Everyone who has ever watched the original Batman TV show recognizes this, of course, or at least the first few seconds of it. There's no real reason to listen to the whole thing but it's not really designed to be listened to on its own.
Neal Hefti (1922-2008) was a jazz trumpeter and composer. In the early part of his career, he performed with Woody Herman and Count Basie, among others, and then led his own band in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, he transitioned into writing music for film and television.
Hefti's version of "Batman Theme" reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Marketts, a group of session musicians based in Los Angeles, released their own version at about the same time. It did slightly better, making it to #17. The two versions reached the same position on the CHUM chart, which suggests that they were treated as a single entity.
Hefti's wife, vocalist Frances Wayne, passed away in 1978; after this, he faded out of the music business. He was inducted into the Jazz Wall of Fame of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2005.
Created February 6, 2026.