Get Swept Away with the Backstory Behind Our Wacky, Wonderful Theme Song!

The Making of Dorktales Song
Once Upon a Time

The Dorktales team has been dancing in the streets to the tune of our brand, new theme song! In case you missed it, we released Once Upon a Time into the world and have had it on repeat ever since. After a year-long creation journey, it’s been a true joy to share this milestone with our entire community. This is our love letter to all the stories and memories we’ve made together, and we couldn’t be more thrilled that it’s now available for all.

Today, I – Molly Murphy, wearer of many hats over at Dorktales HQ and writer of our theme song – am taking over the blog to chat more about my lyrics, melodies, and favorite moments of Once Upon a Time. There are so many fun ‘behind the mic’ details to share, so let’s throw on some headphones, turn up the volume, and get into some backstory.

The keys are the connection to my musical roots.

I wrote the song on a guitar, but always knew it was meant to be on the piano. The person who inspired me and started me on my music-making journey was my grandpa, John Dieball. He was an incredible pianist, and an expert creator of community. He always played his Steinway, and the family would gather around and sing together – in fact, I sang for the first time standing next to him at his piano. Since I make this podcast with my family, and we deeply value community storytelling, it just felt right to pay tribute to my grandpa and the spirit of collaboration he instilled in all of us.

Another fun fact: Andrew Sheron, our pianist, played this song on a genuine Steinway!

It’s an excellent day to get swept away in a tale, so let us regale you.

This is my favorite lyric in the song. I’m so happy with the way it flows, and I also love the image it evokes of getting lost in a good story. That’s what it’s all about!

In Once Upon a Time where anything is possible…

As lovers of world-building, we knew that we wanted to make our own universe as part of the podcast, filled with unique lore and quirky characters. Our world is called Once Upon a Time, a magical land where you can wander through the Folktale Forest, sail across the Fantasea, creep through castles in Mythdom, and face fears in the Foreshadow. And there’s even more out there that we’ve yet to explore…

Strike up the band.

I had the distinct pleasure of inviting one of my favorite artists and human beings, Phil Harris, to keep the beat and play the drums on the track. Andrew also added some bass, guitar, and other instrumentation, giving the song lots of fun textures. When we were done, we asked them both who their in-world, Folktale Forest alter egos would be – Andrew went with a piano playing elk (so that the singing Branch Sisters could sit up in his antlers while tweeting the tune, of course). Phil dubbed himself Frank Rubbish, the raccoon percussionist.

After all of our tracks were recorded, Andrew mixed them in Brooklyn at his studio, Conveyor NYC. Then we sent them off to California to our engineer and producer, Jermaine Hamilton at Hamilton Studios, who cooked up the master track. A coast-to-coast project!

We’ll let our geek flags fly, we will be unstoppable!

With a name like Dorktales, you can probably guess how much we love all things nerdy. We like to layer pop culture and geeky references into our episodes – a little Star Trek here, a dash of Wizard of Oz there, and a sprinkling of MCU. We also always celebrate the things we love and encourage others to do the same. Wave those geek flags in the air!

There are twists and turns and lessons learned.

In each of our stories, we’re learning alongside Jonathan and Redge – about kindness and compassion, what it means to be a good friend, handling tough feelings, and so many more important lessons. We wanted to pay tribute to these moments of growth, empowerment, and connection that are in our show. 

It’s round one of the La Di Das.

The grand entrance of Twiggy Branch (Monique Hafen Adams) and Olive Branch (Kristin Schmitz)! We wanted our world to have its own resident band and came up with the Branch Sisters, three birds of a feather who sing together. Monique and Kristin are my in-real-life sisters and best friends. Bringing them into my creative schemes has been one of my greatest joys. Their vocals really enrich our song and take it to the next level.

So gather your squad for all to see, it’s a universe that we’ve imagined.

Our squad = all of our listeners, our friends and family, and the entire Dorktales team. We wanted to make sure this song was a celebration of everyone who makes the show possible, and the imaginative journeys we’ve been on together.

Bonus: This is the second chorus, and Kristin and Monique’s harmonies here…I just adore them! They are so open and sweeping and grand it gives me butterflies. Their performances give me the feeling of being out on the open sea, with beautiful blue skies above and adventure lying ahead.

Join Jonathan and Redge as they set sail on the magical sea of a new Dorktale!

A nod to our humble hosts, our resident storytellers, our legendary literaries, Jonathan and Reginald T. Hedgehog. Both characters are played by my amazing brother, Jonathan, who brings all of our Once Upon a Time residents to life. These are the two who take us on many storied quests, and teach us lovely life lessons along the way, so we had to make sure they had their own piece of the tune. Though, if you ask Redge, he’d probably tell you this is his own, personal theme.

Thank you for being here on this wonderful, wacky, and wild journey! We’re looking forward to adding more fun surprises and brand, new music to the podcast well into the future. But until then…we’ll see you next once upon a time!