Goodbye to the Old Morning Edition Theme

In the overall context of things, it's not the biggest deal, it's true. 

But for many of us, the theme music to Morning Edition has been a daily part of our mornings for decades. Starting Monday, it's going to change. NPR has put together new music for the show.

Composer BJ Leiderman wrote that original music in 1979 when he was a college student. In this 2014 interview with NPR, he discloses the song's original lyrics:

Oh I hate to get up in the morning

Please don't wake me up this morning

Let me stay in bed ... and ... sleep (I don't like to daydream)

The world can turn without me today

And if you wake me up I can say

That we will not be friends ... for ... long

Remember when ... we used to sleep forever?

Dreams ... floating as light as feathers

When ... will those delightful dreams

Come back again?

Tell me when!!!

For crying out loud, please would you shut up

No news, no features, I've had enough ...

But, say, who wrote your great ... theme ... song???

WNYC's own Joe Young wrote a little musical tribute to Leiderman's theme. Click the player to hear it — and watch the preview below.

A farewell to the @NPR @MorningEdition theme song from @musicjoeyoung and the morning team at @WNYC! pic.twitter.com/ZHrdlgAqfO

— Richard Hake (@RScottHake) May 3, 2019