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Secret Story Behind Y&R’s Grammy Winning Theme Song
It’s been 50 years of Young and the Restless and it feels like it has been with us forever. So, it’s always good to stop and look back and just see how much impact it has made in our life. This show is like a part of us now and we can’t imagine our life without it. So, today we are taking you back to the start with the classic Y&R theme song and the history behind it and an inside look at Y&R. so, without any further ado, let’s dive right into it.
Y&R’s theme song was called Cotton’s Dream
2023 marked the 50th year of the iconic and one of THE best soap opera shows in history, The Young and the Restless. It is the longest running scripted show to ever exist and the fans know exactly why. The Drama, hookups, the plots and twists, the characters, the lines and overall has proven to be the absolute best. I mean every 5 days a week, they have come up with lines and stories, it blows our minds how they even do that. And the lines the actors have to memorize every week is worth the praise.
But storylines have come and gone along with characters and casts but one thing that has been the same since 1973 is the signature theme song. Do you know the history behind the iconic theme song of Y&R? I bet even the die hard fans might not know some things.
Now, you might know it as the “Theme from The Young and the Restless,” but in its past life, it was originally called “Cotton’s Dream,” and two more other names. That tune has more names than a secret agent, but it owes its fame to a soap opera producer who fell head over heels for it in 1973 and decided to make it Genoa City’s official melody.
It won an Oscar nomination
So, the man himself, Barry De Vorzon, spilled the beans to The Tennessean in 2022, sharing that he initially wrote this emotional song for a 1971 movie called “Bless the Beasts and Children.” The original name? You guessed it— “Cotton’s Dream.” It played during a heart-wrenching scene where a kid named Cotton died. De Vorzon said, “It was such a sad, meaningful moment. I worked on that little cue the same way I would work on a hit song because, the only way I know how to speak through the emotions is with melody.” It even got an Oscar nomination for Best Music, but when he didn’t snatch the golden statue, he moved on to other projects.
Then, out of the blue in 1973, he gets a call from a soap opera producer who wants to use this emotional tune onto “The Young and the Restless.” De Vorzon didn’t need a second to think, saying, “I said, ‘Well, if you were here, I’d be kissing your hands. Of course! Yeah, let’s do it.’“ And that’s how ‘Cotton’s Dream’ Turned into ‘Theme from The Young and Restless.’
How Nadia Comaneci inspired Y&R theme song
But wait, there’s more to it! It went through another name change in 1976, thanks to a gymnastics sensation named Nadia Comaneci. You remember her, right? The gymnast who rocked the Olympics, scoring perfect 10s and bagging three gold medals? Even though she never did flips and twirls to the soap’s theme, ABC’s promo team used it in a montage of her gymnastic greatness during “Wide World of Sports.” De Vorzon said, “Gymnastics in the 70s and 80s were the premiere event … So I want people to understand the gravity, not just in the U.S. The global eyes on her.”
And just like that in 1978 because of its insane popularity, De Vorzon won the Grammys for Best Instrumental Arrangement after he released it as a single called “Nadia’s Theme.” Then that became a major hit after it got sampled by none other than Mary J. Blige in her 2001 song, “No More Drama.” De Vorzon said, “This little piece of music just keeps reinventing itself, and I’m at awe of that.”
Did you know about the history of the iconic theme song? Let us know in the comments below.