"Early to rise, early to bed..."
If you grew up anywhere near a television in the late 70s or early 80s, those lyrics probably just triggered a very specific mental image of a greasy spoon diner and a woman with a feathered haircut. Honestly, the Alice tv show theme song, titled "There's a New Girl in Town," is more than just a catchy jingle. It’s a three-minute masterclass in storytelling. It basically summarized the entire "New Woman" movement of the era without ever using the word "feminism."
Most people remember the tune, but they forget how much it actually changed over the show's nine-season run. It wasn't just a static recording like most shows today. It evolved. It grew up. Just like Alice Hyatt herself.
The Minds Behind the Mel's Diner Anthem
You’ve got to look at the pedigree of the people who wrote this thing to understand why it’s so good. This wasn't some rushed studio work. It was composed by David Shire, a man who was basically a legend in the film score world. He’s the guy who did the music for The Conversation and Saturday Night Fever.
The lyrics? Those came from Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
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Yeah, the same duo that wrote "The Way We Were" for Barbra Streisand. They brought a level of theatrical sincerity to a sitcom intro that most shows didn't even attempt back then. They didn't just write a song about a waitress; they wrote a song about a woman reclaiming her identity after her husband died and left her with a kid and a broken-down station wagon.
Linda Lavin: The Voice and the Vibe
Usually, the star of a show doesn't sing their own theme. It’s a risk. But Linda Lavin wasn't just an actress—she was a Broadway-trained powerhouse. She brought this cabaret-style flair to the opening credits that made you feel like you were watching a one-woman show.
The coolest part is how she re-recorded the song multiple times.
In the early seasons, the arrangement is a bit more tentative, almost folksy. It fits the vibe of a woman who just arrived in Phoenix with nothing but a dream of singing in Nashville. But by the middle seasons—around Season 4 or 5—the tempo picked up. The horns got louder. The "scat" singing became more prominent. By the time the show reached its final years, the theme was a full-blown jazz-pop production. Lavin was basically flexing her vocal muscles, letting us know that Alice Hyatt wasn't just "passing through" anymore. She owned the place.
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The Lyrics: A Narrative Arc
The words didn't just stay the same, either. The first two seasons focused on the struggle:
- Early to rise, early to bed...
- In and between I cooked and cleaned and went out of my head.
But later on, once the show became a massive hit and the characters were established, they swapped those lines for something more optimistic. They moved away from the "going out of my head" vibe and leaned into:
- Used to be sad, used to be shy...
- Funniest thing, the saddest part is I never knew why.
It was a subtle shift from being a victim of circumstance to being a woman in control of her own happiness. It’s also probably why the song resonated so much with housewives at the time. It felt real.
Why It Stuck While Others Faded
A lot of theme songs from that era—think Three's Company or The Jeffersons—are iconic because they’re bouncy and fun. But the Alice theme has a certain grit to it. It acknowledges that life is "tough to see" when you have "blinders on."
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It also served as a constant reminder of the show's origins. Alice was based on the Martin Scorsese film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. While the show eventually became a broad sitcom with catchphrases like "Kiss my grits!", the theme song acted as an anchor. It reminded the audience that at the core of the jokes about Mel's chili and Vera's clumsiness, there was a story about a single mother trying to make it on her own two feet.
How to Experience the Evolution
If you're feeling nostalgic, you don't have to just wait for MeTV reruns.
- Check out the Season 1 vs. Season 9 intros on YouTube. The difference in Lavin's vocal confidence is staggering. The final version is basically a Broadway finale.
- Look for the "isolated" vocal tracks. You can find versions of the song where the instruments are stripped away, and you can really hear the nuance in the lyrics the Bergmans wrote.
- Listen for the "Kiss My Grits" legacy. While not in the song itself, the attitude of the theme—bold, unapologetic, and fresh—is what paved the way for Polly Holliday’s iconic character, Flo, to become a household name.
The Alice theme song remains a high-water mark for television music because it didn't treat the audience like they were stupid. It told a complex story in 60 seconds and did it with a brass section that could wake the dead. Next time it pops up on a classic TV channel, don't skip the intro. Pay attention to that "fresh freckled face" and the woman who decided that, after all the cooking and cleaning, it was finally time to look for herself.