Song of the Day 5/21: Gary Portnoy, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” (“Cheers” theme)
Comic actor George Wendt, most famous for his role as “Cheers” barfly Norm Peterson, died at age 76 yesterday, the 32nd anniversary of the show’s last episode. He appeared on dozens of TV shows before and after the 11 years he spent on the sitcom, but was indelibly identified with the character he once said was “me with better writing.”
The writing was razor-sharp, and Wendt got a lot of the best lines. He was one of only three cast members to appear in all 275 episodes, and in each one he entered to a chorus of “Norm!” and a gave a snappy answer to an anodyne question. My favorite, “It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear” – was just one of many memorable comebacks. Norm was the last customer to leave the bar in the series finale, viewed by 40% of the national audience.
“Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” was voted the best TV theme of all time by both Rolling Stone readers in 2011 and TV Guide editors in 2013. Songwriter Gary Portnoy got the assignment after producers couldn’t get rights to their first choice, a tune he had written for a failed musical, “Preppies.” Two efforts were rejected before he came up with a demo of the one people know.
Producers couldn’t find a singer they liked better than Portnoy himself, and there are no backup singers – he provided all six voices on the chorus. Once the show took off, Portnoy recorded a longer version that was released in 1984 and made the charts at No. 58.
