What The Lyrics Of The Ballad Of Gilligan’s Isle Mean

To the eyes of this author, there are four perfect TV theme songs in the history of the medium. For instrumentals, the two best themes are Jack Marshall’s surf-like monster music he composed for “The Munsters” and Danny Elfman’s Platonic-ideal-of-a-haunted-house music for “Tales from the Crypt.”

For theme songs with lyrics, the two best of all time were, not coincidentally, written by Sherwood Schwartz. He and Frank de Vol composed the handy, catchy theme for Schwartz’s own sitcom “The Brady Bunch,” while Schwartz teamed with George Wyle to compose “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle.” These two theme songs, each only about 60 seconds, managed to explain — in rhyme — the premise of their respective shows succinctly while also introducing each of the characters. Additionally, the songs are catchy earworms that burrow deep into the brains of listeners, latching onto the memory and never letting go. When I’m in my 90s, and my brain has shed all memories of my life and my family, I will still be able to sing the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song.

“The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” explains to potential viewers that the seven main characters of the show were on a three-hour tour of the Hawai’ian islands when their ship, the S.S. Minnow, hit bad weather. The ship was damaged and washed up on an uncharted deserted island in the Pacific. The seven characters are listed: Gilligan (Bob Denver), the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), the Millionaire (Jim Backus) and His Wife (Natalie Schafer), the Movie Star (Tina Louise), the Professor (Russell Johnson), and Mary Ann (Dawn Wells).

There is a lot of history to “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle,” and several interesting stories of its making. For one, the familiar “Ballad” wasn’t the first theme song proposed. For another, the band that recorded it had to gather in a studio under duress. And, of course, there is the matter of the widely known “And the Rest” controversy. Read on to learn all the facts.

The original pilot for “Gilligan’s Island” was quite a bit different from the show that actually went to air. While Denver, Hale, Backus, and Schafer were involved, the Professor was originally a high school teacher played by John Gabriel. There was a character named Ginger, but she wasn’t a movie star. She was a secretary played by Kit Smythe. There was no Mary Ann, but a second secretary, Ginger’s best friend, Bunny, played by Nancy McCarthy. After some workshopping, Sherwood Schwartz recast the professor with Russell Johnson and invented the Ginger and Mary Ann we know today.

That original pilot’s theme song, to remain in the spirit of the show’s nautical themes, had a distinct calypso sound, complete with a different set of lyrics. The original theme was written by future film music maestro John Williams, and Schwartz himself sang the lyrics. Schwartz was said to have imitated a famed calypso master named Sir Lancelot. (No, it’s not Mel Blanc singing it.) The original pilot, called “Marooned,” wasn’t made available to the public until TBS broadcasted it on October 16, 1992. Now, of course, the original John Williams song is widely available online.

Perhaps feeling the calypso song was too silly (and needing to re-write the lyrics to accommodate the new characters), Schwartz settled on the well-known sea shanty we all know and love today. This new theme song, intended for the first season of “Gilligan’s Island,” was performed by a band called the Wellingtons. Despite their name, the Wellingtons were not from England, but Illinois. Their also changed their original name, the Lincolns, to cash in on the British invasion. The Wellingtons even appeared on an episode of “Gilligan’s Island,” performing as a fictional band called the Mosquitoes.

There is an amusing story Schwartz told about recording “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” with the Wellingtons. It seems that he needed the theme on tape ASAP, but, thanks to some fault scheduling, all the local recording studios were closed. A close friend of his had one at his home, luckily, and the Wellingtons were rushed over. Sadly, the close friend was prepping for a party, so the Wellingtons could only record in between spurts of party prep noise.

“The Ballad,” as many know, had to be re-recorded after the first season of “Island” because of a credit dispute. It seems that Tina Louise, who played Ginger, had negotiated that her credit be listed last, forcing Schwartz and the Wellingtons to sing “And the rest” when Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells’ credits appeared on the screen.

Bob Denver, feeling that Louise’s stipulation was unfair to Johnson and Wells — they were just as important to “Gilligan’s Island” as any other member of the cast — essentially pulled rank on her. Denver, it appears, also had a stipulation that let him list his credit wherever he wanted. As such, he threatened to place his credit after Louise’s, knowing that he, playing the eponymous character, had the right to do so. Rather than fight Denver, Louise capitulated, and a new theme song was written to replace “And the rest” with “The Professor and Mary Ann.”

The new theme song, used in the show’s second and third seasons, was performed by a group of singers called the Eligibles. The Wellingtons had a bit more of a professional music career beyond their “Gilligan’s Island” gig, but the Eligibles were more of a fly-by-night musical act who didn’t do much outside of singing the “Ballad.” We do know that they toured with Eartha Kitt, though.

The original “Gilligan’s Island” only lasted for 98 episodes over three seasons. The story goes that a new exec at CBS wanted to cancel the long-in-the-tooth hit Western “Gunsmoke” to make room for some new shows, but that the wife of an older exec complained. “Gunsmoke” was her favorite series. So, the cast of “Gunsmoke” was re-hired — with higher salaries — and CBS had to cancel “Gilligan’s Island” to compensate.

Although lasting only three years, “Gilligan’s Island” was put into endless syndication, and reruns were broadcast on TV for literally decades. Interest in the show remained high, so spinoffs inevitably came in the form of follow-up TV movies and two animated shows. The entire cast returned for all the sequels and spinoffs, save for Tina Louise, who was happy to step away to work on other projects.

The first of the two animated shows was 1974’s “The New Adventures of Gilligan,” which merely continued the castaways’ adventures on the same island. Because it was put out by Filmation and broadcast on ABC, the new show, despite also being created by Sherwood Schwartz, required the rights to “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” for its use. When the production couldn’t secure said rights, the showrunners opted for a spoken-word alternate of “Ballad” read by the cast. It was … close to the original theme song, but legally distinct. Denver, oddly, didn’t read any of the opening poem.

The same “spoken word” approach was adopted for 1982’s “Gilligan’s Planet,” an animated sci-fi spinoff of the original show that transposed the setting to a distant alien world (!). That show, also by Filmation and broadcast on ABC, only lasted one season. It was, as of this writing, the final piece of authorized “Gilligan’s Island” media that has been produced (not counting a few crossovers with shows like “ALF” and “Baywatch”).

Here, for the sake of posterity, is the full transcription of the lyrics to “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle:”:

• Just sit right back, and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,
• That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship.
• The mate was a mighty sailing man, the Skipper brave and sure.
• Five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour. 
• [Thunderclap]
• The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed.
• If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost. 
• The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle. 
• With Gilligan, the skipper too, the millionaire, and his wife.
• The movie star, and the rest*
• Here on Gilligan’s isle!

* “And the rest,” as noted above, was replaced by “The Professor and Mary Ann” in the second season. 

Schwartz also composed lyrics for a variant of the “Ballad,” which played over the show’s closing credits, sung to the same tune. They went: 

• Now, this is the tale of our castaways. They’re here for a long, long time.
• They’ll have to make the best of things, it’s an uphill climb.
• The first mate and his Skipper too will do their very best
• To make the others comfortable in their tropic island nest.
• [Spoken] No phone! No lights! [sung] no motor cars. Not a single luxury. 
• Like Robinson Crusoe, it’s primitive as can be.
• So join us here each week my friends, you’re sure to get a smile
• From seven stranded castaways, here on Gilligan’s isle.

The couplet about phones and lights, and the reference to Robinson Crusoe, incidentally, were also borrowed by “Weird Al” Yankovic for his hit song “Amish Paradise.”

Now, dear readers, I defy you to forget the lyrics. It may never happen.