Summer Fun: Remembering Gilligan’s Island

The Original Theme Song Was Completely Different

Gilligan’s Island had an iconic theme song – a theme song that almost never was. The pilot had a different theme song that had a totally different vibe than the second, tried-and-true version all of us remember. The song was composed by John Williams and sung by none other than Sherwood Schwartz, the show’s creator. It was upbeat, kind of hokey and had definite calypso influenced.

John Williams may not have been the accomplished film scorer then as he is today. He composed a never-used theme song for Gilligan’s Island but went on to compose the music for Star Wars.