the time.
* Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway: An instrumental bass solo is heard at the beginning, and the second half of Junior's verse is replaced with the chorus being sung twice by the Fraggles. (Aside from this, Junior's scat-singing remains intact in English.) Furthermore, the instrumental sax solo of the scat verse is performed once, and no spoken dialogue is heard, except for the brief Doozers' exchange and when Junior sees the Fraggles.
* Spain: Same as the previous version. The only difference is that, unlike the other versions, the Fraggles announce their names at the end of the Doozers' verse, just like in the original TV version. The particular Doozer verse (with the Fraggle roll call) is repeated again before Junior sees the Fraggles (which is replaced by Gobo yelling "Whoopee!" in this version) and then as the second of the final three ending repeats of the chorus.
* Netherlands: Same as the Spanish version above. This time, however, the Fraggles announce their names, except this time, only before Junior catches Gobo.
* France: Two versions of the French album theme exist. One follows closer to the Nordic version mentioned above, with the Doozer verse being repeated as the second of the final three ending repeats of the chorus (with the Fraggles announcing their names). The second version more closely resembles the original English version of the album theme (except with the signature bass line left instrumental) and also dubs all of Junior's verse and Gobo's scat-singing. (Here, Gobo scats three times in a row, and the third time is accompanied with cheering from the other Fraggles.) Plus, the French voice actors re-dub the theme song for this version, rather than the recorded voices from the TV intro being used, like the first version.
==Other performances==
*The theme song was shortened for the Doozer Music video, ending after the Doozers' portion of the song.
*The theme song was performed by Uncle Traveling Matt, Wembley and Red Fraggle at the Jim Henson's Musical World concert on April 14, 2012.
*The theme reappears in the 2020 webseries Fraggle Rock: Rock On!. An instrumental version opens and closes every episode. Episode 5 features Jason Mraz and Gobo playing the theme on their guitars (in a "Dueling Banjos" fashion). A special version of the theme serves as the finale for Episode 6, sung by the Fraggles and guest stars Neil Patrick Harris, Alanis Morissette, Ziggy Marley, Tiffany Haddish, Common, and Jason Mraz (who sings Boober's ending line).
*Separate groups of Fraggles have their own version of the theme song. The Cave Fraggles sing the pessimistic "Down in Fraggle Cave" in the episode "Fraggle Wars," while the Lost Fraggles have their own variant in the Back to the Rock episode "Lost and Found Fraggles." The latter even has several of the residents mimicking the theme's staging, with Soupie giving the last line.
==Closing theme==
A shorter version of the Fraggle Rock theme song was used as the closing theme for the show. It opened with scat-singing by Gobo and Wembley, followed by two verses of the song performed by the Fraggles. This was used in every episode with the exception of "The Bells of Fraggle Rock" and "The River of Life."
For the final episode of the series, the closing theme was sung by the entire cast during the end credits: the Fraggles, the Doozers, Marjory the Trash Heap, Philo and Gunge, the Gorgs, and even Doc and Sprocket, who wrap it up in the same fashion that Boober does for the opening.
In repeats, such as on TNT and the Odyssey Network, the closing was shortened further.
==Releases==
;Audio
*Fraggle Rock
*Perfect Harmony (opening and closing)
*Music and Magic (opening and closing)
*The Best of Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock (opening and closing)
*Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock soundtrack
Publications
*Favorite Songs from Jim Henson's Muppets (1986)
==Sources==
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Category:Fraggle Rock Songs
Category:Theme Songs
Category:Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Songs