It came into our lives mere hours after some genius set Kanye West‘s MTV VMAs rant-speech to the tune of The Wiggles classic ‘Fruit Salad’, and we were left wondering how we ever survived without it.
ICYMI, we’re referring to the reimagining of Yeezy‘s speech-rant as a Seinfeld cold open, complete with generic audience laughs and that iconic bass tune.
seinye
?? @davidelmaleh pic.twitter.com/EWbQP3UHzL
— Seinfeld Current Day (@Seinfeld2000) September 1, 2015
#SEINYEFOREVER
<3 <3 <3
It was an instant hit, because duh, and people were falling all over themselves to alert the enter cast of Seinfeld, and anyone even remotely associated, of its existence.
Seriously: Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Larry David were subjected to a fuckton of Yeezy spam on Facebook and Twitter.
But what of the man responsible for the Seinfeld theme song, the composer himself? Who was he, and what were his feels? Was he sharing a coldie and a LOL with Jerry as they sat hunched over a laptop in an LA mansion, watching the clip on repeat, or did he consider it a bastardisation of his best work?
If only there was a way to reach out to him, we lamented; but no, a Musical Deity such as he would surely be in a recording studio somewhere, doing genius things.
Then we Googled ‘Seinfeld Music Composer’:
Turns out that man is Jonathan Wolff, who’s created the music for 75 primetime TV series, including Will & Grace, Married With Children, Saved By The Bell (The College Years) and obvs Seinfeld.
Now retired and living in Louisville, Kentucky, he “thrills audiences with wonderful insider stories and Q&A about his remarkable Hollywood career including yada yada of working with Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David” as a public speaker.
We hit him up for his thoughts on Seinye, and found that he’s pretty bloody stoked by its existence, of which Seinfeld fans alerted him “with endless emails, tweets and tags.”
“Every couple of months there’s a mashup that includes the Seinfeld theme [song] I wrote, and it’s just amazing to me – I wrote this thing in 1989! Most music crafted in 1989 is outdated by now, but this one is still so relevant,” he told P.TV. “I’m just so happy that people still enjoy its quirkiness and I’m still being invited to the party with people saying, ‘Hey, have you seen this new mashup?’”
But what did he think of Seinye?
“Oh, it gave me a real belly laugh. It was very well done, I have to say. That’s what that music was orchestrated to do – accompany comedy monologues. And even though that’s not what Kanye West’s speech was meant to be, it’s not the first time his actions turned out very differently to how he intended.
The song lends itself to that moment perfectly, and I really think it should be his 2020 campaign theme song if he does run for President, like he says he will. Why not? If we’re going to go down that road, and that’s a real possibility, anything can happen.”
Yet Wolff wants it to be clear – Seinye is not his favourite Yeezy mashup.
“The Kendrick [Lamar] one I much prefer – it’s my favourite. His syncopated delivery – he frames the lyric with the Seinfeld rhythm – it just really works.”
Yes. Yes it does.
Ok, Internet, go create another Kanye mashup – we’re ready for it.
