Paul Anka stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night to promote the new HBO documentary Paul Anka: His Way—and ended up singing the long-forgotten lyrics to one of television’s most famous theme songs.
During their conversation, Kimmel told the 84 year-old Anka he noticed something in the new documentary that surprised him: the sheet music for “Johnny’s Theme,” the signature opening music for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, showed that Anka had co-written not only the melody but also the lyrics. Since the Carson theme is an instrumental, Kimmel pressed him: what are the words to “Johnny’s Theme”?
Anka happily obliged, singing a short verse on the spot. But the story behind those lyrics—and the theme itself—has a surprisingly long trail.
Anka first wrote the melody three years before Johnny Carson took over The Tonight Show. In 1959, he composed it as a pop instrumental titled “Toot Sweet,” recorded by trumpet player and arranger Tutti Camarata. That same year, Anka wrote a full album of love songs for his then-girlfriend Annette Funicello as she transitioned away from The Mickey Mouse Club. He repurposed the “Toot Sweet” melody, added lyrics, and retitled it “It’s Really Love,” which appeared on Annette Sings Anka. Anka also recorded a separate version of the song for the French film Faibles Femmes, with himself on vocals.
When Carson was preparing to take over The Tonight Show in 1962, he needed a new theme. He and Anka had worked together on a British TV special the previous year, and during a chance meeting in New York, Carson’s manager mentioned the search. Anka created a fresh instrumental arrangement based on “It’s Really Love” and mailed a demo to Carson, who was said to have loved it—but faced pushback from his first bandleader, Skitch Henderson, who did not want to use Anka’s theme.
To seal the deal, Anka offered Carson a co-writer credit on the song, which would earn him half of the royalties. Both men collected roughly $200,000 a year from the theme during Carson’s three-decade run.
On Kimmel’s show Monday night, Anka updated the song yet again as he sang:
“It’s really love, dear. I do it from the start.
You came along, dear. Swept away my heart.
You drive me crazy, I don’t know what to do.
I know, I know, I’m going to get paid for doing this song on this show.”
Kimmel joked, “You’ve got to split it with Johnny,” prompting Anka to shoot back, “I’ll split it with you.”
Watch Anka’s appearance with Kimmel (including his re-composed version of “Johnny’s Theme”) at the top of this post, or listen to Anka’s 1959 version of the song—with its complete original lyrics—below:
Paul Anka also wrote and composed, “My Way.”