Animaniacs Title Sequence

Template:Infobox Animaniacs song The title sequence to the animated series Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs was a theme song that served to introduce the characters to the audience and the general premise of each of the shows plots. The sequence was composed by Richard Stone, written by Tom Ruegger, and primarily sung by the Warners. The theme song had a variety of alternate endings and in the series' first season won an Emmy Award for best song. The final bars of the Animaniacs theme (as well as Bugs Bunny and the WB shield) were commonly used by Warner Bros. to begin various animated series until 2005, when Warner adopted a snippet of the song "As Time Goes By" for its logo sequence.

Change

During its run, the title sequence had gone through several changes in its lyrics. In the original lyrics, a line referenced former President of the United States Bill Clinton's saxophone-playing appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show during his initial presidential campaign ("While Bill Clinton plays the sax"), and Pinky and the Brain were the first cast members introduced by the Warners in the second-to-last verse ("Meet Pinky and the Brain, who want to rule the universe"). For the second season, the Bill Clinton reference had been removed and replaced with a video clip from the episode "Taming of the Screwy," with the lyric, "We've got wisecracks by the stacks." This first change was made because senior producer Tom Ruegger felt that the line was excessively dated. For season 3, Pinky & The Brain had been spun off from Animaniacs into their own show, causing a further alteration to the lyrics: the Pinky and the Brain line with an introduction to three other cast members, becoming "Meet Ralph and Doctor Scratchansniff, say hi to Hello Nurse". Additionally, the "wisecracks" lyric was changed again, with new animation (albeit from a different studio than the rest of the title sequence) set to a new line, "We pay tons of income tax." In all versions, the instrumental track was never rerecorded, so the saxophone that doubles the Warners on that one line remains audible. Also, when Animaniacs aired on Nickelodeon, the Nickelodeon version of the theme song was altered and cut so the Warners would come out of a Nickelodeon logo rather the Warner Bros. water tower.

Rotating Lyric

The second-to-last line of the title sequence was a "rotating lyric", a line that was changed from episode to episode. The lines of the rotating lyric ended with words that rhymed with the title sequence lines, "We're Animan-y, totally insane-y...". The rotating lyrics were sang by either one or all of the Warners, and the line was usually a pop-culture reference. Lines in the "rotating lyric" of the theme include:

• "Here's the show's namey" (Dot) (This was the first line used, appearing in the premiere episode)
• "Pinky and the Brainy" (Yakko, Wakko and Dot)
• "The rain in Spainy" (Dot)
• "Eisenhower, Mamie" (Yakko)
• "Where's Lon Chaney?" (Wakko)
• "Andromeda Strainy" (Yakko)
• "Chicken chow meiny" (Wakko)
• "Dana Delaney" (Yakko)
• "Hydroplaney" (Yakko, Wakko, and Dot)
• "Shirley MacLainey" (Dot)
• "Come Back Shaney" (Dot)
• "Citizen Kaney" (Yakko)
• "Uhhhhh..." (Yakko)
• "Novacainey" (Yakko, Wakko and Dot)
• "No Pain, No Gainy" (Dot)
• "Penny Laney" (Wakko)
• "Tarzan and Janey" (Dot)
• "Hunchback of Notre Damey"(Wakko)
• "Frasier Craney" (Yakko, Wakko, and Dot)
• "Miscellaney" (Yakko)
• "Money down the drainy" (Yakko, Wakko, Dot)
• "How Urbany" (Yakko, Wakko, Dot)
• "Nickelany" (Dot) (only used in Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network airings)

Song Lyrics

It's time for Animaniacs
And we're zany to the max
So just sit back and relax
You'll laugh till you collapse
We're Animaniacs

Come join the Warner brothers
And the Warner sister Dot
Just for fun we run around the Warner movie lot
They lock us in the tower whenever we get caught
But we break loose...
And then vamoose...
And now you know the plot

We're Animaniacs
Dot is cute and Yakko yaks
Wakko packs away the snacks
While Bill Clinton plays the sax (We've got wisecracks by the stacks) (We pay tons of income tax)
We're Animaniacs

Meet Pinky and the brain (Meet Ralph and Doctor Scratchansniff)
Who want to rule the universe (Say Hi to Hello Nurse)
Goodfeathers flock together,
Slappy wacks 'em with her purse
Buttons chases Mindy
While Rita sings a verse
The writers flipped
We have no script
Why bother to rehearse

We're Animaniacs
We have pay or play contracts
We're zany to the max
There's baloney in our slacks
We're Animaney
Totally insaney
Here's the shows namey (rotating lyric)
An-i-man-i-acs
Those are the facts!