The Bojack Horseman theme song was never intended to be on the show

We’re big fans of Netflix’s intriguing and highly entertaining animated comedy Bojack Horseman. One thing that’s struck us is its unique theme song, which Song Exploder takes a close look at in its latest episode. It turns out that the song was not originally intended to be used for television.

The song used in the show’s opening credits is from Patrick Carney, the drummer for the Black Keys, along with his uncle, Ralph Carney. The pair have been collaborating for years, sending cassette tapes back and forth when Patrick was a teenager.

When Patrick set up a studio in his home in Nashville, he began to put together a track to test out his equipment. Starting with a click track on a Roland Jupiter-4 keyboard, he layered in sound from an arpeggiator and drums. He then sent it along to Ralph, who added in tenor sax and fleshed out the rest of the sound before sending it back.

The track might not have gone anywhere, had it not been for Noel Bright, the executive producer of Bojack Horseman. As the show had come together, they had gotten their dream cast in Will Arnett and Aaron Paul.

Bright was a Black Keys fan, and reached out to Patrick to see if he’d be interested in putting together the opening credit. Patrick sent him the track that he and his uncle had been working on. "We knew it was right when we heard it," Bright noted. Netflix agreed and the track became the new opening credits for the television show.

Update: this post originally stated that the podcast was called Song Explorer. Its correct name is Song Exploder. We regret the error.