"It's a Jungle Out There" is a song written by Randy Newman and used as the theme song starting with the second season of the TV series ''

Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

''. In 2004, it won an Emmy Award for

Outstanding Main Title Theme Music This is a list of the winning and nominated programs of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the award was presented with the "possibility of one, more than one, or no award given, ...

. As the first season's theme song "Monk Theme" had won the same award the previous year, ''Monk'' became the first series to have two different theme songs win an Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music in consecutive years. The song is not to be confused with the

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...

song of the same name from his 1975 album '' Duit on Mon Dei''.

Themes

The lyrics allude to

Adrian Monk Adrian Monk, portrayed by Tony Shalhoub, is the title character and protagonist of the USA Network television series '' Monk''. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department. Monk has obsessive–compuls ...

's plethora of fears and warn that some degree of caution and attention is necessary to stay alive, given everyday life's many dangers. The song was used twice in each episode—but see the exception below.

History

After the end of the first season of ''Monk'', producer

David Hoberman David Elliot Hoberman (born September 19, 1952) is an American film and television producer, best known as the co-creator and executive producer of the USA Network television series ''Monk'', and the founder and co-owner of Mandeville Films. He h ...

approached Randy Newman to create a new theme song. Newman composed the song and played it for Hoberman and

Tony Shalhoub Anthony Marc Shalhoub ( ; born October 9, 1953), is an American actor. His accolades include five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, six Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award nomination. He played Adrian Monk in the USA N ...

. The song debuted in the second season premiere " Mr. Monk Goes Back to School." It remained unpopular with some fans. USA Network reported that they received many complaints from viewers who wanted the series to continue using

Jeff Beal Jeff Beal (born June 20, 1963) is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of im ...

's "Monk Theme." Some references to this were made in season 2, episode 12, "Mr. Monk and the T.V. Star," where a character is upset about the detective show changing its theme song, and she claims no one else likes the new song. At the end of the episode, Adrian Monk agrees not to change the theme if he ever gets a T.V. show, and the old theme plays at the end of the episode. Although the theme song remained the same, the clips used in the title sequence changed three times over the course of the series: * The first version, used from "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School" at the start of season 2 through " Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" halfway through season 3. This version was used in approximately 25 episodes. * The third and final version was used starting in season 5 with the episode " Mr. Monk and the Actor" and through the series finale. This version was used for approximately 64 episodes, and brought in clips from season 4 and season 5 episodes. Newman wrote another song, "When I'm Gone," for the final episode, " Mr. Monk and the End." The song won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. As the show appears on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

, the first two-part episode has been edited to include the Randy Newman theme.

Other versions

Snoop Dogg covered the song for the season 6 episode " Mr. Monk and the Rapper", in which he also played a guest role as Murderuss, a rapper accused of murder. A rerecorded and expanded version of "It's a Jungle Out There" appears on Newman's 2017 album ''

Dark Matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not a ...

''.

Awards

*2004 Emmy Award for

*2005 ASCAP Top TV Series Award

References

{{authority control 2003 songs Randy Newman songs Snoop Dogg songs Television drama theme songs Comedy television theme songs Songs written by Randy Newman Monk (TV series)