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For the intro sequence in itself, see South Park Title Sequence.

The "South Park Theme" song plays at the beginning of most South Park episodes. It was composed and performed by PRIMUS, featuring the band's lead singer, Les Claypool.

Production[]

Following the release of The Spirit of Christmas, Matt Stone and Trey Parker approached Primus to compose a song for their new show titled South Park, offering the band $74 along with a copy of The Spirit of Christmas. The song was then recorded with its original composition at 40 seconds long, which was rejected by Comedy Central, citing that it was "too slow". Upon Comedy Central's request, the theme song was compressed via Pro Tools, with Les Claypool re-recording his vocals during their concert tour at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre.[1]

Background[]

The South Park theme song is composed in F# minor and its BPM is 144 running at a scale of 4/4.

The version of the song featured in "The Unaired Pilot" was much slower, however, it was sped up for broadcast. An instrumental version of the original broadcast song plays over the credits to most episodes. The theme song plays after the show's satirical disclaimer is displayed.

In Season One, the instrumental was originally constructed with a slightly quieter guitar and a more prominent bass guitar. Up until "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", this version was used. In "Death", the bass guitar was quieted and the guitar was made louder. In "Pinkeye", the intro was changed to include eerie Halloween sounds. For the rest of the show until "Fourth Grade", the instrumental with the prominent guitar was utilized, with minor but noticeable changes made starting with Season Three.

Also in Season Three, the boys' vocals were changed; Kyle Broflovski's voice stood out more in his and Stan Marsh's lines, and Eric Cartman's voice was updated. Additionally, Kenny McCormick's line was completely changed, with the replacement of his lines and a higher pitch.

Over the course of the series, certain lyrics have been changed, including an entire verse, originally sung by Kenny McCormick, sung by Timmy Burch in the Season Six intro due to Kenny's temporary death in the Season Five episode "Kenny Dies". From the episode "Fourth Grade", to "Kenny Dies", a hip-hop version of the song was used, which was remixed by Paul Robb. Afterward, they used a bluegrass remix of the song until mid-Season Ten, where the original song was remixed with "Whamola" by Les Claypool and his group, The Frog Brigade, from their album, Purple Onion.

When Comedy Central started airing reruns of Season One through Nine episodes in syndication, the bluegrass remix was used, with an added cash register sound right before Claypool starts singing; the visuals resemble those from the first four seasons, with the addition of more recent characters.

For the special "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers", a new theme song was made specifically for the episode. The lyrics were altered to fit the personality of the characters.

Starting from "Fourth Grade" up until Season Seventeen, the theme song showed various clips from previous episodes as the music played.

From Season Six up until mid-Season Ten, as clips from numerous episodes played, the theme song showed animation director Eric Stough designing the boys with construction paper, an animation technique that was used for the very first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".

From Season Seventeen and onwards, a 3D computer-animated version of the intro is used, and it consists of the bus driver driving past various South Park locations as the the boys sing their lines, resembling the original Season One-Four intro in many respects, with the exception of the 3D animation and "Whamola" instrumental.

In the episode "Sons A Witches", the theme song was altered with many Halloween-themed elements added.

In Season Twenty-Three, a whole new Tegridy Farms intro based on the intro of Green Acres, sung by Randy Marsh, is used, replacing the normal opening theme since the latter half of Season Ten. The clips from the intro contain various scenes from the season's episodes. The closing theme retains the same, but it features Randy Marsh scatting "Tegridy Farms" over the song. The intro was only used for the first 6 episodes of the season.

In the episode "Tegridy Farms Halloween Special", the intro, along with some lines, were altered with many Halloween-themed elements added.

The episode "Board Girls" features a PC Babies intro to coincide with the storyline, but still kept Randy Marsh's "Tegridy Farms" scat during the ending.

"Turd Burglars" features a funk remix of the show's theme song for the One For The Ladies show which sang by the female members of the show with the announcer announcing the title. This episode brought back the original instrumental ending theme without Randy Marsh's "Tegridy Farms" scat over the song as it was in the previous seasons.

"Basic Cable" features a James Bond-inspired theme song for the Scott Malkinson Show, which had a James Bond styled animation featuring Scott Malkinson.

The show's normal theme from the latter half of Season Ten returns for the only time in the twenty-third season in the finale "Christmas Snow".

There are a few episodes that have a unique intro. "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" starts with a cold open of the school choir singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". "Pip" begins with a live-action introduction from Malcolm McDowell. "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" begins with a parody of the 1970 Christmas special "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

"The Pandemic Special" and "South ParQ Vaccination Special" contain no intro.

In the lead up to Season Twenty-Five, the song was re-recorded with an orchestral rendition. The lyrics for Kenny used between Seasons One and Two are adopted in this rendition, sung uncensored and unmuffled.

Lyrics[]

Original[]

Les Claypool:
I'm goin' down to South Park, gonna have myself a time.
Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh:
Friendly faces everywhere, humble folks without temptation!
Les Claypool:
I'm goin' down to South Park, gonna leave my woes behind.
Eric Cartman:
Ample parking day or night, people spouting: "HOWDY, NEIGHBOR!"
Les Claypool:
I'm headin' on up to South Park, gonna see if I can't unwind.
Kenny McCormick or Timmy Burch:
See below
Les Claypool (Unaired pilot-Season 5):
So Come on down to South Park, and meet some friends of mine.
Les Claypool (Season 6-onwards):
Come on down to South Park, and meet some friends of mine.

Kenny McCormick's Lines[]

Kenny McCormick (Unaired Pilot): Our whole town is bigger dammit, right down to the little granite.
Kenny McCormick (S1-S2): I like girls with deep vaginas, I like girls with big fat titties!
Kenny McCormick (S3-S5; remastered S1-S2): Hey, I've got a 10-inch penis, use your mouth if you wanna clean it!
Timmy Burch (S6): Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, livin'la Timmy!
Kenny McCormick (S7-S10): Someday I'll be old enough to stick my dick up Britney's butt!
Kenny McCormick (S10 Episode 8-Present): I like fucking silly bitches 'cause I know my penis likes it!

"Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers"[]

Singer:
Goin' down to South Park
Gonna have myself a time

Michael and Henrietta:
Death and sadness everywhere
Loneliness and degradation

Singer:
Goin' down to South Park
Gonna take my woes with me

Pete:
Nightmares every night
Posers spouting "Let's go shopping".

Singer:
Heading out to South Park
'Cause I cannot unwind

Firkle:
I like spiders, loss and rain
I'm only happy when I'm in pain

Singer:
So I'm goin' down to South Paaaaaaaaark... to die! (echoes at the word " to die")

Season Twenty-Three[]

Randy Marsh:
Goin' down to Tegridy Farms,
Gonna have myself a time

Friendly faces everywhere,
Humble folks without temptation.

Goin' down to Tegridy Farms,
Gonna leave my woes behind.
1
There's ample parking day or night,
People spouting: "Howdy, neighbor!"

I'm headin' down to Tegridy Farms,
Gonna see if I can't unwind.

Towelie:
I got some weed and I don't
know what's going on.
2
Randy Marsh:
So come on down to Tegridy Farms,
And meet some friends of mine.
3

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • The German dub of the intro uses a different instrumental in the first four seasons.
  • On other non-Comedy Central television networks, a special variant of the show would be shown with a similar style to the one seen prior to its change in Fourth Grade, albeit with a lot more characters and references featured.
  • The theme song in the unaired pilot has the same lyrics (despite Kenny's line, which is very dependent on the season number), but it is just slower.
  • This song was a DLC song in Rocksmith 2014.

See also[]

References[]

  1. South Park the 25th Anniversary Concert (Full Broadcast Version). South Park Studios on YouTube (August 26, 2022). Retrieved on August 27, 2022.
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