Psych, Twin Peaks, and theme songs
Let me start by stating for the record that I have a lot of affection for Psych, the profoundly silly detective show that premiered in 2006. But I have to admit, it took me a while to warm up to it. I had seen one or possibly two episodes when the series was still on the air, but I started watching in earnest in the summer of 2020, when time stretched out like a yawning chasm, an endless void of doomscrolling and uncertainty. I needed to watch something light, and something that had a lot of episodes, so it would take a long time to get through it.
One of the things that initially threw me about the show was its theme song, “I Know, You Know,” written by the show’s creator, Steve Franks, and performed by his band. Even though the song was originally released in 2004, it feels older than that, like it should have come out in 1997. The band's sound, and the song's lyrics (which contain the title of the show), combined with a montage of goofy moments from the show for the opening title sequence, made Psych feel a show from bygone era, too. Especially in contrast to what I'm used to these days, where most TV shows have instrumental themes (and some of the best ones are just a few seconds long).
I shrugged, and kept watching, and as I watched more, I found the show more and more endearing, despite the theme song.
Then, in the second season, something changed. Specifically, the theme song changed in one episode: a Christmas episode. The vocals were the same as always, but the music was a choral, sleigh-bell-infused, holiday variation. It was kind of cute. A neat little novelty. And then, a few episodes later, the mystery of the week involved a murder on the set of a telenovela, and when the theme song came on in that episode, the regular music was there, but the vocals were re-recorded. The lyrics were sung in Spanish.
It was pretty goofy, but one thing I love is commitment to a bit—and that’s where Psych really shines. Throughout the series, they’d use the plot of an episode as an excuse to make a new version of the theme. The moment my feelings about the theme changed once and for all was an episode in the fourth season, where we learn Gus (Dulé Hill) had been in an a cappella college singing group called Blackapella. And the theme song in that episode is sung, a cappella, by BOYZ II MEN!!!! I don’t know how many exclamation points it takes to properly express what my face looked like when I realized who was singing. Not content simply to reference Boyz II Men in a sidelong way, or just license a song to include in the episode, Psych got these legends to do a completely earnest—and frankly, pretty awesome—version of this dorky song.
The true highlight, however, came in the fifth season of the show, with their Twin Peaks-themed episode. A parody? A tribute? Both? Director Matt Shakman (of WandaVison fame) once told me, “James Roday and I became friends from working on Psych, and we were both big Twin Peaks fans. We conspired in season one to do a Peaks episode if the show ever got successful enough that he could call the shots. And it did. And we did.” They cast several actors from Twin Peaks in the episode, but best of all, they got Julee Cruise to sing the Psych theme. The theme to Twin Peaks is an instrumental version of the Julee Cruise song “Falling,” and the arrangement for the Psych theme—just for this one episode—was completely re-imagined to pay homage. I was astonished, beyond exclamation points. I legitimately, without reservation, adore the Julee Cruise version of the Psych theme.
In any list of the best TV theme songs of all time, the theme to Twin Peaks belongs at or near the top. The music for "Falling" was composed by David Lynch’s frequent collaborator, the great Angelo Badalamenti (who won a Grammy for it), and the lyrics were written by Lynch himself. Julee Cruise started making music Badalamenti and Lynch back in 1985, when they were making Blue Velvet, and their relationship grew from there.
Julee Cruise passed away yesterday, and so I’ve been thinking about her music a lot. I’ve spent a lot of hours over the years driving to her album Floating into the Night (which includes “Falling”), but it had been a while since I’d last listened. In 2020, when I suddenly encountered her voice in the unexpected context of Psych, it felt like a gift.
I think about TV theme songs a lot. (I’ve done several Song Exploder episodes about them: Bob’s Burgers; House of Cards; Game of Thrones; Bojack Horseman; Stranger Things; Downton Abbey.) I really enjoyed listening to a recent episode of the Still Processing podcast where host Wesley Morris and guest Hanif Abdurraqib had a conversation about TV theme songs. You should listen to the whole episode, but I want to highlight this video they discuss in it: it’s a choir warming up backstage, singing the theme song to the classic 1970s sitcom Good Times. It’s a great theme song to begin with, but the version in that video gave me goosebumps.
We form such long-standing relationships with the themes to our favorite TV shows, especially long-running ones. In some cases, it’s possible you’ve heard a TV theme song more often than some songs in your own record collection.
I think that’s what makes doing a cover of a theme song so special. Interpreting a song on the radio is one thing, where the song itself is the entire text. But a TV theme doesn’t just involve music. We have a relationship with a show’s characters and the storylines, as well as what was happening in our own lives as we watched. The theme song acts as a little piece of synecdoche, reminding us of all of that.
Julee Cruise’s haunting voice will always take me back to the eeriness of the world of Twin Peaks, as well as my memories of driving to gigs in New England in the early 2000s. I hope I can keep running into her voice in unexpected places for the rest of my life.
Next week, Josh Malina and I are going to watch an episode of Psych as part of our Unnecessary Commentary watch-along series. Specifically, it’s the episode that Josh guest stars in. It’s just a coincidence that the timing worked out this way. Our Patreon supporters voted early this week in a poll to choose which show we’d watch, and they happened to vote for an episode of Psych from a few different options. I plan on taking the opportunity to make everyone listen to the Julee Cruise version of the theme.
— Hrishikesh
ps: I added “Falling” to the NapCaviar playlist this week, along with new songs from Angel Olsen and from Jenny Owen Youngs, whose new EP came out today (featuring a song I co-wrote and co-produced, “Ghosts”). You can find the playlist on Spotify here.