The Office Theme Song: US vs UK

Our first greatest hit occurs at the beginning of every episode: the theme song. Whatever just popped into your head reveals where your Office allegiance lies - in the US or the UK. Fans of the original UK series will instantly recognize "Handbags And Gladrags" as the show's melancholy theme song, but it wasn't the creators' first choice. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant originally wanted Cat Stevens' "Sitting," but Stevens' camp refused to allow it (or wanted too much money). Their second choice was "Handbags And Gladrags," a minor hit for Rod Stewart in 1970. Written by Manfred Mann singer Mike D'Abo, it's a commentary about the hollow pursuit of material things like expensive handbags and fancy clothes but, more than 30 years later, became synonymous with the workaday drudgery at Wernham Hogg paper company. The theme song version was adapted by British composer Big George and sung by Fin Muir of the metal band Waysted.

In the season 1 episode "Training," Wernham Hogg's hapless manager David Brent (played by Gervais) sings the song over the end credits.

The American version of The Office is goofier and less sardonic than its British counterpart, and the difference shows in their respective theme songs. While "Handbags And Gladrags" solemnly soundtracks a lonely commute to Wernham Hogg, the US "Office Theme" introduces us to the staff at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton office with a whimsical instrumental. But there's more going on beneath the surface, according to its composer, Jay Ferguson.

"It's a main title that goes against type," he told BMI. "It has this vulnerability, this yearning to it that soon explodes into this overdone optimism which then gets crushed - which is pretty much what the show is about."

Greg Daniels, the show's producer, initially chose a handful of existing songs and let the cast choose the one they wanted for the theme song. They picked "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO but another show was already using it: the short-lived drama LAX. When Ferguson got the gig, the placeholder theme was The Kinks' "A Well Respected Man."

The song finally came together just one week before the first episode aired when Bob Thiele (aka Joey Scrantone) put together an unnamed band to record the theme. The group showed up in the season 2 episode "Booze Cruise" as the cruise ship band, dubbing themselves The Scrantones.

Scrantonicity perform at Phyllis' wedding

The Scrantones aren't the most-famous Scranton-themed band from The Office. That honor goes to Kevin Malone's Police-themed cover band, Scrantonicity (inspired by the album Synchronicity). Jim and Pam are shocked to discover Kevin as the lead singer and drummer of the group when he submits an audition tape to perform at Pam and Roy's wedding. That gig falls through, but Phyllis snaps them up for her wedding reception in season 3. The band runs through a number of The Police's tunes, including "Roxanne," "Every Breath You Take," and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (with Rashida Jones).

The songs underscore some important emotional moments, especially for Pam. She watches Jim (the one that got away - for now) dance with Karen during "Fields of Gold." She also reconnects with her ex-fiance, Roy, after he pays the band to play their song: Jewel's "You Were Meant For Me."

The episode was a challenge for Kevin's portrayer, Brian Baumgartner, who had no musical experience beforehand (unless you count his karaoke rendition of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" in "A Benihana Christmas"). He told Entertainment Weekly before the show aired: "It's been really fun because it's given me the freedom to go, 'This is impossible, I don't drum - or quite frankly sing all that well, and certainly not way up where those guys are singing. So just let it go and rock out as well as Kevin can.' I will say, though: Filming this episode was the hardest thing that I've ever done artistically."

Andy sings "Rainbow Connection"

If a cappella is more your speed, you've probably enjoyed the musical stylings of Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), a proud member of the Cornell college vocal group Here Comes Treble. Season 3's "The Convict" is already notable as being the only episode of the US series written by the UK series' creators. It's also memorable for giving us a falsetto, pig Latin version of Jim Henson's "Rainbow Connection," sung by Andy.

Unaware that he's a pawn in Jim's plan to prank Pam, Andy tries to woo the Dunder Mifflin receptionist with a number of her "favorite" things. With Jim's encouragement, he serenades her with "Rainbow Connection" - originally sung by Kermit the Frog in The Muppet Movie - in a "sexy high falsetto voice" while playing the banjo. If that's not enough, he's translated the lyrics into pig Latin - the most romantic of the nonsense languages.

Andy should know better than to trust Jim after falling victim to his shenanigans earlier in the season. In another memorable music moment, Andy annoys his coworkers by showing off his new ringtone, an a cappella rendition of "Rockin' Robin" he recorded himself. Jim steals the phone, hides it in the ceiling, and calls it repeatedly until it drives Andy crazy enough to punch a hole in the wall... which gets him sent away to an anger management program for 10 weeks.

Andy and Dwight perform "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

Once again, Andy tries to impress the receptionist with his musical talent, only this time it's Erin instead of Pam. In the season 5 episode "Michael Scott Paper Company," Andy and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) both have their sights set on Erin. To get her attention, they try to outdo each other during a duet of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." When Andy shows off his banjo skills and vocal range, Dwight responds by strumming an acoustic guitar and singing in German. It turns into such a fiasco that Erin ducks out of the room.

The sing-off is one of Helms and Wilson's favorite moments of the series and they even wanted to record a full-length studio version for charity. In 2020, they finally got to revisit the duet during a virtual reunion on Instagram.

The cast recreates "Forever" for Jim and Pam's wedding

By the time Jim and Pam finally get married in the season 6 episode "Niagara," they've had a chance to sample the musical talent of their co-workers for several years - and don't invite any of them to perform on their big day. But the bridal party has other plans. They recreate a popular YouTube video that uses Chris Brown's "Forever" as the wedding march. But the Dunder Mifflin staff is much less coordinated than the bridal party that danced down the aisle in the viral clip: Andy, hobbled by a post-split injury, uses a walker; a shoeless Kevin shuffles along with Kleenex boxes on his feet; and Dwight accidentally kicks a bridesmaid in the face. During the montage, we also learn that Jim and Pam sneaked off earlier to elope on the Maid Of The Mist ferry boat.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, John Krasinski (Jim) and his Office costars surprised two of the show's fans with a virtual wedding on Krasinski's Some Good News web series. The cast even recreated their famous dance.

The cast sings "Stayin' Alive"

Jim and Pam's wedding wasn't the first time the cast came together for a musical number. In the season 5 episode "Stress Relief," no one knows how to help Stanley when he has a heart attack in the office, so the staff has to take a CPR training class. The instructor tells Michael the proper way to give chest compressions is 100 beats-per-minute, and a good trick is to pump to the tune of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. Never one to get a music reference right, Michael starts singing "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor. Once he lands on the right song, the rest of the cast is so preoccupied with singing along that they forget all about their life-saving task and the "victim" dies.

The "Nobody But Me" Lip Dub

Another ensemble effort introduces season 7, with the cast performing a lip dub to the tune of "Nobody But Me," a 1968 hit by The Human Beinz. In the cold open to "Nepotism," Andy gets off the elevator and kicks off the chaotic performance, which is interrupted by Ryan's attempts to promote the company website and Michael's succession of magic tricks.

Lip dubs, which are single-take lip-sync videos, were all the rage in 2009 when The Office writers were planning the 2010 season. Danny Chun, who wrote the episode, explained in a Q&A: "A few of the writers got the idea of doing a bad lip dub - we'd seen many lip dubs before but none that were full of mistakes."

Originally, he wanted the number to start in the warehouse, go through the parking lot and end in the office, but it was logistically impossible to film that version in one take, so it was staged entirely in the office instead. One thing that never changed was the song choice.

Chun recalled: "When writing it, I looked for a song that was a) short, b) upbeat, c) fun to lip-sync, d) not too current or zeitgeisty (I didn't want a song that would seem like we were trying too hard to be current or cool), and e) something I really liked (I'm always trying to force my musical taste on the show and have precious few chances to do so)."

Michael sings Supertramp-inspired "Goodbye, Toby"

While Andy Bernard is the vocal talent around the office, Michael Scott is the resident songwriter. At least, he thinks so. In the season 4 finale, HR rep Toby Flenderson says goodbye to Dunder Mifflin before he moves to Costa Rica, but not before Michael gets to say goodbye first. Delighted to be rid of his nemesis, he performs a parody of Supertramp's "Goodbye Stranger" at Toby's going-away party with the help of Darryl's band. While the 1979 hit is about leaving a stranger's bed after a one-night stand, Michael - unable to contain his glee - transforms it into the enthusiastic send-off "Goodbye Toby." It's one of two parting gifts from Michael: The other is a rock with a note that reads, "Suck on this!"

Like Michael, his British counterpart, David Brent, also fancies himself as a songwriter. Brent writes original songs for his rock band Foregone Conclusion, including "Free Love Freeway," which Oasis covered in 2004. At the end of the show's two-season run, Brent hit the road to pursue his music career, which is chronicled in the 2016 mockumentary film David Brent: Life On The Road. Ricky Gervais also revived the character on YouTube for a "Learn Guitar With David Brent" series.

Michael and Dwight sing "American Pie"

Earlier in the season, Michael also made an impression with another reworked classic hit. In "Chair Model," Michael is desperate for love after a disastrous relationship with Dunder Mifflin VP Jan Levinson. He thinks he finds his ideal match: a chair model from an office-supply catalog. When Dwight discovers the woman is dead - "as dead as every dead animal who has ever died" - Michael decides to visit her grave, where he sings his own version of Don McLean's "American Pie" in her honor:

Bye, Bye Miss Chair Model Lady
I dreamt that we were married
And you treated me nice

We had lots of kids
Drinkin' whisky and rye
Oh, why'd you have to go off and die?

The writers originally wanted Michael to sing Elton John's "Candle In The Wind," but Elton refused to give them permission because he hated the way 30 Rock had parodied the tune in the past. They tried The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" and finally decided on ZZ Top's "Legs" - until "American Pie" took them by surprise.

B.J. Novak, who wrote the episode (and also plays ambitious Dunder Mifflin employee Ryan Howard) recalled: "We also cleared ZZ Top's 'Legs,' which we planned to use when we do a time-cut to later that night. But on the last take in the graveyard, we had the idea to let Steve and Rainn just sing their hearts out to 'American Pie.' Once we saw that... there's no other way to end a show if you have a take like that."

Dunder Mifflin says goodbye to Michael with Rent-inspired "9,986,000 minutes"

Instead of Michael singing one of his signature parodies before his departure, his staff sings a tune for him. In the season 7 episode "Michael's Last Dundies," Michael is preparing to leave Dunder Mifflin Scranton to live with Holly in Colorado. One of his last duties is to train Deangelo (Will Ferrell) to take his place as host of the annual Dundie Awards, where our next memorable music moment takes place. The staff surprises Michael by singing "9,986,000 minutes" - a reference to the amount of time he's worked for the company - to the tune of the Rent song "Seasons Of Love." Whether you think the performance is sappy or heartwarming doesn't change the fact that it's a significant moment in The Office history as it doubles as a goodbye to Michael and his portrayer, Steve Carell.

If Carell knew about his emotional swan song ahead of time, it was only on paper. Jenna Fischer (Pam) explained: "In the episode where we all sang to Steve the goodbye song, we all rehearsed that without him for a couple of days, and so the first time he heard it was when we sang it to him on camera, so his emotions there were real."

Creed Bratton sings "All The Faces" in the series finale

As longtime Dunderheads know, Dunder Mifflin's eccentric quality-assurance officer Creed Bratton is played by the real-life Creed Bratton of the '60s rock band The Grass Roots (you can hear him on guitar and backup vocals on "Let's Live For Today"). While his fictional alter ego shares lots of bizarre details about his life history - from his encyclopedic knowledge of drugs to his rampant kleptomania - he rarely shows off his musical ability. In "A Benihana Christmas," he does a karaoke version of The Grass Roots' "Spinnin' N Reelin'," but it's his performance of his solo song "All The Faces" that closes out the series - right before his character gets hauled off to jail for a slew of past crimes.

Creed wrote the tune decades earlier after leaving The Grass Roots but suggested it would be fitting for the finale. "So, then, at the table read the script says, 'Creed sings his song 'All The Faces,'" he recalled. "I have to tell you I was moved. I got emotional. What a gift to give me. And, by the way, when I play that song, you can hear a pin drop. And people get very, very personal with it. And that always moves them and moves me. I still get that reaction to that song. It really hit a heart string, didn't it?"

Now, we want to hear your favorite musical moments from The Office. Is it Dwight taunting Ryan with the Billy Joel-inspired "Ryan Started The Fire" after a toaster-oven mishap? The Schrutes singing The Decemberists' "Sons & Daughters" on the beet farm? Pam performing Jeffrey Osborne's "On The Wings Of Love" at a bird funeral? What about Michael and Holly grooving to "Let's Get Ethical"? Let us know in the comments!

July 15, 2020
Here's the full list of songs used on The Office.

---

More Song Writing