Remembering Neil Hefti, composer of the Batman theme

Composer/arranger Neil Hefti, who passed away at age 85 Oct. 11, will be forever remembered for his catchy theme tune to the 1960s "Batman" TV show, but he did a lot more.

Coming up in the big band era, Hefti had a long and successful collaboration with Count Basie, writing many hit charts for the bandleader's orchestra. He also provided arrangements for Frank Sinatra and many others.

And, along with "Batman," he penned the memorable theme to "The Odd Couple."

Here he is talking about the "Batman" theme:

"Sure, you may say I could have written the theme itself in two minutes -- but it took weeks to work out the arrangement, which is inseparable from the melody," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1966. "It often takes time to write something that sounds like you just turned on a faucet and it flowed out."

Mr. Hefti also inserted a single lyric -- a repeated exclamatory "Batman!" -- which prompted him to joke that his composer's credit should read, "Word and Music by Neal Hefti."


And here's that show's opening credits:

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