The theme from Animal House? No way, John. It’s Twisting the Night Away or nothing.
But now that you’ve raised the subject, there’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask you. How did Animal House happen? The budget, as I recall, remained under $5 million, which even in the late Seventies was nothing more than peanuts, and the shoot lasted only about three weeks. Yet can anyone name a movie as full of exuberance, hilarity (vulgar hilarity) and sheer life? My buddies and I trooped down to the Nugget movie theater in Hanover, New Hampshire half a dozen times to see that movie during its original release, cheering for Bluto until we were hoarse, and when I watched the picture again just last year, you know what? It held up. And the music! Twisting the Night Away. Shout. Shama-Lama Ding-Dong. Even the ridiculous theme song for Faber College, composed by the author of dozens of fine film scores, Elmer Bernstein, is a fine piece of music–sonorous, memorable, and silly in just the right way.
Magic. How, I repeat, did Animal House happen? John?
P.S. You’ll find the entire Animal House sound track right here.