Pokémon Theme

"Pokémon Theme" (also known as "Gotta catch ’em all!") is a song written by John Siegler and John Loeffler and performed by Jason Paige. It is the original theme song for the first season of the English adaptation of the ''Pokémon'' anime. Since its release, the song has been virtually synonymous with the ''Pokémon'' franchise because the line "Gotta catch ’em all!" has become its official English slogan; it is derived from the Japanese ポケモンGETだぜ! ("''Pokemon'' 'getto''''da ze!''").

"Pokémon Theme" is a fast-paced pop rock song in the key of G Minor, with continuous male vocals intermixed with a backup vocal accompaniment.

Lyrics

The song is sung in first person by an aspiring Pokémon trainer. He is determined to become the very best, "like no one ever was". To do this, he intends to travel far and wide, catching new Pokémon. He exhorts the listener to follow him, knowing they will encounter a lot of challenges, but promising to surmount them all together, and that they will learn a lot of new things along the way.

Background and development

John Siegler and John Loeffler wrote the lyrics to the song. Siegler produced the track, also playing keyboards, bass, and programming drum machines. David Rolfe, the vocalist for later themes of the series, played the guitar while Jason Paige provided the vocals. Siegler initially felt the show's concept was "incomprehensible" but decided it had potential after viewing its debut episode. Jason Paige recorded the original theme song in four hours. Paige initially received a "standard, three-figure flat fee" for the recording, but did not receive any royalties from the song. He received a one-time payment "in the mid-five figures" for the song in 2000. Paige claimed that he "didn’t really know much about ''Pokémon''" when he did the demo, other than a scene in the animated series that caused bouts of epileptic seizures in Japan. The theme song premiered on the debut episode " Pokémon, I Choose You!" on September 8, 1998. In 1999, Paige recorded an extended version of the theme song for the album '' Pokémon 2.B.A. Master''.

According to Norman Grossfeld, the then-president of 4Kids Productions, the line "Gotta catch 'em all!" was created as a "tagline for marketing purposes that would also be included in the theme song". It is derived from the Japanese tagline "(ポケモンGETだぜ!, Pokémon getto da ze!)". One other contender for the tagline was "Catch 'em if you can", which was used in an earlier version of the theme song.

Commercial reception

In 2015, the song was voted to be part of the annual Dutch Top 2000 radio marathon, after a call-for-action on Facebook went viral within the country. It peaked at number 115 in 2018.

In July 2016, after the release of the mobile game ''Pokémon Go'', the song had a 382% increase in listeners on music streaming platform Spotify. There were instances of police cars playing the song through loudspeakers while driving near ''Pokémon Go'' players, as well as groups of people singing the song in public. The same month, after rising up to 1,079% in sales, the song hit number four on ''Billboard''s Kids Digital Songs chart after initially peaking at 10 in 2010. Due to the popularity of ''Pokémon Go'', Jason Paige released a re-recorded version of the theme.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

NPO Radio 2 Top 2000 (Netherlands)

Cover versions

The theme song has been covered by various artists. A cover of "Pokémon Theme" was first released as a maxi single by Robbins Entertainment on October 26, 1999. This version peaked at number three on the Maxi-Singles Sales chart in January 2000. The single peaked at number 36 on the year-end Hot Dance Maxi-Singles Sales chart for that year. It was covered by Billy Crawford for the opening of '' Pokémon: The First Movie'' and was included on its soundtrack. In 2014, it was covered by Ben Dixon and the Sad Truth for the English broadcast of '' Pokémon: XY''. A second cover by Ben Dixon was featured in the films '' Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!'' (2017) and ''Pokémon Detective Pikachu'' (2019); this cover was also used in the official trailer for the ''Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!'' and ''Let's Go, Eevee!'' video games.

Others who have covered the theme song included Postmodern Jukebox, Kurt Hugo Schneider with Lindsey Stirling, Eric Calderone, Baracksdubs, Tay Zonday, Powerglove, Xander Mobus, Nathan Sykes, and Poppy.

In popular culture

The theme song was featured in the 2000 video game '' Pokémon Puzzle League'', as well as the 2004 video game, '' Donkey Konga''.

In November 2005, the internet comedy duo Smosh recorded a lip-dubbed video for the song on YouTube. It briefly became the most viewed video on the site in March 2006 before being surpassed by " The Evolution of Dance" that May. In June 2007, Smosh's video was removed on YouTube due to a copyright notice. In 2010, Smosh recreated the video with altered lyrics that criticized the original video being taken down. During the 2012 primary election, the original vocalist Jason Paige performed a parody of the song in support of the Republican candidate Ron Paul. In 2016, Paige performed another parody of the song featuring Dwayne Johnson as well as YouTube stars MatPat and Ali-A.

During the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, the Norwegian representative, Tix, sang a parody of the theme song as a love serenade to the Azerbaijani representative, Samira Efendi, whom Tix had shown an affection for since the beginning of the contest.

See also

* List of ''Pokémon'' theme songs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokemon Theme
1998 songs
1999 songs
1999 singles
American pop rock songs
Animated series theme songs
Billy Crawford songs
Children's television theme songs
Songs about fictional characters
Songs about monsters
Songs from Pokémon