The Magnum P.I. theme song many have come to know and love wasn't the same title song used in the pilot of the original series in 1980 – but when it did debut later that season, it quickly became a fan-favorite.The Magnum P.I. reboot has its own unique take on the crime-fighting private investigator Thomas Magnum — but key elements of the show including the Hawaiian shirts, red Ferrari, and instantly recognizable theme song continue to pay homage to the original series.
The Magnum, P.I. theme song from the 1980s is a regular on best tv theme song lists with its action-packed high-tempo beat, but many don’t realize the original theme they’ve come to know and love wasn’t always the series opener.When Magnum P.I. premiered in 1980, starring a mustached Tom Selleck as the heroic private investigator, the title sequence of the show was a jazzy theme composed by Ian Freebairn-Smith, according to Art of the Title.
It was replaced mid-season by the theme song many know today. The new theme was created by the successful song writing duo Mike Post and Pete Carpenter and eventually became a Top 40 hit in 1982.The Magnum P.I. theme song many have come to know and love wasn't the same title song used in the pilot of the original series in 1980 – but when it did debut later that season, it quickly became a fan-favorite.
The Magnum P.I. reboot has its own unique take on the crime-fighting private investigator Thomas Magnum — but key elements of the show including the Hawaiian shirts, red Ferrari, and instantly recognizable theme song continue to pay homage to the original series.The Magnum, P.I. theme song from the 1980s is a regular on best tv theme song lists with its action-packed high-tempo beat, but many don’t realize the original theme they’ve come to know and love wasn’t always the series opener.
When Magnum P.I. premiered in 1980, starring a mustached Tom Selleck as the heroic private investigator, the title sequence of the show was a jazzy theme composed by Ian Freebairn-Smith, according to Art of the Title.
It was replaced mid-season by the theme song many know today. The new theme was created by the successful song writing duo Mike Post and Pete Carpenter and eventually became a Top 40 hit in 1982.Post was in his 20s when he met a much older Carpenter — who was then in his 50s — at a golf tournament in 1968, and they formed what Post described in an interview with the Archive of American Television as “the best partnership this town has ever known.We worked together 18 years, we wrote approximately 1800 hours of television together,” he said.
Despite their different backgrounds (Carpenter’s background was in the brass section, while Post’s expertise was in the rhythm section), the business partners worked seamlessly together.“I don’t know who wrote what. I never gave one s--t who wrote what, he never gave a damn who wrote what. At the end of it, we looked at each other and laughed,” Post said of the partnership. “We laughed all the way through it. We never had a contract, never had an unkind word between us, not one, not one argument.A good theme song, according to Post, “becomes a character” on its own and adds to the drama or comedy.
“It’s magic and I don’t even know how it happens,” he said of the song-writing process. “About half the time or three-quarters of the time, I’m a witness, you know, I’m just kind of standing there you know and the train comes by and it’s oh ok, we’re going to do that.”The Magnum P.I. theme was “very easy to do” because of Post’s own connection to the show’s titular character.I had gone to grammar school, junior high and high school with Tom Selleck, been friends with him my whole life,” Post told the Archive of American Television.
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