SPONGEBOB SquarePants has been a household name since the optimistic little sponge first graced our screens in 1999.
The catchy theme tune for this popular Nickelodeon show mentions the name of the beloved children’s TV character a fair few times. We count just how many.
How many times is SpongeBob said in the theme tune?
SpongeBob SquarePants teaches children to look on the brighter side of life with its relentlessly positive protagonist who spreads joy wherever he goes – much to the annoyance of his neighbour Squidward Tentacles.
SpongeBob works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab and his best friend is a dopey but lovable starfish called Patrick.
If you grew up watching the show as a kid, it’s a challenge not to join in with the jolly theme tune when the pirate captain asks if you’re ready to sing.
SpongeBob SquarePants is mentioned a total of eight times in the show’s theme tune – an impressive feat considering how short the song actually is.
Each line of the song is sung by the pirate captain in a call and response style, with a chorus of kids yelling “SpongeBob SquarePants!” every other line before they all come together to sing the name four more times to round up the song.
In comparison to its contemporaries that mention the lead characters in their theme tunes, SpongeBob SquarePants is up the higher end of the scale.
2001’s classic Nickelodeon cartoon series The Fairly OddParents only mentions the fairies four times, while in the theme tune for Disney Channel’s Kim Possible from 2002, Kim is also named a total of four times.
However, if we go back to the more retro children’s cartoons, there are a number of classic theme songs that mention the central character’s name eight times.
The unforgettable theme tune for 1967’s Spiderman mentions the hero’s name eight times, while the same holds true for ‘Gadget’ in the theme song for 1983’s Inspector Gadget.
Scooby Doo has gone through different theme tunes over the years, but the name ‘Scooby’ can be heard nine times in the original 1969 tune, while in 2002’s What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, Scooby is mentioned a record-breaking 11 times.
It would seem there is one short-lived children’s show from the Disney Channel vault that can top this, although it is not a cartoon, which aired between 2004 and 2006.
Phil of the Future, which follows an eccentric family from the future who get stranded in the 21st century, mentions its protagonist’s name a whopping 15 times in its theme song.
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What are the Spongebob SquarePants theme tune lyrics?
In 2018 SpongeBob SquarePants won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Animated Series and Tom Kenny won Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for voicing the titular character.
The series also won an Annie award for its music in 2011 and according to Billboard different contemporary artists have even sampled the show for their own music.
The theme tune kicks off with the pirate captain, who yells:
“Are you ready, kids?”
(Aye, aye, Captain!)
“I can’t hear you!”
(Aye, aye, captain!)
“Oh….”
Then the lyrics are as follows:
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Absorbent and yellow and porous is he
SpongeBob SquarePants!
If nautical nonsense be something you wish
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
The song ends with the cartoon sponge popping up to play his nose like a flute before bobbing back down to reveal the name of the series creator, Stephen Hillenburg.