The Website of Pete & Pete

An unofficial fan site for The Adventures of Pete & Pete

Music

The Theme Song

The theme song was done by a band called Polaris which is just basically the lead singer from Miracle Legion, Mark Mulcahy, with some help from Miracles Legion’s drummer Spot, Miracle Legion’s bassist Dave McCaffery, and Drew Waters.

According to Drew (who got them directly from Mulcahy), the lyrics to the theme song run like this:

“Hey Sandy”

by Mark Mulcahy

Hey smilin strange, you’re lookin happily deranged
@##$%^&&*(),…..;’;-0&^$#@ [unknown line]
And have you picked your target yet, Hey Sandy ai yai yai yai…
Dont you talk back, Hey Sandy
Four feet away, end of speech its the end of the day
We was only funnin’, but guiltily I thought
you had it comin’, Hey Sandy,
Don’t ya talk back, Hey Sandy

The unknown line will remain missing. It seems that Mark does not want to reveal it, and that’s a reqest I plan on keeping. If you’re really curious, there are other websites that have the lyrics, or you can turn on the subtitles while watching your Pete & Pete DVDs.

The chords to the song are as follows:

  • A-D-F#-E for the verses,
  • E-D-C#-B-A for the “ai yai yai yai”.

Read the next section for more details about Polaris.

The Bands of Pete & Pete

Many bands have contributed to The Adventures of Pete & Pete. This is a list of many of these bands with some of their albums. To get a complete listing of the albums by a particular band, follow the Web links below. The albums which are listed below have been identified as albums which contain music which was used on the show. Each such album has a sentence or two after it to indicate what song was used in what episode.

Robert Agnello

  • Pete & Pete participation
    • Agnello wrote many odd pieces of music for the show.
    • He was little Pete’s band.
  • Albums
    • Lamb to Slaughter

The Apples in Stereo

  • Albums
    Fun Trick Noisemaker
    This album contains “Tidal Wave” which can be heard at the end of “Allnighters”.

Chug

  • Albums
    Kisser (EP)
    This album contains the song “Flowers” which has been on the show many times: it’s the song the Petes crank out on the stereo in “35 Hours”; it’s also the song played during The Wrigley 500, the bike race in “35 Hours”. It is played after Ellen gets rid of Mr. Zank in “X=Why?”. It is also in “Das Bus”.

Drop Nineteens

  • Albums
    Delaware
    The song “Delaware” off of this album is played in “X=Why?” several times, including when Ellen leaves her father’s office. It is also played several times in “Farewell, My Little Viking”.

Fat Tulips

  • Album
    Starfish
    This is the only album put out by Fat Tulips. “So Unbelievable” was used in “Splashdown!” as Yonger Pete and his friends run through the woods.

Gothic Archies

  • Albums
    The New Despair (EP)
    “Your Long White Fingers” is on this EP; this slow, droning harmonica song was used several times in “The Trouble with Teddy”.

Tara Key

Lamb to the Slaughter

No available information

Luscious Jackson

  • Albums
    In Search of Manny
    “Satelite” from this ep is played in “Dance Fever”.
    Natural Ingredients
    Every song but one played at the dance itself in “Dance Fever” is a Luscious Jackson song off of this album.

Manic Moose

I got this message from a production coordiantor for Manic Moose:

Manic Moose Music is a Manhattan Music studio, formed in 1988. We create songs, sound design and underscoring for both television and commercials with a primary focus on projects directed at kids. Our list of clients encompasses the top ten international advertising agencies as well as major television and cable networks. Current projects include TV series for Sesame Workshop, The Jim Henson Company, and Disney.

Past projects include The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Aliens in the Family, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Muppet Time!, four seasons of PBS’s ZOOM, Sesame English (a version of Sesame St. broadcast around the world to help teach english as a second language to children), The Kermit Channel, Elmo’s Magic Cookbook, and Telling Stories with Tomie DePaola.

For Pete & Pete, we composed songs and underscoring for Episode #16 “The Call”, Episode #17 “The Big Quiet”, Episode #25 “Yellow Fever”, and Episode #26 “Sick Day.”

Good luck with everything. […]

David Hein
Production Coordinator
Manic Moose Music

Magnetic Fields

  • Albums
    Holiday
    Part of the song “The Flowers She Sent and the Flowers She Said She Sent” from this album is looped during “What We Did on Our Summer Vacation”.
    The Wayward Bus
    This album contains the song “Lovers from the Moon” which is featured during a moment on the football field in “Valentine’s Day Massacre”.
    Get Lost
    This album contins the song “Why I Cry” which can be heard at the end of “Farewell My Little Viking” and in several other episodes.

Miracle Legion

Miracle Legion appeared in “Hard Day’s Pete”.

Jeff Newman

Jeff Newman is a film composer who has worked on several projects. His music was released through DSM Producers in New York, which is the name in the credits.

Nice

  • Albums
    Nice
    The song “Circuit Diagram” off of this album can be heard in the background when Pete announces that “the end is near” on WART radio in the “X=Why?” episode. It is also used in “New Year’s Pete” when Pete races to help Frank the Crossing Guard. You can also hear the song in “Nightcrawlers” during one of the night scenes.

Polaris

  • Albums
    Happily Deranged
    This was a promotional cassette in 1995 and 1996 from Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats. It contained “Hey Sandy” (the Pete & Pete theme song), “Staggering” and “Coronado II”.
    Television’s Greatest Hits Volume 7: Cable Ready
    This cd features “Hey Sandy” along with the theme songs from several other shows. Check out the Pete & Pete merchandizing page.
    Music from the Adventures of Pete & Pete
    This album contains a longer version of the theme song, “Hey, Sandy” as well as eleven other tracks from the show (all done by Polaris people).
  • Web site
    • Mezzotinit Records is the recording label started by Miracle Legion, and it contains information about Polaris and their Pete & Pete album.

Poi Dog Pondering

RACECAR

  • Albums
    Girlish
    This album contains “wonderment” which is heard when younger Pete is waxed up and slides through the halls in “Dance Fever”.

Semi-Gloss

  • Albums
    Semi-Gloss
    Their song “The Sunburn Song” was used in an episode.

The 6ths

  • Albums
    Wasps’ Nest
    This album contains the song “Falling out of Love (with You)” which can be heard in many episodes including the beginning and ending of “Das Bus”.

Syd Straw

  • Albums
    War and Peace
    The song at the end of “X=Why?” appears in a slightly different form on this album as “Water Please”.

Syd Straw has also appeared in several epsiodes.

How Do They get these bands?

One of things I find most curious is how the producers of Pete & Pete got the stars and musicians that they did. Brian Gray of RACECAR told me this story about how they were approached to contribute to an episode:

We never met any of the Pete & Pete folks ourselves. Apparently, though, they got in touch with Chin-a Panacione, who ran our (now-defunct) record label. They already had the “Dance Fever” script in hand, and wanted a band to play the dance, with a girl singer to be the “love interest”. We made a sporty little video of ourselves playing in a field of flowers with a hand-held camera, and sent it as a try-out. Jina, our singer, has plenty of stage charisma, but I’m guessing that the producers thought the rest of the band looked just a little too old to pretend to be high schoolers. Putting [our] song in the show was sort of a consolation prize, but it has gotten us a lot of good attention.

I now find it quite curious how many shows since Pete & Pete make a big deal about the music played on the show.