"Welcome Back" is a popular record that was the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the 1970s American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

Welcome Back, Kotter ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class called the "Sweathogs." Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the series ...

''. Written and recorded by former

Lovin' Spoonful Loving may refer to: * Love, a range of human emotions * Loving (surname) * ''Loving v. Virginia'', a 1967 landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case Film and television * ''Loving'' (1970 film), an American film * ''Loving'' (1 ...

frontman

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for one week in May 1976 after only five weeks on the chart, and also topped the

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart (the show itself had become an instant ratings success upon its premiere the previous fall). It also reached No. 93 on the

country chart Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

History

TV producer Alan Sachs wanted a Lovin' Spoonful-like theme song for a new

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

sitcom entitled ''Kotter''.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

*Northern California experimental band

Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout their career, the band is best known for music created during their most experimental era. During this time, ...

covered the song on January 13, 1992, in back-to-back English and Spanish versions, at The Berkeley Square in Berkeley, California. *Canadian country music artist

Chris Cummings Christopher Allen Thomas Cummings (born August 11, 1975) is a Canadian country music artist. In his career, he has released five studio albums, one compilation album, and one extended play. Several of his singles have charted on the Canadian cou ...

covered the song in 2009 and released his version as a single. The version was later included on his 2010 album ''Give Me Tonight''. *The song was sampled by rapper

Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, ''Lupe Fiasco's ...

for his song "Welcome Back Chilly", rapper

Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his mononym Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper and minister. In the late 1990s, he recorded on the Bad Boy Records label alongside its founder Sean ...

for his song " Welcome Back", hip hop group

Onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...

in their song "Slam Harder", and by rapper AZ for his song "Once Again". * Swedish dream pop group jj recorded a version of the song in 2009. This version of the song is used in the trailer for the second season of MTV's ''Scream''. * The song is often used by

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

organist Matthew Kaminski for former Braves players when they are at bat for their current team. * The artist Rumer recorded it for her 2012 album '' Boys Don't Cry''. * On May 1, 2020,

Count Bass D Dwight Conroy Farrell (born August 25, 1973), better known by his stage name Count Bass D, is an American rapper, record producer and multi-instrumentalist who resides in Millheim, Pennsylvania. His production style is characterised by layers o ...

released a cover of the song on his Bandcamp site, commenting, "This take is a nod to the light at the end of this Coronavirus tunnel. It's a peaceful piano rendition aimed to help with the stress of these times."

References

External links

Song review A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

* {{Chris Cummings 1976 singles John Sebastian songs Chris Cummings songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by John Sebastian Comedy television theme songs 1976 songs Reprise Records singles