• Where Everybody Knows Your Name

'Where Everybody Knows Your Name' is the theme song from the 1980s television sitcom Cheers. Upon hearing it they each felt that with a lyric re-write 'People Like Us' would be the perfect theme song for their upcoming NBC sitcom,. Title: Afdrukken CHEERS, THEME FROM WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME (4 FILES).tif (8 p Author: mescolanza Created Date: 8:39:47 PM.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

• • • The Story Behind The Cheers Theme FATE In the fall of 1981, Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart were at a crossroads in their respective lives. Gary was in between songwriting partners and had just been fired as a staff writer for a major music publisher, and Judy had recently enrolled the youngest of her three kids in the first grade. One night Judy was out to dinner and found herself seated next to a Broadway producer who was looking for someone to compose the score for his new musical. Almost on a whim, Portnoy and Hart decided to take a shot at collaborating on the songs for the musical entitled “Preppies”. (Gary had never written for the theatre before and Judy had never written a song!) They began the project with low expectations (but very high spirits!) Working on an upright piano in the bedroom of Judy’s Central Park West apartment, they composed the opening musical number to “Preppies”. The song was called “People Like Us”. It had a lilting melody and its lyrics poked fun at the lifestyle of decadent old-money WASPs.