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"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune - TV Tropes

️Mon Oct 01 2007

Essentially, this is when the theme tune of a particular show is written, sung or both by a member of the cast or someone else involved in the show in an otherwise non-musical context. Distinct from Diegetic Soundtrack Usage in that the theme may or may not actually appear in the show in an "in-universe" context, but in the real world it is written/sung by the real person.

In the Idol Genre, that are all about showcasing Idol Singers, it's expected that the voice actors will be performing the theme tune.

Examples:

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Asian Animation

Mostly played straight in Simple Samosa, whose theme song is split into four verses, each describing one of the four main characters. Each verse is sung by the respective character it describes, with the sole exception of Samosa in all versions of the theme song save for the Tamil-dubbed version.

Films — Animation

In Ice Age: Continental Drift, Keke Palmer's song "We Are" is played over the credits, with the main cast singing along (Including Keke Palmer, who voices Peaches).
Home (2015) approaches a Do It Yourself album with its soundtrack. Rihanna, who voices Tip in the film, also worked with director Tim Johnson to create a concept album for the film. Three of the eight songs there are by her, and one is by co-star Jennifer Lopez. Which in a way means that some of the songs are tied more to Tip, and that one is tied to Lucy (as they're voiced by Rihanna and Jennifer, respectively).
The end credits song of Monsters, Inc., "If I Didn't Have You", is sung by John Goodman and Billy Crystal, who voice Sully and Mike respectively, further emphasizing their Heterosexual Life-Partners relationship.

Films — Live-Action

Alejandro Amenábar composes the soundtracks of his own films.
Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd performed a Theme Tune Rap "City of Crime" for the 1987 The Film of the Series of Dragnet. They also did a music video, which must be seen to be believed. It's really Hilarious in Hindsight considering the saga of Chet Haze, Hanks' white rapper son.
John Carradine, who played a brief role in Red Zone Cuba, also sang the theme tune. His singing voice makes it absolutely clear that he should have perhaps cut back on the smoking.
Also, his son David Carradine wrote and performed the theme tune to the film Sonny Boy.
Lead actress Emily Browning sings many of the songs used for the Sucker Punch soundtrack, including the cover of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)".
Robert Rodriguez composes the music for the films he directs, as well as editing them, hence his unusual replacement for the "Film By" credit: "Shot, Chopped, and Scored by Robert Rodriguez".
John Carpenter composes the scores for many of his films (and also, as part of the Coupe de Villes, sang the end title song to Big Trouble in Little China).
Anita Mui was not only a famous actress in Hong Kong, but also a pop star in the early 1980s. Because of this, she ended up performing the theme for Heroic Trio.
Besides starring in, writing, directing and producing his movies, Charlie Chaplin wrote their music.
Director Mike Figgis often composes his own scores for his films.
Bryan Singer regular John Ottman not only directed Urban Legends: Final Cut, but also did the composing and editing (by trade, he is in fact a composer but also edits Singer's films).
Sylvester Stallone sang the theme song ("Too Close to Paradise") for his quickly forgotten Rocky follow-up Paradise Alley, the only movie ever to feature songs performed by Sly, Frank Stallone and Tom Waits!
Clint Eastwood :
The title theme of Spider Baby is sung (well, hammily recited) by its star, Lon Chaney Jr.
Though it isn't listed in the credits, "Lullaby" from Rosemary's Baby (the music that plays over the opening credits) is sung by Mia Farrow herself.
Clint Mansell's score for Abandon features vocals from the film's star Katie Holmes.
Similarly, Sara Paxton's voice is worked into David Hirschfelder's score for Aquamarine (Paxton and Emma Roberts also have songs on the soundtrack).
The Hulk Hogan film Mr. Nanny has a theme tune by musical artist Buster Poindexter, who plays the villain in the film. The song, however is called "Rough Stuff", since that was the Working Title of the movie.
Crispin Glover sings Michael Jackson's "Ben" over the end credits in the 2003 version of Willard. He's actually really good.
The opening and ending themes from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome were both sung by Tina Turner, who played the Big Bad Aunty Entity.
For the original film version of M*A*S*H, director Robert Altman needed a deliberately stupid, overly emotional song to be sung at the funeral of a character. He got the music from Johnny Mandel, and he wanted to write the words himself, but found he couldn't write something "stupid enough." So he passed the job to his 14-year-old son, Mike Altman. The result, "Suicide Is Painless", went on to reach #1 on the UK music charts. It became the theme for the television series a few years later^note. Altman joked that because of music licensing, his son made far more money off the movie than he did!
Jackie Chan sang the main themes for Police Story and Who Am I? (1998).
Down with Love, at the end of the film, throws in a music video of Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor performing "Here's to Love" (which is basically the Love Theme With Lyrics) in character.
Will Smith did this multiple times. Men in Black, Wild Wild West, and Hitch come to mind as three whose theme songs got lots of radio play as well (the first two matching the film titles, the last being called "Switch").
The theme song to Good Morning, Sleeping Lion was performed in-character by female lead Miho Watanabe as Remi Watanuki.
The theme song to A Gunfight (also titled "A Gunfight") was written and performed by Johnny Cash, who also starred in the movie.
Marked for Death: Steven Seagal wrote the song "John Crow". Though it is performed by Jimmy Cliff during the movie, it plays again during the end credits, and Seagal sings the first few lines.
Emmanuelle Seigner learned to sing in order to perform the songs of her character (a famous fictional superstar singer) in Backstage''. This ended up starting her own career as a singer.
Eartha Kitt sings "A Knight for My Nights"; the theme song for Up the Chastity Belt, in which she appears as Scheherazade.
Tuesday Knight, who played Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, also sang the film's theme tune, "Nightmare".
Shrooms: The song "Curveball", featured in the ending credits, was performed by the Rig Brothers, but features vocals by Lindsey Haun (Tara). Additionally, she also co-wrote the song.
Special Correspondents: The song "Dollar for a Hero" was performed by Vera Farmiga (Eleanor).
Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau duet the ending song to Infernal Affairs. Both are established and popular singers as well as actors.
Fame's Title Theme Tune was sung by lead actress Irene Cara (Coco Hernandez).
The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity: Deng Lun (Bo Ya) sings "痴情冢/Chī Qíng Zhǒng/Tomb of Infatuation".
The end credits theme of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, "Haunted House", is sung by Mckenna Grace, Phoebe's actress.
In Strictly Ballroom, there's a cover of "Time After Time" accompanying Scott and Fran's Training Montage. The female vocals are done by Tara Morice, who plays Fran.
"Back to Life", the end credits theme of Bumblebee, is sung by Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Charlie in the movie.
Pistolera: Star Romina Di Lella wrote and performed the title song "Pistolera".
Alexandre Astier composes the soundtracks of his films, most notably Kaamelott: Premier Volet (he already did on the series).
Dean Martin sings the title song of 5 Card Stud; a film he also stars in.
The eponymous theme song of Wayne's World is sung by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey who acted out their Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar personas while doing so. In-Universe, they perform the short theme song of their cable-TV show on camera.
Hobbs & Shaw has "Even If I Die", which is written by Idris Elba, who portrays Brixton Lore, which also makes it a case of a Villain Song.
The Knowledge theme tune is sung by Mick Ford, who plays Chris.
The theme from Up Pompeii! was sung by Frankie Howerd in character as Lurcio.
In Argylle, Ariana DeBose (who plays Keira in the film) performed two songs of the soundtrack, a duet with Boy George in "Electric Energy" and solo in "Get Up And Start Again".
The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James: Johnny Cash, who plays Frank James in the film, performs "The Ballad of Jesse James" which plays over the opening and closing credits.

Pinballs

"Every Little Thing", the song that plays during multiball in Red & Ted's Road Show, is sung by Red's voice actress, Carlene Carter.

Pro Wrestling

Wrestlers in The '80s often sung their own songs such as The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond), Hillbilly Jim, and the Honky Tonk Man.
Manager Jimmy Hart was once the Trope Namer for Suspiciously Similar Song due to all the songs he's written when employed by various promotions.
Michael Hayes wrote and sang The Freebirds' "Badstreet U.S.A."
Shawn Michaels sang his own theme song after he broke off with the previous singer and his then-manager, Sensational Sherri. He used the same song for over a decade despite having dropped the "sexy boy" gimmick it was originally written for, and kept it right until retirement.
Borderline examples but there's a whole host of wrestlers whose catchphrases make it into their themes, usually at the beginning. Notable examples include The Rock, New Age Outlaws, Carlito, Finlay, The Miz, Zack Ryder, Ryback, Braun Strowman, Woken Matt Hardy, EC3 and Matt Riddle.
R-Truth not only raps his own theme but puts on a live performance of the theme as part of his entrance. He's done this pretty much ever since he started wrestling, having done so in TNA as Ron Killings and in his first WWF stint as K-Kwik.
JD dojo graduate and Pro Wrestling Wave ace Yumi Ohka has The Gimmick of an idol who not only sings her own entrance themes but will interrupt shows to put on performances.
John Cena, due to the rapper gimmick he used to have, made his last two themes, one of which is still being used (over a decade later!) despite, as with Michaels, having long since dropped the gimmick. The current one, "My Time Is Now", he performs with his cousin Marc 'The Trademarc' Predka.
The WWE produced an album called WWE Originals released January 13, 2004 which were songs all sung by the wrestlers or divas on the roster. Some were used briefly as actual themes for the respective wrestlers; briefly because, despite the valiant efforts of Jim Johnston, the world learned that professional wrestlers do not make for great singers (except Chris Jericho, who was already a singer and Lillian Garcia, who's not a wrestler but a ring announcer) Well, despite "Put A Little Ass On It" being laughably terrible, Rikishi happened to be a surprisingly good singer, and John Cena's "Basic Thuganomics" did have some longevity (but that's rapping, not singing.)
Jeff Hardy's theme songs in TNA are written & performed by him. They were performed with his band Peroxwhy?gen.
Jimmy Jacobs recorded several songs in Ring of Honor, particularly during his contributions to the Lacey's Angel's angle where he was expressing his love to the not so Lovely Lacey.
Shannon Moore's final WWE theme song was an instrumental of a song he'd written & recorded.
Jillian Hall sings her theme music "Sliced Bread," which adds to her gimmick of being an absolutely AWFUL singer.
Mickie James did her own theme song after leaving WWE, and since she's at worst decent, it heightened her rivalry with the similarly released Jillian Hall.
Chris Jericho's band, Fozzy, has had their songs as themes for a few of WWE's pay-per-view events, most recently "Martyr No More" for the 2010 Royal Rumble. He never used a Fozzy song as his own theme in WWE, but has used "Judas" in All Elite Wrestling.
Montel Vontavious Porter went out and recorded his second WWE entrance theme without input from the company. They, accordingly, played nothing but the chorus of it, though New Japan Pro-Wrestling not only played the whole thing but remixed the beat and even added Godzilla's roar to the track. He then used one of his already released themes for his Youtube sessions, did another for his New Japan run with Shelton Benjamin and did a another two themes for his TNA run: one for himself, and one for his Beat Down Clan Power Stable.
Jazz's SHINE Wrestling debut was also the debut of a theme she made for herself.
Rocky Romero did the RPG Vice theme in New Japan in tribute to Alex Koslov.(Beretta helped)
Caprice Coleman lent his voice for his own individual theme in Ring of Honor, though his C&C Tag Team theme is done by King Kelezy.
Maria Kanellis performs her own theme song on the independent circuits, the titular track of her album Sevin Sins which she released through Zombie Entertainment.
Mark Andrews of TNA & Progress Wrestling co-wrote his own theme song, as it is a track by his band Junior (he is the bassist and co-lead vocalist). The band themselves recently fully acknowledged Mark's wrestling background by creating a music video which was entirely wrestling themed, including a cameo appearance from Broken Matt Hardy!
Cameron not only recorded "Girl Bye", her entrance theme, she recorded a music video of it!
The Usos, Starting August 1, 2017, The Usos rapped their own theme song using a variety of catchphrases during their post-split heel run, this would later be known as the Day One remix of "Done With That".
- After The Usos split Jimmy rapped his own theme song "Born A King" and Jey rapped his own theme song "Main Event Ish".
Tyler Breeze "Sings" the lyrics to "#Mmmgorgeous", which basically amounts to Tyler talking about how really really really ridiculously good looking he is.
As for The Shield, the words "Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta. Shield." from their opening theme? Recorded by the guys themselves.
Keith Lee rapped his own NXT theme song "Limitless" and his WWE main roster theme song "Born to Bring It".
Bray Wyatt, Parts of his new theme, Let Me In, were done by Wyatt himself — specifically, the "Yowie wowie!" and "Let me in!" spoken portions in the beginning. But the outro phrase, "I'm really sorry what I did. (Let Me In)", were done by both Wyatt and Code Orange.
Scarlett Bordeaux sings "Dead Silent", the theme she and Karrion Kross share.
Elias sings and plays guitar on his theme song "Amen (I'm Going In)".
Hit Row's entrance music is rapping by themselves.
Swerve Strickland does the rapping on his All Elite Wrestling theme "Big Pressure".
Nikkita Lyons sings her theme song "The Lyoness".
Damian Priest sings his theme song "Rise for the Night".
Joe Hendry sings his theme song "I Believe In Joe Hendry". He also often sings parodies of famous songs that mock his opponents as alternate theme songs.

Puppet Shows

Jim Henson seemed to loved this trope, as it also happens in The Muppet Show, The Ghost of Fafner Hall, and others^note.
- Bear in the Big Blue House's theme is sung by the main characters.
- Fraggle Rock's theme is a Crowd Song sung by most if not all of the Muppet performers, including the main cast.
- Both theme songs of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss are sung by the cast, including the Cat in the Hat.
Two other Crowd Song examples are both the opening and ending themes to Lamb Chop's Play-Along which are sung by Shari Lewis (both as herself, and as her three characters Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy and Charlie Horse), and by various kids.
The Elmo's World theme song is sung by Elmo himself.
The Noddy Shop opens with a song sung by the toys that live in the shop. This is actually justified, considering that their songs are a major part of the show, as they usually get the moral across.
While a woman sings most of the song, the final part of the Donkey Hodie theme song is sung by the entire cast.
The Allegra's Window theme song is sung by the entire cast, though primarily by the title character.

Theatre

The Tsukiuta stage play series, which generally are not musicals, usually have a theme song titled after the play, sung by the cast.
- The Tsukihana Kagura and Zanshin settings have theme songs released originally with the AGF events that they were first created for, sung by Yuki of Fluna and Haruto of Rock Down, respectively. Every play set in these words has the cast record a version of the same theme song.
- Similarly, though it is not an Alternate Universe setting, every series that does a "School Revolution" episode has the cast record a version of the original theme song from Six Gravity and Procellarum's 2017 productions.
- The SQS series did not have the cast sing theme songs until episode 4, Tsukino Empire 2: Beginning of the World. Since then, they have recorded a theme song for every episode. This includes episode 6, Machine Elements, which was a sequel to the previous Machine Elements stage play, one of the few Tsukipro plays to feature a theme song not performed by the cast (it was performed by infinit0, who did not appear).

Video Games

Portal:
- The ending theme to Portal is sung by Ellen McLain in character as GLaDOS, complete with the electronic voice distortion and unsettling inflections of the original. Keep in mind that McLain is a trained opera singer.
- Which gets shown much more with the singing turrets (whom she also voices) and the ending theme of Portal 2. The author of both ending themes, Jonathan Coulton, didn't know who he was writing for the first time around. For the second game, he knew who McLain was and thus wrote much more vocally complex song, taking advantage of McLain's considerable singing talents.
Mega Man:
- The opening theme in the original Japanese release of Mega Man X5, "Monkey", is sung by Showtaro Morikubo, who also voiced X. Morikubo would go on to provide vocals for the opening themes of Mega Man X6, "Moon Light" and "The Answer", and the ending theme of Mega Man X7, "Lazy Mind" (though the latter was replaced by an instrumental-only version for the international releases).
- "Freesia", a prominent theme heard throughout Mega Man Zero 4, is sung by Rie Tanaka, who also voices the female lead, Ciel.
In BlazBlue, one of the fight themes ("Love So Blue") is a vocal version of Noel's theme song "Bullet Dance". It was written and performed by, naturally, her voice actress Kanako Kondo.
Megumi Ogata, the voice actress of Makoto Naegi and Nagito Komaeda, sang the ending themes for all four Danganronpa games and Side:Despair of the Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School anime (Rebirth -rebuild- for the first game, Setting Sail -departure- for Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Disconnect -break- for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Progressive -zenshin- (sung as a duet alongside Aya Uchida, who voices Makoto's sister Komaru Naegi) for Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Absolute Hope Birthday for Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School).
In Corpse Party, the openings of Blood Covered... Repeated Fear, Book of Shadows and the Tortured Souls OVA (Shangri-La, Where Flowers Bloom, Ring of Stardust) and the 2nd opening of Blood Drive (Incarnation) are sung by Asami Imai, who voices Ayumi Shinozaki. On a particular note, she made duets with Eri Kitamura (who voices Yuka Mochida) under the name ARTERY VEIN for the endings of the three main games (Prayer of Confutatis, Pandora Night, Translucent Days) and an insert song for Blood Covered... Repeated Fear (Catastrophe Drenched in Darkness).
Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier EXCEED main heroine is voiced by Nana Mizuki. And given her recent popularity, it wasn't a surprise that she sings the opening theme for the game.
In the Tokimeki Memorial series, the openings and endings of all Hibikino Saga games (Tokimeki Memorial 2 and its spin-offs) save for Leaping School Festival (and Dancing Summer Vacation for the endings) are sung by Junko Noda, the voice actress of the Hibikino Saga's main heroine Hikari Hinomoto.
- Similarly, most of the openings and endings of the games of the Classic Kirameki Saga (Tokimeki Memorial1 and its spin-offs) are sung by Mami Kingetsu, the voice actress of this saga's main heroine Shiori Fujisaki. Exceptions are the Drama Series games, with the endings of Nijiiro no Seishun sung by Sachiko Sugawara, who voiced this game's heroine Saki Nijino, and Irodori no Love Song, all three possible ending songs being sung by Masayo Kawaguchi, voice actress of this game's heroine Ayako Katagiri.
In the Mitsumete Knight games, all the openings and endings (save for the Anne specific ending song, sung by her voice actress, Mariko Kouda) are sung by Hiroko Konishi, who voiced the series' main heroine Sophia Robelingue.
The opening theme of both Namu Amida Butsu! -UTENA- and its anime adaptation, Sora Uta (Heaven's Poem) is performed by Masaaki Mizunaka, who plays Taishakuten.
The opening theme of DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou, Hoshikuzu Garandou, is sung by Aya Hirano, who also plays the Xbox 360 exclusive character Saya.
The opening theme of Otomedius Excellent, titled "Fly", is sung by Aoba Anoa, Arnval, Strarf, Gesshi Hanafuuma, and Kokoro Belmont, while the ending theme, titled "Otometic", is sung by Erul Tron and Madoka.
Mina Forte's voice actress from Macross 30: The Voice that Connects the Galaxy, Haruka Chisuga, sings the opening theme "Planet Cradle" and the ending theme "Wandering". The former is also sung as Mina's support skill.
Mamoru Miyano, who voices Killia, sings the opening theme of Disgaea 5, "Kill Real".
Freedom Planet has an example of a "Do it Yourself Level Theme". The Kiaiing heard in the theme to the Dragon Valley level is done by Dawn M. Bennett (the voice of Lilac).
Shantae has "Dance Through the Danger", as well as the opening song for Shantae and the Seven Sirens, performed by the titular character's voice actress Cristina Vee, who's presumably singing them in-character based on the lyrics.
Toe Jam And Earl series creator Greg Johnson composed and sang the 1991 promo rap on cassette tape. Tonez the Prince and Greg Brown, who voice ToeJam and Earl respectively, did all of ToeJam and Earl's raps in Mission to Earth as well as singing the theme for Back in the Groove.
Ringo Andou's voice actress Asami Imai sings the vocal version of Puyo Puyo 7's main theme song.
Touhou Spell Bubble has several songs which are not only remixes of other songs from Touhou, but some of these songs are vocalized versions sung by the voice actors.
There is a stage in Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil which has music sung in Phantomilian by Klonoa himself, called "Stepping Wind". Meanwhile, Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal has its opening theme sung by Kumiko Watanabe, the voice of Klonoa, "Sign of a Hero", this time in Japanese.
Everything or Nothing's Title Theme Tune is sung by Mýa, the voice and Ink-Suit Actor of Mya Starling.

Web Animation

Bravoman:
- While the show doesn't have Bravoman himself sing the theme tune, one episode features him firing the show's sound department in order to defeat a cyborg ninja (long story). Since there's nobody to play the ending theme, Bravoman sings it himself.
- The final episode of the web series also features a Hostile Show Takeover from Anti-Bravoman, who sings about himself to the tune of the lyrics.
Most of Camp Camp's soundtrack is sung by Rooster Teeth employees, including the rather...difficult opening theme, which is sung in-character by creator Miles Luna, who voices the character David. To his despair, the song is often requested at his panels.
hololive: "Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?" is definitively Mori Calliope's most known work as a musical artist, and a theme tune to an extent considering remixes of it appear at the beginning and end of her streams.
- To a lesser extent, "HINOTORI" is Kiara's, performed by the phoenix herself.
Fazbear and Friends (ZAMination): The series' theme song features Freddy, Foxy, Chica, and Bonnie singing the show's opening theme and also showing the first four episodes as well as some shorts that have been released.

Web Original

3DBotMaker: King of the Mountain videos often end with 2D (who is voiced by channel creator/host Adriel Johnson using a ring modulator) rapping or even singing about the series, sometimes in relation to what just occurred.
Critical Role
- "Your Turn to Roll", the theme song used for a large chunk of Season 2, and the animated adaptation The Legend of Vox Machina was composed by Sam Riegel, and sung by Riegel, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Travis Willingham, all of whom are members of the main cast.
- Season 3's theme, "It's Thursday Night" was again composed by Riegel, and all main cast members sing parts of it.
"Do You Wanna Date My Avatar," the single for the hit Web Original The Guild, was both written and performed by Felicia Day, the creator (and star) of the show. Well, co-written. She wrote the lyrics, and Jed Whedon wrote the music. The music video is peopled with the main cast of the show.
Stop Skelatons From Fighting: During Derek's time as The Happy Video Game Nerd he covered the AVGN theme himself, playing the guitar and singing modified lyrics. Later, his band Starship Amazing remixed the song, and eventually they composed and performed an original instrumental piece.
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: The Abridged Series has one for Nico Saiba, NICO NICO ★ RIDE FEVER, a Song Parody written and performed by Nico's voice actress.
Lindsay Ellis sings "Goodbye Internet's Rose" when Nella meets her fate at the hands of a ladder.
Noob has a few original songs, two of which are the opening and ending theme starting Season 2, all sung by a band called Mokotz. The lead singer of Mokotz is also the actor playing Master Zen.
The creator of Pretty Dudes, Chance Calloway, also co-wrote and sings on the "Pretty Dudes Anthem" that kicks off each episode.
All the music in Reynaldo The Assassin (theme tune and otherwise) is done by director/actor Oneclipleft.
Star Wars Uncut: Several of the action scene clips feature people humming the portion of the soundtrack that occurs in that particular scene, even though the producer told them that the original soundtrack background music would be added.
The theme for Try Hards was composed and sung by Elliot Gough, one of the Try Hards.