The Greatest Television Theme Song "Route 66"

I love television, and I always had a fascination with television show themes like The Honeymooners, The Little Rascals, the themes from The Fugitive, Sea Hunt, and even The Beverly Hillbillies. But I have to say that the greatest musical composition ever written for television was Nelson Riddle’s Route 66 theme. It made me feel like the wind was blowing straight through the speakers and I was driving across the U.S. with the top down.

Nelson Riddle never set out to become the sound of the American highway. Yet by the time the Route 66 television series arrived in 1960, he had already shaped the emotional landscape of mid‑century America more than most people realized. Born in Oradell, New Jersey, in 1921, Riddle grew up entranced by the way music could paint pictures. Horns weren’t just horns to him — they were sunlight, brass‑colored and sharp. Strings weren’t just accompaniment — they were the horizon, softening the edges of whatever story the melody wanted to tell.

By the 1950s, he had become the quiet architect behind giants. Sinatra leaned on him for swagger and heartbreak. Nat King Cole trusted him with velvet and warmth. Ella Fitzgerald relied on him to build orchestral worlds where her voice could dance. Riddle didn’t just arrange songs; he arranged emotion.

So when producers approached him about a new television series — two young men drifting across America in a Corvette, chasing freedom and the unknown — they weren’t asking for a theme song. They were asking for a myth. They wanted the sound of chrome catching the sun, of tires humming across long stretches of open road, of possibility stretching out like a ribbon of asphalt.

Riddle understood immediately. The American highway wasn’t a place — it was a feeling.

The Route 66 theme doesn’t begin so much as it accelerates. A blast of brass hits like an engine roaring awake. Trumpets punch forward with a confidence that feels like a car pulling onto the highway, while trombones add muscle beneath them. The rhythm section snaps into place — drums crisp as passing mile markers, bass walking with unhurried swagger, guitar and piano flickering like sunlight across a windshield.

He built the arrangement like a landscape. Horns for personality. Strings for distance. Woodwinds for color and lift. Rhythm for motion. Nothing is cluttered; everything has purpose. The piece feels both breezy and meticulously crafted — a paradox only Riddle could pull off.

The melody itself is deceptively simple, a series of bold, rising phrases that stick in the mind after a single listen. But beneath that simplicity lies sophistication: jazz‑inflected harmonies, unexpected turns, and a rhythmic confidence that makes the whole piece feel like forward motion. It’s the sound of a country stretching out before you, equal parts nostalgia and anticipation.

When the show premiered, the theme became an instant signature. Even viewers who never watched an episode recognized the music. It earned Grammy nominations for Best Instrumental Theme and Best Instrumental Arrangement, but more importantly, it captured something timeless — the romance of the open road.

Decades later, the Route 66 theme still feels fresh. Still stylish. Still unmistakably American. Nelson Riddle didn’t just write a piece of television music. He wrote the soundtrack to the American dream in motion — a melody that invites you to roll down the windows, feel the wind, and follow the horizon wherever it leads.