The Facts of Life is a 1979 song that served as the opening theme song to the sitcom of the same name. The song was written by actors and then husband and wife duo, Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring, along with Al Burton. The show itself was a spin off of Diff'rent Strokes.
The original version of the song was first heard in season 1 and was performed by Charlotte Rae, who played Mrs. Garrett on the show.
The most common version of the song was performed by Gloria Loring that was used from season 2 onward with some different lyrics. Loring would later release a full length version of the song, with additional lyrics on her 1984 album, A Shot in the Dark.
On Married...with Children[]
In "If I could See Me Now", the song is heard as Al watches television, despite his failing vision. He appears to also enjoy the song enough to sing along with it.
In "Kelly Does Hollywood (Part 1)", the song is heard after a now frustrated and disheveled Al tries to find something to watch after getting cable for the Bundy residence, but cannot find anything good.
In "Kelly Does Hollywood (Part 2)", Al finds out that his idea for Shoe Trek has been stolen and after trying to find something to watch, he ends up on The Facts of Life. Bud and Kelly sing along to the song, and a now depressed Al, realizing there is nothing else to watch, decides to use his remote control as a gun and shoot himself in the head.
In "Take My Wife, Please", Al pleads with the Grim Reaper (who takes on the appearance of Peggy with dark hair) to not take him and instead "Take somebody who deserves it, like Michael Bolton or whoever wrote that 'Facts of Life' theme!".
Trivia[]
- Like MWC, The Facts of Life TV show was produced by ELP Communications. Richard Gurman served as an executive producer on both series.
- One of the songs writers was Alan Thicke, an actor and talk show host who later appeared on MWC as Henry and Bruce in season 10 and 11.
- In "If I could See Me Now", Al seems to enjoy the song enough to sing along with it, while in "Kelly Does Hollywood", Al actually hates the song and eventually "shoots" himself with the remote control after having to hear the song.
- In the version heard on MWC, it is performed by Donna Davidson instead of Gloria Loring.
Lyrics[]
You take the good,
you take the bad,
you take them both and there you have
The facts of life,
the facts of life.
There's a time you got to go and show
You're growin' now you know about
The facts of life,
the facts of life.
When the world never seems
to be livin' up to your dreams
And suddenly you're finding out
the facts of life are all about you, you.
It takes a lot to get 'em right
When you're learning the facts of life. (learning the facts of life)
Learning the facts of life (learning the facts of life)
Learning the facts of life.