Cover art
"The History of Everything" is the theme song of The Big Bang Theory. It is played after the cold open of each episode (except the unaired pilot). It is composed and performed by the band "Barenaked Ladies". The song describes the developments the universe has undergone since the dawn of time.
The song title is similar to A Short History of Nearly Everything, a 2003 popular science book by Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science to a general audience.
On October 9, 2007, a full-length (1 minute and 45 second) version of the song was released.
The song's guitar chords are C D G Em.
Lyrics
- Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
- Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started —Wait...
- The Earth began to cool;
- The autotrophs began to drool;
- Neanderthals developed tools;
- We built a wall (we built the pyramids).
- Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery,
- That all started with a Big Bang!
- Bᴀɴɢ!
- "Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
- As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
- A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
- The bipeds stood up straight,
- The dinosaurs all met their fate,
- They tried to leave, but they were late
- And they all died. (They froze their asses off.)
- The oceans and Pangea,
- See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya,
- Set in motion by the same Big Bang!
- It all started with the Big Bang!
- It's expanding ever outward, but one day,
- It will pause and start to go the other way,
- Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it won't be heard.
- Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!
- Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
- Debating how we're here, they're catching deer. (We're catching viruses.)
- Religion and astronomy, Descartes and Deuteronomy,
- It all started with the Big Bang hay !!!!!!
- Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology,
- It all started with the Big Bang!
- It all started with the Big Bᴀɴɢ!
Trivia
The opening credits video contains a high-speed montage sequence featuring:
- Fossils
- George Washington
- Amoebae
- Lightning
- Rainforests
- Fish
- Lizards
- Diplodocus
- Stegosaurus
- Mammoth
- Chimpanzees
- Early humans
- Stone wheel
- Cave paintings
- Stonehenge, Wiltshire
- Moai, Easter Island
- Inca architecture
- Pyramids of Giza
- Great Sphinx of Giza
- Ancient Greece
- Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
- Great Wall of China
- Notre Dame de Paris
- Taj Mahal, India
- Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
- Venus de Milo
- Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci
- Mayflower
- English Civil War
- Annuit cœptis
- Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer
- Constitution of the United States
- Steam locomotive
- Printing press
- Joseph Swan's incandescent light bulb
- Tower Bridge, London
- Eiffel Tower, Paris
- Statue of Liberty
- Joseph Stalin
- Wright brothers
- Biplane
- Albert Einstein
- Hawker Hurricanes
- Einstein's mass–energy equivalence
- 1950s jukebox
- Alexander Graham Bell's telephone
- Mount Rushmore
- Spacewalk
- Geoffrey Dummer's integrated circuit
- Operating theater
- Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
- Floppy disk
- Automobile
- Empire State Building
- Subway train
- Hollywood Boulevard sign
- NASA Space Shuttle
- Disco ball
- Roller skates
- Robots
- Compact disc player
- The internet
- Hip hop
- Mobile phone
- Skateboarding
- Communications satellite
- Magnetic Levitating Train
- Snowboarding
- Graffiti
- Sony PlayStation
- Pumpjack
- Digital photography