"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" is the theme song for the television series The Beverly Hillbillies and the later movie of that name, providing the introductory story for the series. The song was composed by Paul Henning, and recorded first by bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with Jerry Scoggins singing. The single phono-album version, released for radio and retail sale, merges both the beginning and ending lyrics of the theme song of the television series. The beginning theme comprises the first two verses (starting with "Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed" and "Well the first thing you know, old Jed's a millionaire"), and the ending theme is the third verse ("Now it's time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin..."). A banjo-dominated sequence occurs between verses and as the ending fade-out.
The song was sung by Jerry Scoggins for the beginning of the series, with instruments played by Flatt and Scruggs.
Although the first two seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies lapsed into the public domain, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" did not and is typically edited from public-domain releases of these episodes.
History
"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" was written by producer and writer Paul Henning.[1] It was performed by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. At Louise Scruggs' suggestion, the song was released as a single.[2] It was later included on an album, Hard Travelin.[3]
Charts
Beginning on December 8, 1962, the song spent 20 weeks on the Billboard country singles charts,[3] scoring a maximum of number one for three weeks[4] and scored #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 during 1962.[citation needed] It was the first bluegrass record to top the Billboard country charts.[2] The song remained one of the best-selling and well-known bluegrass songs into the 21st century.[5]
During the late 1970s, the television series Saturday Night Live featured a spoof of the Beverly Hillbillies as a skit about a wealthy family from an oil-rich Mideastern country relocating to Southern California. The theme song for the skit was termed "The Bel-Arabs".
During Bill Clinton's presidential administration, Saturday Night Live staged a spoof of the song, substituting Clinton's name for Jed Clampett's and changing the destination from Beverly Hills to the White House.[6]
Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck often plays the ballad in concert. Fleck also accompanied Scruggs for a re-recording of the song for the 1993 movie adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies.
On August 13, 2009, national broadcaster Q&A featured a spoof version of the song lampooning the then leader of the Australian Liberal PartyMalcolm Turnbull by Stefan Sojka - Bellevue Hillbilly - making fun of his wealth, his relative unpopularity and his admission that he once tried cannabis.[citation needed]
