Music

Music

The soundtrack to 'Misfits of Science' is a very rocking mix of classic songs and contemporary 80's music, along with a totally cool original score & incidental music that perfectly matches and enhances all the scenes.

NOTES: This information was collected by listening to the episodes, and all lyrics are as heard in the episode.

Music By Episode:

01-02. Deep Freeze
03. Your Place Or Mayan?
04. Guess What's Coming To Dinner?
05. Lost Link
06. Sort Of Looking For Gina
07. Sonar... And Yet So Far
08. Steer Crazy
09. Fumble On The One

10. Twin Engines
11. Grand Theft Bunny
12. Grand Elusion
13. Once Upon A Night
14. Center Of Attention
15. Against All Oz
16. The Avenging Angel
17. Three Days Of The Blender

Arthur Barrow on the score:

Check out the Q&A with him.

—via emails 2011

Steve Schiff on the theme song:

"I co-wrote the theme song for Misfits of Science. It was sung by Karen Lawrence who was the lead singer of a band I was lead guitarist for called 1994. After 1994 broke up circa 1980, I went on to write music for film and tv including the Misfits of Science theme. At the time I asked Karen to do the vocal and she was kind enough to agree."

—Imdb message board 2007

Basil Poledouris on the score:

"The movie was about technology, it's also about people who are very human. They relate to those things like this guy who was frozen. The whole idea of a misfit, taking in a person who is shunned by society, appeals to me. Misfits are outcasts. And those are people who generally tend to be interesting in society. That score was bizarre and comedic. The film was rooted in technology so, for that reason, we used electronic instruments and a kind of calypso, Caribbean rhythm which gives a holiday feeling."

Soundtrack, June 1989


"Pilot films are a strange animal. They have to do a lot; a pilot has to play off all the characters, set the style of the production, define the situations, the nature of the confrontation. I think they almost have to do too much work. They have to have a plot, and they have to be entertaining as an entity into themselves.

That's an awful lot to ask for a two-hour film. I don't know what the solution is, but I think pilots are very difficult things to write. You know it's much easier to write the third show, because now you're familiar with the characters. But just imagine trying to write the first one and do so much. It has to do much more than a movie, because it has to set up a situation, which by definition has to continue. There have to be sequels. I think I scored three shows, the pilot and two other episodes.

I've always used synthesizers. A lot of scores before Misfits had a lot of synthesizers added in, but only as an extra instrument. And outside of the experimental films I did very early on in my career, which were all electronic, Misfits was one of the first completely electronic scores I had done in years."

Soundtrack, September 1989

the gang

~~Theme Song~~

Those Misfits, Misfits of Science, hah hah
Those wild and crazy scientific guys
— I love 'em
Yeah, those Misfits...

Zap me with your misfit science
Shoot me full of ecstasy
I need a hit from this excitement
In my wildest fantasy

I can feel it!
Feels like science, straight from my heart
Ooh, like science, straight from the heart
Oooh
Ooh-ooh, feels like science, straight from my heart

Class assignment, oh-no-ohohohoh
Science is over
Class dismissed!!

mp3

Theme music by:
Basil Poledouris

Theme lyrics by:
Steve Schiff

Jazz intro by:
Bobby Short

80's vocals by:
Karen Lawrence




Listen now to a Spotify playlist
of songs used and referenced
in 'Misfits of Science'.


15 comments:

  1. Oh, you clever, kind person! I have been struggling to make out the lyrics from a low-quality version, after discovering the show less than a year ago and getting myself and my teen sister addicted.

    P.S. How did you get it so clear? Ours is ridiculously muddy, and all we could make out was "Science, straight from the heart". It's so bad that "class assignment oh-no" was misheard as "like a bird up above"!

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  2. Well, I and a friend listened over and over to the best quality version we could find (which you'll find on the 'videos & mp3's' page), picking it out word by word because we knew that it was important to fans :) Though a fan has brought to my attention that the 'class assignment' line is actually probably 'class at the sound of the bell'. So 'I'm looking into that (I'll have to correct it if so, sorry for that). But we did the best we could! :)

    It's cool that you and your sister are having fun with the show. Cheers!

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  3. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find the lyrics anywhere, 'cos the writer isn't credited on IMDB.

    Haven't finished watching the episodes yet though, we're trying to make that first-time magic last. Been spreading the word to as many people as I can - it's news to everyone, I'm not sure it's ever actually aired here.
    --
    Love you for your mind...

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  4. Yes, let the first-time magic last. That's always the best feeling, to turn on an episode that you've never seen and be carried away by its magic (though I can attest to the fact that even once you get to the third and fourth viewings, these episodes hold up!).

    Never actually aired where, if I may ask?

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  5. Hello! Just wanted to give an update to the theme lyrics. After much scrutiny I have determined the questionable verse listed is actually, "And if hit, will this exciten my wildest fantasy?" Hope everyone enjoys it!!
    Claire

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  6. Hi, Claire! Welcome, and thanks for the new interpretation! :) Unfortunately I don't think it's perfect yet... Perhaps 'will excite me in my'? I can almost hear that. Lol, I've played it over so many times trying to tell what's being said there that I think I'm incapable of telling any longer. What does anyone else think?

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  7. The theme is so catchy

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  8. An official soundtrack should be released!

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  9. Hi. Love the website. There are things about the 80's I still enjoy and this show is one of them. Don't miss 80's hair or the shoulder pads as much though. It is great the lyrics are on this site, as could never understand them. Just wondering if one lyric was 'i need a hit of this excitement', and another was 'I gotta feeling'? Thanks again.

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    1. Hi Andrew. Glad you like the site and it's helped you out with the lyrics. You could be right about the tweaks to the lyrics - everyone has their own interpretation. I just have posted what the majority agrees on so that there is something to go off of. Have you heard the longer version? (track 61 on the playlist above and also available on the Poledouris CD on Amazon) There's another verse! It's otherworldly to hear another verse and try to pick out what's said in it, since this version is so ingrained in my mind. :)

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  10. My take on the full lyrics
    [the extra line in the theme song, before 'Science is over', I hear as 'Strike a bang of the bell.']

    hey, hey, hey … misfit (2x)

    Rock me with your misfit science.
    Fill me full of ecstasy.
    I need a hit from this excitement
    In my wildest fantasy.

    Eyes so cool,
    Electric and alive.
    I knew
    The power of your mind.

    I got a feelin’
    Of science, straight from my heart
    Ooh it’s science, straight from my heart

    hey, hey, hey … misfit (2x)


    I hit the floor
    As a flash of lightning
    Shook the laboratory
    you bolt the door, and covered my eyes
    Didn’t want to see…

    You fool,
    I love you for your mind
    So cruel
    to treat me so unkind

    I got a feelin’.
    Feels like science, straight from my heart
    Ooh, like science, straight from the heart
    Aah science, straight from my heart
    Oooh science, straight from my heart
    Oooh.

    (instrumental verse)

    You fool.
    I love you for your mind
    I got a feelin’
    Ooh, Feels like science, straight from my heart
    Ooh, Science, straight from my heart
    Ooh-ooh, it’s Science, straight from my heart

    Ooh, Science, straight from my heart (4x)

    Feels like science straight from my heart
    Straight from, straight from my heart
    Science, straight from my heart,
    Oh, Science, straight from the heart
    Science straight from the heart

    Science is over
    Class dismissed! Class dismissed!

    Straight from my heart, my heart
    Science, straight from the heart
    Straight from my heart
    Straight from the heart

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mike! Sorry, your comment has been languishing in spam this whole time! Thank you for posting your interpretation, you have some great suggestions which I can hear now after you point it out. I just love this theme song!

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