ESPN merges ‘MNF,’ ‘Simpsons’ theme music for special broadcast

APM Music and ESPN have produced a new arrangement combining the “Monday Night Football” theme “Heavy Action” with “The Simpsons” theme song for the special “The Simpsons Funday Football” broadcast.

The new arrangement, recorded at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans, features the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra performing an orchestration that merges Johnny Pearson’s “Heavy Action” with Danny Elfman’s theme from “The Simpsons.”

“The challenge was to figure out how to bring these two worlds together without it sounding like a complete collision,” said Jeff Rona, who produced and conducted the recording.

“Both of the pieces are in different keys, they both have different tempos, and the pacing is different, and they both require different sized orchestras,” said APM Music’s Robert Navarro on the specific musical challenges in combining the pieces.

The arrangement opens with the harp glissando from “The Simpsons” theme before incorporating brass elements from “Heavy Action.”

It special theme music includes additional musical elements such as a bongo breakdown and a baritone saxophone solo meant to reflect the style of the character Lisa Simpson.

“Heavy Action,” composed in 1970, was originally created for the British television show “Superstars” before becoming the “Monday Night Football” theme in 1975. The rights to the music are owned by APM Music.

This marks the second recent reimagining of “Heavy Action” for ESPN. In the 2022-2023 season, DJ Marshmello created an electronic dance music remix of the theme.

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“It is an absolute honor and privilege to work with one of the most recognizable melodies in sports and the most recognizable copyright in our catalog for all these years,” said APM Music’s Matthew Gutknecht. “I believe we’re now up over 25+ versions of ‘Heavy Action’. You never really know what’s next.”

The special broadcast streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+ alongside the traditional game broadcast on ESPN, ABC and ESPN Deportes. For the game, the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys transformed in real-time into animation using the visual style of “The Simpsons.”