Over two decades after the Emmy winning sitcom Seinfeld came to a close the show’s soundtrack is only now being released. A report from Variety reveals that WB’s WaterTower Music will debut a 33-track album this Friday, July 2, across digital platforms, marking “the first time that any of the music for Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer has been available outside of its original television context.” Series composer Jonathan Wolff told the trade he didn’t know why a soundtrack wasn’t released when the series was first airing on network television (nine seasons totalling 180 episodes aired from 1989 to 1998) but that he’s happy to have it out now.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“It was 30 years in the making,” Wolff said. The outlet asked the composer, who also wrote music for Will & Grace, Married… with Children, and The King of Queens, how he decided which tracks from the 180 episodes of the show to include in the album. He replied: “Was it the primary audio of a famous ‘Seinfeld’ scene? Did it contribute in a significant way to the comedy of the scene? And upon hearing it, will it serve as an instantly identifiable signature and bring warm fuzzies to a ‘Seinfeld’ fan who will remember that scene?”
Wolff also offered some behind-the-scenes commentary about how the show’s trademark sounds came together, and how collaborating with Jerry Seinfeld to make music surrounding his stand-up bits at the top and close of each episode influenced the entire musical process of the sitcom
.The composer recalled telling Seinfeld: “‘What if we consider using your voice, telling jokes, as the melody of the theme? My job will be to accompany you in a way that does not interfere with the audio of your standup routine. The organic nature of your human voice might go well with the organic nature of my lips, tongue and finger snaps, doing stuff like this (makes familiar ‘Seinfeld’ noises)’. He came over by himself, I put one of his monologues on the screen and showed him how I could build the music around it.”
He continuted, “The bass line was designed to stay in a frequency range that didn’t interfere with his voice. That slap-bass sound could start and stop to make audio holes for the timing of his jokes and his punchlines. It served as a kind of old-vaudeville rimshot for his jokes. It meant I was going to have to rebuild each piece of music for each monologue, to fit the timings and lengths, but that was OK with me. It helped give a signature to the show.”
Those looking to stream Seinfeld after listening to the soundtrack will have a hard time as it recently left Hulu and won’t be back on Netflix until this fall.
