The ‘Andy Griffith Show’ Theme Song Has Lyrics?

If you showed a time traveler (or, let’s be honest, anyone who is 22 in 2025) the opening sequence of The Andy Griffith Show with the sound off, they’d be like, “Why are you showing me this? Also, when did the world get color? Also, wait, ‘Ronny Howard’?” 

It’s hilariously simple, following Griffith and the future Oscar-winning director as they carry their fishing poles to a lake. Once you turn the sound on, though, you get it. The Andy Griffith Show theme song is maybe one of the most recognizable in TV history, even though it doesn’t contain any words. 

At least, it didn’t.

The Andy Griffith Show was actually pretty groundbreaking in terms of the use of music on TV. Creator Sheldon Leonard refused to rely on stock music, a standard practice at the time, and insisted on hiring a renowned composer to score the series. He chose Earle Hagen, whose credits included Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Carousel. Not only did Hagen produce the original score and generate the theme music for each character, he composed the opening theme, which he recorded in a stripped-down studio with finger-snapping accompaniment from his 11-year-old son and himself on the whistler. “And I’ve never whistled since,” he later said.

Andy Griffith himself loved his show’s music so much, in fact, that he had a vision for an album to promote the second season in 1961. “I’ve made a record that’s just come out, called Songs, Themes and Laughs from the Andy Griffith Show,” he told The Baltimore Sun, excited to describe how Hagen expanded each character’s theme “into a regular piece about three minutes long.” He was particularly enthusiastic about “a fellow named Everett Sloane, an actor out there,” who “wrote some words for the little whistling thing that starts the show off, called ‘The Fishin’ Hole’ and I sang the words.” 

What mystical truths were hiding in that catchy little tune? Not a lot. Appropriately, it’s a really boring song about fishing. This is the first verse:

Well, now, take down your fishin’ pole and meet me at The Fishin’ Hole
We may not get a bite all day, but don’t you rush away

What a great place to rest your bones and mighty fine for skippin’ stones

You’ll feel fresh as a lemonade, a-settin in the shade
Whether it’s hot, whether it’s cool, oh what a spot for whistlin’ like a fool

And it just kind of goes on like that. We don’t know what we expected.

Incidentally, this album is still available, and not just, like, on eBay. You can get the whole thing, including such classics as “Mayberry March,” “Flop Eared Mule” and “Barney’s Hoedown,” on Amazon Music for, like, eight bucks. 

What a time to be alive.