| This article is about the theme song for Arthur. You may be looking for the book or the DVD with the same name. |
| Believe in Yourself | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Judy Henderson and Jerry DeVilliers, Jr. (writers) Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers (performers) Michael Yarmush, Michael Caloz, Arthur Holden, additional voices (spoken lines) |
| Runtime | 1:51 (full) 1:07 (theme song) 0:45 (end credits) 2:40 (remix) |
| Played in | The theme song of Arthur |
| Video | |
   
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Believe in Yourself is the theme song to the television series Arthur. It is performed by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, and composed by Judy Henderson and Jerry de Villiers Jr. It plays during the animated opening sequence to each episode, and an instrumental version also plays over the funding credits. The original recording is 1:51, but it is shortened to about one minute for the opening theme and 30 to 45 seconds for the credits. The song is in the key of F major, and its style is reggae.
It was first made available on Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape), as the first track. A remix of the theme plays over the credits of Season 6 and was released on the album, Arthur's Really Rockin' Music Mix.
The theme was covered by the pop group Backstreet Boys for the 2002 special, "Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll."
Audio[]
Original Version
TV version
Original credits version
2001 Techno remix
Backstreet Boys cover
Active copyright holders:
- ©1996 Les Editions de la rue St- Andre CINAR Songs (SOCAN)
- ©1996 Red Cape Songs (ASCAP)
- ©1996 Great Blue Hills Music (ASCAP)
- Purple Cape Music (BMI)
- WGBH Music (HMI)
Lyrics[]
Sheet music
TV version[]
Ziggy Marley: Every day when you're walking down the street,
Everybody that you meet.
Has an original point of view.
D.W. *laughs*
Chorus: And I say hey! (Arthur: Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day,
If we could learn to work and play,
And get along with each other.
Ziggy Marley: You gotta listen to your heart, listen to the beat,
Listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street.
Open up your eyes, open up your ears
Get together and make things better (Arf!)
By working together
(Chorus: Oooh)
Bridge: It's a simple message,
And it comes from the heart.
Believe in yourself, (Woman: Believe in yourself)
For that's the place to start! (Chorus: Place to start)
Chorus: And I say (Arthur: Hey!) hey!
What a wonderful kind of day (Splash!)
If we could learn to work and play,
(Brain panics and Muffy gasps)
And get along with each other.
Mr. Ratburn: Hey!
Chorus: What a wonderful kind of day. Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day.
Kids: Hey!
Arthur: Hey! D.W!
D.W: Hey!
Arthur: Whoooooaaaaaaa....Ooh! (crash/explodes)
And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids version with Brain[]
Singer: Every day when you're walking down the street,
You stop and think...
Credits version[]
Version 1[]
And I say hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
If we could learn to work and play
And get along with each other
You gotta listen to your heart, listen to the beat
Listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street
It's a simple message,
And it comes from the heart
Oh, believe in yourself, (believe in yourself)
For that's the place to start (place to start)
And I say hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day,
If we could learn to work and play
And get along with each other
Hey! What a wonderful kind of day. Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Hey!
Version 2[]
Ziggy Marley: Every day when you're walking down the street,
Everybody that you meet.
Has an original point of view.
And I say hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
If we could learn to work and play
And get along with each other
Hey! What a wonderful kind of day. Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Hey!
Extended version[]
Every day when you're walking down the street
And everybody that you meet
Has an original point of view
And I say hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
Where you can learn to work and play
And get along with each other
You got to listen to your heart
Listen to the beat
Listen to the rhythm
The rhythm of the street
Open up your eyes, open up your ears
Get together and make things better
By working together
It's a simple message and it comes from the heart
Oh, believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
Well, that's the place to start (place to start)
And I say hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
Where you can learn to work and play
And get along with each other
You got to listen to your heart
Listen to the beat
Listen to the rhythm
The rhythm of the street
Open up your eyes, open up your ears
Get together and make things better
By working together
It's a simple message and it comes from the heart
Oh, believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
Well, that's the place to start (place to start)
And I say hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
Where you learn to work and play
And get along with each other
Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Where you learn to work and play
And get along with each other
Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Hey!
Remix version[]
Electronic-sounding voices: And I say...
Hey!
Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Arthur: Hey!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Buster: Cool!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Hey-hey-hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Arthur: Whoooooaaaaaaa!
Ziggy Marley: Every day when you're walking down the street
(Listen to the beat)
Everybody that you meet
(Listen to the beat)
Has an original point of view
D.W.: (laughs)
Francine: Hey, Arthur!
Arthur: Yeah!
Ziggy Marley: Listen to the beat
When you're walking down the street
D.W.: Yeah, mama!
Ziggy Marley: Working together the beat
Leah MacGrady: Keep swinging!
Ziggy Marley: Working together the beat
Francine: Dance with me!
Ziggy Marley: Working together
To make things better
The Melody Makers: Start
Arthur: Whoooooaaaaaaa!
D.W.: Hey!
Ziggy Marley: Listen to the rhythm
Electronic-sounding voices: Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day
Mr. Ratburn: Thomas Edison invented the record player.
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Hey-hey-hey!
What a wonderful kind of daaaaaaaayyyyyy.....
Yeeeaaaaaahhhhhhh.....
Buster: Weird!
Ziggy Marley: You got to listen to your heart
Listen to the beat
Listen to the rhythm
The rhythm of the street
Listen to the beat
Listen to the beat
It's a simple message, and it comes from the heart
Oh, believe in yourself
The Melody Makers: Believe in yourself
Ziggy Marley: For that's the place to start
The Melody Makers: Place to start
Electronic-sounding voices: And I say "Hey!"
Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Francine: You can fly!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Francine: You can fly!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
What a wonderful kind of day
Everyone: Hey!
Remix credits version[]
Electronic-sounding voices: And I say...
Hey-hey-hey!
Ziggy Marley: It's a simple message, and it comes from the heart
Oh, believe in yourself
The Melody Makers: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
Ziggy Marley: For that's the place to start
The Melody Makers: Place to start
Electronic-sounding voices: And I say "Hey!"
Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Francine: You can fly!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
Francine: You can fly!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
D.W.: Yeah, mama!
Electronic-sounding voices: And I say...
Francine: You can fly!
Electronic-sounding voices: Believe in yourself (believe in yourself)
And I say...
What a wonderful kind of day
Everyone: Hey!
Opening sequence[]
Arthur walks along the street on a sidewalk with his dog, Pal, which is all revealed to be taking place on the cover of a book. His sister, D.W., opens the book titled "Arthur", chuckles, and turns a page.
On the next page, Arthur opens a door, hops onto a sofa, and exclaims, "Hey!" He rebounds across the screen while characters' faces sing along to the theme music. Arthur on one side and Francine on the other side ride bikes together in a light blue screen of purple and blue polka dots moving to the upper left. Francine speeds up on one wheel, leaving a trail of dust and Arthur behind, who tries to pedal faster, but he chases her by pedaling slower.
D.W. turns another page of the book, which shows the Read family posing for a family portrait in various places (a sofa, a park bench, on the beach) while Arthur is behind the camera. Arthur tries to take a photo, only for the family to surprise him by taking out their own cameras and taking a photo of Arthur instead.
The photo is seen on the next page, along with other family photos. While Dad and Baby Kate are in frozen motion, Arthur hugs his mother in one photo, then she tosses Arthur into the air off-screen.
Arthur lands on the next page, gives Buster a low five on his bike, and exclaims, "Hey!" Arthur drops down in the screen of characters' faces once more, then splashes into a swimming pool, falling backwards. He swims with Buster, passing Brain and Muffy on the poolside. While Muffy sits on one leg, she waves and sips a glass of juice. Suddenly,Brain panics upon seeing what looks like a shark in the pool, and he bumps into Muffy, spilling the juice all over her. It turns out the shark is actually Mr. Ratburn who yells, "Hey!" Brain shrugs apologetically at Muffy, who is very annoyed and still messy. The characters' faces appear once more on a navy blue screen, all exclaiming, "Hey!"
Arthur walks atop a spinning Earth, and D.W. closes the book. D.W. looks up toward the television. Arthur waves at D.W. from the television screen, and whispers, "Hey, D.W.!" off-screen. She angrily replies, "Hey!" loudly which scares Arthur and causes him to fall backward and the letters of the Arthur title card logo are tumbled. The subtitle "Based on the ARTHUR Adventure books by Marc Brown" fade in on the bottom of the screen in white lettering.
History[]
- 1996–2022: It is played on every Arthur episode at the beginning. In later seasons, the animation became remastered.
- 1996-2012: It is played in the credits. Instrumental versions are played in the funding credits; naturally the first few notes are played in the opening and the last few notes are played in the closing. In addition, instrumental versions of the bridge to promote the PBS.org and Arthur books plugs seen at the closing of each episode.
- 1998: The song makes its full appearance on Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape).
- 2001: It was remixed in the Season 6 credits and on Arthur's Really Rockin' Music Mix. Francine's song, from "To Beat or Not to Beat," "You Can Fly If You Try" can be heard in the background.
- 2002: It was covered by the pop group Backstreet Boys on the closing credits of "Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll."
- 2002-2009: The theme is no longer remixed in the credits, but it starts with the first verse of the song.
- 2008: It was played twice in the intro of "The Frensky Family Fiasco," but was stopped twice by Arthur.
- 2009-2012: An instrumental version is played while D.W. narrates the website and Arthur books. However the lines "What a wonderful kind of day (hey)!" is sung two times when the logos are shown.
- 2012-2014: The instrumental version is played while Arthur narrates the website and Arthur books. However "What a wonderful kind of day (hey)!" isn't sung when the logos are shown and Arthur is seen in his flash animated design.
- 2014–2022: The instrumental version is played while Buster narrates the website and Arthur books. On PBS reruns only of earlier seasons of the series as of 2014, they use these credits.
- 2018: It was covered and performed by Chance the Rapper, Peter Cottontale, Nate Fox, Donnie Trumpet & Stix for Social Experiment for the closing credits for the episode "Muffy Misses Out/Arthur Takes a Stand."
Variations[]
Sound effects[]
- Version 1: Used on some Arthur releases and episodes from seasons 1-5. After Arthur crashes into the title, a boing sound is heard with broken pieces also heard.
- Version 2. Used on almost all Arthur episodes from the time. After Arthur crashes into the title, the broken pieces sounds are still used, but there is no boing sound in this version.
- Version 3: Used on reruns of the earliest Arthur episodes (seasons 1-4). The voices are out of sync in the song, and then, after Arthur crashes into the title, a big splash of water is heard.
- Version 4: Also used on reruns of the earliest Arthur episodes (seasons 1-4). The voices are still out of sync, and then Arthur crashes into the title. As this happens, the sound of garbage cans clanking and clattering are heard.
Widescreen alternate version for seasons 12 through 15 (non-US releases)
Widescreen version (seasons 12-15)[]
Arthur was originally produced in the 4:3 aspect ratio until 2008. Starting with Season 12, episodes were produced in 16:9 widescreen and were broadcast in such format for international airings (although cropped to 4:3 in United States releases) but not the intro. To account for the aspect ratio inconsistencies, the original 4:3 intro was layered on top of background pattern art commonly used for the title cards to fill in blank spaces. Meanwhile, U.S. broadcasts on PBS continued to use the original intro through Season 15.
Reanimated version (seasons 16-25)[]
The opening theme song sequence for the show was remastered and formatted in high definition for Season 16 in 2012. This version is largely the same as the original with only minor visual differences, but it does have brighter colors and the video now fills the entire 16:9 frame. During the scenes where Arthur flies past other characters' faces, additional characters are now visible along the sides of the screen, including Timmy, Brian, James, Emily, George, and Catherine. The audio elements remain the same as the original version.
Cover versions[]
Backstreet Boys[]
The song was first covered by the pop group Backstreet Boys for the 2002 special, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll.[1]
Sons of Admirals[]
Sons of Admirals - a band consisting of YouTube musicians, Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike),[2] Alex Day (nerimon),[3] Eddplant[4] and Tom Milsom (hexachordal)[5] - recorded a cover of 'Believe in Yourself' as a B-side to their debut (and only) single, 'Here Comes My Baby' (Cat Stevens cover)[6] which was released on 25 October 2010 in the UK.[7] Covering the song was McDonnell's idea who was a big fan of Arthur. They also performed the song live at The Sun's Biz Session in October 2010.[8][9]
Chance the Rapper[]
Hip-hop artist Chance the Rapper began performing a remix of the song, titled "Wonderful Everyday: Arthur" at his live concerts in 2014. Although Chance takes several liberties with the song, including his own original verses, the core melody and chorus is preserved.[10] He later released a studio single version on his SoundCloud, featuring Wyclef Jean, Elle Varner, Francis & the Lights, and Jesse Ware.[11]
Album Releases[]
- Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape)
- Arthur's Really Rockin' Music Mix (remix version)
Trivia[]
- In 2017, CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert released a web-exclusive music video featuring an extended version of the theme song by Ziggy Marley himself, with Stephen Colbert, Jon Batiste and Chance The Rapper.
- The only episodes that do not use the song during the end credits include: "My Music Rules/That's a Baby Show" (has since been repackaged with standard credits music on PBS reruns only), "Arthur's Perfect Christmas," and "Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n Roll."
- Near the end of the theme song Arthur is walking on the Earth, which is what he actually does in his dream in the intro of "Arthur's Toy Trouble."
- When Buster is swimming with Arthur, Buster does not have his bathing cap. In "D.W. All Wet", it is known that Buster's mother requires Buster to wear it while swimming.
- The theme song is parodied in "And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids" and "The Frensky Family Fiasco."
- In the Hebrew dub, the scene of D.W. saying "Hey" once she sees Arthur on the television is excluded.
- In early Arabic home media dubs provided by Lebanese dubbing company, Super M Productions, The opening song is replaced by an original, exclusive tune that is only sung by one person.
Errors[]
- D.W. is shown turning the pages of the book with her left hand. When it cuts to a close-up, her right hand is on the book.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Backstreet Boys singing 'Believe in Yourself' [1]
- ↑ Charlie McDonnell - YouTube [2]
- ↑ Alex Day - YouTube [3]
- ↑ Eddplant - YouTube
- ↑ Tom Milsom - YouTube
- ↑ Sons of Admirals recording their cover of 'Believe in Yourself' [4]
- ↑ Sons of Admirals - 'Here Comes My Baby' - EP [5]
- ↑ Sons of Admirals - 'Believe in Yourself' (The Sun Biz Sessions) [6]
- ↑ Alex Day talks about The Sun Biz Session [7]
- ↑ [8]
- ↑ [9]