The "DuckTales Theme" is the song played during the opening title sequence of the animated series DuckTales. It was written by pop music songwriter Mark Mueller and performed by musical artist Jeff Pescetto.
The song was also performed during the end credits of DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. Scrooge McDuck is seen humming the tune of the song in the story A Game of One Cupmanship. The song is also used during the opening sequence of the 2017 reboot series, performed by Felicia Barton.
Lyrics[]
Life is like a hurricane
Here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales!
D-d-d-danger! Watch behind you!
There's a stranger out to find you
What to do, just grab on to some...
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there makin'
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-oo!
Not ponytails or cottontails, no
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Life is like a hurricane
Here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales!
D-d-d-danger! Watch behind you!
There's a stranger out to find you
What to do, just grab on to some...
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-hoo!
Not ponytails or cottontails, no
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Life is like a hurricane
Here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-hoo!
When it seems they're heading for the final curtain
Good deduction never fails
That's for certain!
The worst of messes
Become successes!
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-hoo!
D-d-d-danger! Watch behind you!
There's a stranger out to find you
What to do, just grab on to some...
DuckTales!
(Instrumental bridge)
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there makin'
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-hoo!
D-d-d-danger! Watch behind you!
There's a stranger out to find you
What to do, just grab on to some...
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-hoo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-hoo!
Not ponytails or cottontails, no
DuckTales! Woo-hoo!
Woo-hoo!
(Repeat and fade)
Life is like a hurricane
Here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-oo!
D-d-d-danger! Lurks behind you!
There's a stranger out to find you
What to do, just grab on to some...
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-
Bad and good-
Not ponytails or cottontails, no
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Life is like a hurricane
Here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-oo!
When it seems they're heading for the final curtain
Good deduction never fails
That's for certain!
The worst of messes
Become successes!
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-oo!
(Instrumental bridge)
D-d-d-danger! Lurks behind you!
There's a stranger out to find you
What to do, just grab on to some...
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-
Bad and good-
Not ponytails or cottontails, no
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Life is like a hurricane
Here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Every day they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of derring-do
Bad and good luck tales! Woo-oo!
Life is like a candy cane,
Here in Duckburg
Snowflakes, presents, Santa's sleigh,
It's a duck-blur!
Might make bells jingle,
Or trap Kris Kringle!
DuckTales!
Christmas Eve we're out there makin'
DuckTales!
Tales of Christmas Past and Yuletide
Luck tales!
Life is like an aeroplane
Here in Duckburg
Airplanes, airplanes, aeroplanes!
It’s a duck blur
Might fly an airplane
Or crash that airplane
AIRPLANES! Uh, DUCKTALES!
Now I’m on a boat with Dewey
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Hey, a scooter! WHOOPS! Kablooey!
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
I’ll catch up in a sec or two
Guys, look out, some guy’s behind you!
Even worse, here comes the key change!
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Jump in the plane for the refrain
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Wait, ducks have tails
I just got that
That’s why the name of the show is
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Life is like an evil scheme, here on GlomTales
Sharks and bombs and Scrooge’s screams, it cannae GlomFail
Cannae top my grand plan, to beat that Scotsman
GlomTales!
Technically I’m Scottish as well
GlomTales!
Uugggghhh—Scrooge stinks, Scrooge stinks, Scrooge stinks, Scrooge stinks
GlomTales!
What’s next? Oh yeah!
C-C-C-CG, it’s so fancy
Once Scrooge sees this, there’s no chance he
Cannae compete with the glory of GlomTales!
Bravest, strongest, and most modest, GlomTales!
Okay, we ran out of budget, but kids 6 to 10 will love it
GlomTales!
Reception[]
The DuckTales theme song has been widely regarded as one of the most memorable for a television program, with Dan Fletcher of Time magazine noting its lasting impact despite being just a children's song: "Some of the lyrics might not make sense to those older than the age of 10 — we're not sure how life in Duckburg is like a hurricane, or exactly what a 'duck blur' is — but the DuckTales song is still awesome." An article from Vanity Fair noted that the song has a tendency to stick in someone's head, a phenomenon known as an earworm. TVLine lists the song among the best animated series themes of all time.
Trivia[]
- While the second version of the "DuckTales Theme" was eventually dubbed, the first version of the theme for the German dub of the show is remarkable for actually being sung in English, using the theme from the audiobook version in low pitch. Watch
Germany's original English-language "DuckTales Theme" on YouTube.
- For the "Time is Money" serial, several of the clips were replaced with ones prominently featuring Bubba the Cave Duck, and all episodes afterward changed the assortment of clips even further to include a few clips featuring Fenton Crackshell (with and without the Gizmosuit), all taken from the "Super DuckTales" serial.
- When the original series aired on the Disney Afternoon, a shorter 45-second version of the opening was produced.
- The shot of Scrooge swimming after a dollar in space was the basis for the "Scrooge" screensaver in After Dark's Disney Screensaver Collection.
- Although the cheers throughout the song are "whoo-hoo", according to Mark Mueller, the background singers clearly sing "woo-oo". The first episode of the reboot even uses the latter as the title.
- During the opening sequence of the reboot series, three of the scenes are based on three paintings done by Carl Barks.
- In one of the Disney XD promos for the reboot series, Marco Diaz from Star vs. the Forces of Evil (another Disney XD cartoon in his "live chat" form) covered the theme for the reboot, along with some other characters from the show.
- The opening sequences for both the original and reboot series feature Launchpad McQuack's plane diving when the singer sings "aeroplanes", as well as the characters being chased by a mummy during the verse: "There's a stranger out to find you."
- The use of the British word for fixed-wing aircraft "aeroplanes" instead of the American "airplanes" is a bit of an oddity, considering that the show is American-produced, is set primarily in the United States, and that composer/lyricist Mueller and performer Pescetto are Americans.
- In season two of the 2017 series, the opening sequence was slightly modified where the scene of Big Bulb shooting a laser was replaced with Gizmoduck, and the scene showing the villains close-up has Bigtime Beagle replaced with Magica De Spell.
- The theme for the reboot is the first theme song for a Disney XD show to be longer than 30 seconds.
- To hype the 2017 reboot, a video was made of the main cast singing the theme.
- The reboot episodes "Last Christmas!" and "How Santa Stole Christmas!" used a holiday version of the theme sung by a Frank Sinatra soundalike.
- The reboot episode "The Trickening!" has a Halloween version of the theme song sung by a Dracula soundalike (though unlike the Christmas version, the lyrics were unchanged).
- Two alternate versions of 2017 series' theme were released for the "Theme Song Takeover" short series. The first was on June 27, 2019 with Launchpad, where the lyrics were performed by his voice actor Beck Bennett.[2] The second was on July 19, 2019 with Flintheart Glomgold, where the lyrics were performed by his voice actor Keith Ferguson.[3]
- The Glomgold takeover song would also be used as the opening song for the episode that would also be called "GlomTales!"
- Glomgold's version of the theme song takeover also reveals that (within the 2017 universe) McDuck Enterprises owns the song.
- For Season 3 of the 2017 series, Della Duck was added to the opening sequence, appearing in the running sequence, in the Sun Chaser with Launchpad, in the scene with the family in the treasure room when Pixiu appears to blow out the torch Scrooge has and in the family close-up at the end of the intro.
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ Quote: "Pluto und Goofy, alle sind bei dir." (Pluto and Goofy, everyone is with you)
- ↑ Launchpad Theme Song Takeover ✈️ | DuckTales | Disney Channel
- ↑ Glomgold Theme Song Takeover 💸 | Comic-Con 2019 | DuckTales | Disney Channel
