About The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Theme:

The Late Late Show is unique for many reasons, and one of them is the existence of an actual legitimate theme song, which was written by Craig Ferguson, Tim Mosher, and Stoker. Craig performs the lead vocals and "much of the drum track."

[Side note: Tim Mosher and Stoker appeared on TLLS as part of The Light Brigade, on March 2, 2012. This occurred on a night that CBS was having audio issues, and all of Craig's band introduction was without sound. Luckily, a version of the clip with audio intact has been acquired, and the introduction is posted here. As I had suspected, Craig did mention their involvement with the theme song.]

[Side Note Fun Fact: Tim Mosher and Stoker also appeared as musicians along-side Sex Pistols lead guitarist Steve Jones, during the "Scottish Rite Temple Stomp" musical cold open, which started off Craig's Scotland Week, May 14, 2012. [Side Note Fun Fact to the Side Note Fun Fact: Steve Jones's radio show "Jonesy's Jukebox" played a Frank Ifield tune called "She Taught Me To Yodel," which Craig heard and decided to lip sync on the show for that evening (and with Kronos the monkey the next evening), starting off this very tradition of random cold open musical numbers.]]

When TLLS started broadcasting in high definition on August 31, 2009, it included an updated version of the theme with a new opening montage. The song used in the opening is a shortened version, and only includes the first verse and chorus.

In 2011 Craig took his show to Paris for a week (which aired August 1-5, 2011). Craig sang the opening theme, with only piano and string bass accompaniment, in a lovely understated street-musician style. The Paris theme also included an additional, more energetic, techno-style montage.

In 2012 Craig took his show to Scotland for a week (which aired May 14-18, 2012). Tim Mosher and Stoker re-arranged the theme song to give it a Scottish flair and it was performed by the Glasgow band, The Imagineers. At the end of day 5, the show credits ran over the full version of the song, as performed by The Imagineers.

Over the summer of 2013, Craig and gang did some filming in and around the city to put together an updated opening title sequence, to more accurately reflect the current situation on the show. The new title sequence removed the puppets and added in bits of Geoff and Secretariat, and first aired on September 23, 2013.

Lyrics:

It's hard to stay up

It's been a long long day

And you've got the sandman at your door

But hang on

Leave the TV on

And let's do it anyway

It's okay

You can always sleep through work tomorrow

Okay, Hey hey

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday

Tell the clock on the wall

Forget the wake-up call

'Cause the night's not nearly through

Wipe the sleep from your eyes

Give yourself a surprise

Let your worries wait another day

And if you stay too late in the bar

At least you made it out this far

So make up your mind and say

Let's do it anyway

It's okay

You can always sleep through work tomorrow

Okay, Hey hey

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday

Life's too short to worry about

The things that you can live without

And I regret to say

The morning light is hours away

The world can be such a fright

But it belongs to us tonight

What's the point of going to bed?

You look so lovely when your eyes are red …

(instrumental bridge)

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday

The world can be such a fright

But it belongs to us tonight

What's the point of going to bed?

You look so lovely when your eyes are red

It's hard to stay up

It's been a long long day

And you've got the Sandman at your door

But hang on

Leave the TV on

And let's do it anyway

It's okay

You can always sleep through work tomorrow

Okay, Hey hey

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday

Tomorrow's just your future … Yesterday

Audio:

CBS has provided a free audio download of The Imagineers' version of the full theme HERE.

Video:

Original Theme from Craig's first show as official host, January 2005.