DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. The familiar theme song to the long-running animated TV series “The Simpsons” was written by Danny Elfman. But for the next 27 seasons from the show’s launch in 1990 until 2017, all the music was written, arranged and orchestrated by Alf Clausen, who died last week at age 84. He worked with a 35-piece orchestra and often the show’s cast members to create a dizzying range of musical highlights, winning two Emmys for his efforts. Clausen had demonstrated his gifts for musical satire and cleverness before joining the Simpsons. He provided the music for the famous episode of the TV series “Moonlighting,” that was a parody of Shakespeare’s “The Taming Of The Shrew.” On “The Simpsons,” one of his many inspired contributions was the music for a local musical production of another theatrical classic, “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Its songs featured solo turns by Julie Kavner’s Marge as Blanche and Harry Shearer’s Ned Flanders as Stanley, and a big closing production number, “The Kindness Of Strangers,” featuring quite a few of Springfield’s familiar residents.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE SIMPSONS”)
JULIE KAVNER: (As Marge Simpson) My name is Blanche DuBois.
(As Marge Simpson, singing) I thought my life would be a Mardi Gras, a never-ending party. Ha.
HARRY SHEARER: (As Ned Flanders, yelling) Stella. Stella.
(As Ned Flanders, singing) Can’t you hear me yell-a? You’re putting me through hell-a, Stella.
(As Ned Flanders, yelling) Stella.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #1: (As characters, singing) You can always depend on the kindness of strangers to buck up your spirits and shield you from dangers.
KAVNER: (As Marge Simpson, singing) Now here’s a tip from Blanche that you won’t regret.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #1: (As characters, singing) A stranger’s just a friend you haven’t met. You haven’t met. Streetcar.
BIANCULLI: That was music from “The Simpsons” by composer and orchestrator Alf Clausen. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1997, and she asked him how he worked with the writers of “The Simpsons,” who provided the delightful lyrics.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
ALF CLAUSEN: I’m usually given a set of script pages that contain the lyric and I’m usually given enough pages in front of the lyric and behind the lyrics so that I know what the setup of the scene is supposed to be. And once I’m given the lyric, I’ll be in conference with the producers, and I’ll get a scan from them as to the pacing of the lyric, what the intent of the scene is, what the ambience of the song should be. There are times at which the lyric doesn’t always match up pacing-wise line to line to line. And at that point, I’ll pick up the phone, talk to the producer who wrote the lyric, or if it’s a combination of producers, we’ll have a conference call, and I’ll say, you know, line number 15 has seven words, and line number three has four words. So what can we do to make those match so that, from a song standpoint, it’s easier for me to create something in a song form? So it’s a collaborative effort. They’re very cooperative that way.
TERRY GROSS: Let me move to another track on “The Simpsons” “Songs In The Key Of Springfield” CD. And you wrote a theme for the Springfield news show, Eye on Springfield, with Kent Brockman.
CLAUSEN: Right.
GROSS: Tell me about writing this theme, and what you think of TV themes and news themes that you hear.
CLAUSEN: I think that my take on TV news themes in general now is that somewhere along the way, there has been a god of rock ‘n’ roll that has reached down and grabbed every news director by the neck and said, our news theme must contain rock ‘n’ roll, and our news theme must be synthesized because that’s what the public relates to now. It gives us all this excitement. And that’s what I tried to reach for in the “Eye On Springfield” theme, the rock groove, plus the electronic synthesized music that everybody has come to know and love.
GROSS: Well, let’s hear your version of this, the “Eye On Springfield” theme with Kent Brockman.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE SIMPSONS”)
SHEARER: (As Kent Brockman) Hello, I’m Kent Brockman, and this is Eye on Springfield.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALF CLAUSEN’S “EYE ON SPRINGFIELD THEME”)
DAN CASTELLANETA: (As Homer Simpson) Wow, infotainment.
GROSS: What are some of the for-real TV themes that you’ve written over the years?
CLAUSEN: Well, TV themes has not been my bailiwick, as they say. I co-wrote the theme to the “Alf” series. And other than that, I have been basically known as an underscore music person, not a theme writer.
GROSS: And what is underscoring?
CLAUSEN: Underscoring is all of the music that you hear within the body of the show, other than the theme. Underscore music that accompanies dialogue, underscore music that takes us from one scene to another. Underscore music is often feature music that really is designed to complement the mood of a particular scene.
GROSS: And how much underscoring do you have to do for “The Simpsons”?
CLAUSEN: It’s quite extensive. In my normal schedule, I have about 30 music cues to write for an episode, and I have about a four-day turnaround for that. And the music is all written for a 35-piece orchestra, so it’s pretty intense.
GROSS: I want to get to another song on “The Simpsons” CD. And this is actually a parody of a song from “Schoolhouse Rock!,” the song “I’m Just a Bill On Capitol Hill.” And this was a song written by Dave Frishberg that’s supposed to describe – I mean, that does describe how a bill becomes a law. And this is a really clever parody of that by a demagogue.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: You know, sung in the persona of a demagogue. And Jack Sheldon, the trumpeter who sang the original version, sings this one, as well. Tell us how this one came about.
CLAUSEN: Well, again, the lyric originated as part of the script, and when I was given the sample that this was supposed to follow, when I heard the original, my first comment was, well, that’s Jack Sheldon singing. And the producer said, do you know him? And I said, oh, yes, he’s a friend of mine. He’s worked for me many times in the past. He worked for me on “Moonlighting,” playing some of his beautiful, beautiful trumpet solos. He’s one of the best jazz trumpet players in the world. And I said, wouldn’t it be funny if we could get Jack to sing on our parody, as well as the original? And the comment was made of, do you think we’d be able to get him? And I said, sure, let me make the call. I called Jack, and Jack said, I’d be glad to do this. So it really, I think, makes it come that much closer to home and gives the bite that much more significance.
GROSS: Well, let’s hear the parody of “I’m Just A Bill.” The parody is called “The Amendment Song,” and this is from an episode of The Simpsons called “The Day The Violence Died.”
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE SIMPSONS”)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Hey, who left all this garbage on the steps of Congress?
JACK SHELDON: (As Amendment) I’m not garbage.
(As Amendment, singing) I’m an amendment-to-be, yes, an amendment-to-be, and I’m hoping that they’ll ratify me. There’s a lot of flag burners who have got too much freedom. I want to make it legal for policemen to beat ’em ’cause there’s limits to our liberties. At least I hope and pray that there are, ’cause those liberal freaks go too far.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Why can’t we just make a law against flag burning?
SHELDON: (As Amendment) Because that law would be unconstitutional. But if we change the Constitution….
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Then we can make all sorts of crazy laws.
SHELDON: (As Amendment) Now you’re catching on.
NANCY CARTWRIGHT: (As Bart Simpson) What the hell is this?
YEARDLEY SMITH: (As Lisa Simpson) It’s one of those campy ’70s throwbacks that appeals to Generation Xers.
CARTWRIGHT: (As Bart Simpson) We need another Vietnam to thin out their ranks a little.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) What if people say you’re not good enough to be in the Constitution?
SHELDON: (As Amendment, singing) Then I’ll crush all opposition to me, and I’ll make Ted Kennedy pay. If he fights back, I’ll say that he’s gay.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Good news, Amendment. They ratified ya. You’re in the U.S. Constitution.
SHELDON: (As Amendment) Oh, yeah. Doors open, boys.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #2: (As characters, vocalizing).
GROSS: When you’re writing a song, parody, are you trying to write it as if it were serious, as if it were really a Broadway show or really a movie theme?
CLAUSEN: Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m very, very serious about this. And I hearken back to another phrase that an old trumpet player friend of mine told me a long, long time ago, you can’t vaudeville vaudeville. Meaning that if something is funny already, if you try to put something funny on top of it, it will dull the issue rather than enhance it. Therefore, not only in creating the songs, but in creating the underscore music for the Simpsons and trying to give credence to the emotional content of what the characters are saying. I’m always extremely serious. And I think what happens is that the listener and observer gets pulled into the situation more effectively once the music is serious, so that when the gag finally comes, the gag then becomes twice as funny.
BIANCULLI: Alf Clausen, longtime composer, arranger and orchestrator for “The Simpsons,” speaking with Terry Gross in 1997. He died last week at age 84. Coming up, I discuss George Clooney’s Broadway hit “Good Night, And Good Luck,” which CNN is televising live Saturday night. This is FRESH AIR.
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