Saturday Night Live Transcripts
Season 4: Episode 1
The NBC Theme
Announcer…..Dan Aykroyd
Conductor…..Howard Shore
Pianist…..Paul Shaffer
Garrett Morris, Vocal Stylist…..Garrett Morris
1st Girl Singer…..Laraine Newman
2nd Girl Singer…..Jane Curtin
3rd Girl Singer…..Gilda Radner
[BLACK SCREEN as the NBC chimes ring out their famousthree notes.]
Announcer’s Voice: It’s exactly eleven-thirty BulovaWatch time.
[Lights come up to reveal bespectacled 1930s-era radioannouncer standing in front of an ancient NBC radiomicrophone, with one hand to his ear and the otherclutching a yellow sheet of paper from which hereads:]
Announcer: And now from Studio 8-H in New York’s famedRockefeller Center, the Red network joins the Blue tobring you Howard Shore and the National BroadcastingOrchestra, featuring the vocal stylings of Mr. GarrettMorris.
[Howard Shore, fronting a big band, conducts as axylophonist plays the NBC notes on her instrument.Paul Shaffer answers in kind at a white grand piano.Everyone wears tuxedoes and evening gowns. A large ArtDeco sign behind them reads: HOWARD SHORE AND HISSOUNDS. As the rest of the band joins in, GarrettMorris steps to the microphone, which the Announcerthoughtfully adjusts for him, and begins to sing –with dapper, yet passionate elegance — an obscuresong written sometime in the 1930s, “I Love You”:]
Garrett Morris: [sings the verse]
On the NBC tonight, you’ll hear three tones ring outThey have a special meaning so here’s what it’s allabout…
[A trio of what used to be called “girl singers”(Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner) rise fromchairs in front of the piano and approach an adjacentmicrophone to join in on the opening line of thechorus:]
1st Girl Singer: I…
2nd Girl Singer: … love …
3rd Girl Singer: … you …
Garrett Morris: Three little tones have just had theirsay.
1st Girl Singer: I…
2nd Girl Singer: … love …
3rd Girl Singer: … you …
[The girl singers sit back down as Garrett sings therest of the chorus himself.]
Garrett Morris:
“Funny but, honey, that’s what they say.
Chimes have rung,
The program’s done
My love song has just begun!
Turn the dial of your heart.
Tune into my station.
Though we may be miles apart,
Your radio
Tells you I know.
Listen, dear,
Can’t you hear?”
[The trio rises and joins in on the last line of thechorus:]
All Singers: I love you!
[As the performers begin another half-chorus of thesong, the trio takes over:]
Girl Singers:
“Turn the dial of your heart.
Tune into our station.
Though we may be miles apart …”
[The trio simultaneously shoot a glance at Garret andthe camera pans over to him as he picks up the lyric:]
Garrett Morris:
“… Your radio
Tells you I know.
Listen, dear,
Can’t you hear?”
All Singers: I love you!
[The xylophonist plays the three notes one last timeas the band brings the song to a finish. The singerssit as the audience applauds. The announcer strides tothe microphone, places his hand to his ear and, with agrin, says calmly:]
Announcer: And now, live from New York, it’s SaturdayNight.
Submitted Anonymously
