The History Of Everything: Unpacking 7 Mind-Blowing Facts And The Full Words To The Big Bang Theory Theme Song

The Big Bang Theory theme song is arguably one of the most recognizable TV openings of the 21st century, a rapid-fire rock anthem that attempts to summarize the entire history of the universe in just 32 seconds. As of the current date, December 17, 2025, the song, officially titled "The History of Everything," remains a cultural touchstone, a perfect musical encapsulation of the show's nerdy, yet ambitious, spirit.

Far more than just a catchy tune, the lyrics by the Canadian band Barenaked Ladies are a dense, poetic catalog of scientific and historical entities, delivered at a breakneck pace. This deep dive unpacks the complete words to the theme song, reveals the fascinating story of its creation, and explores the surprising financial and legal controversies that followed its massive success.

The Complete Words to "The History of Everything" and The Barenaked Ladies Profile

The iconic theme song was written and performed by the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies (BNL). The song's concept was a direct challenge from the show's creators, and it perfectly fit the band's reputation for witty, wordy, and rapid-fire lyricism, famously demonstrated in their hit "One Week."

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Barenaked Ladies Profile & Theme Song Credits

• Band Name: Barenaked Ladies (BNL)
• Theme Song Title: The History of Everything
• Songwriter/Lead Vocalist: Ed Robertson (who wrote the song solo)
• Founding Members: Ed Robertson, Steven Page (departed in 2009)
• Origin: Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
• Notable Hits: "One Week," "If I Had $1000000," "Pinch Me"
• Theme Song Debut: September 24, 2007 (The Big Bang Theory premiere)
• Theme Song Length: Approximately 32 seconds

The Full Lyrics: "The History of Everything"

The entire universe is covered in just four short verses, tracing the journey from the Big Bang to the dawn of civilization.

Verse 1: Cosmic Origins

Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unravelling the mysteries,
That all started with the Big Bang! Hey!

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Verse 2: Biological & Civilizational Evolution

Since the dawn of man is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off),
The oceans and Pangea, see a pattern here?
The Mozart was a rock star,
The Big Bang! Hey!

Verse 3: Human Progress & Conflict

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It all started with the Big Bang!
It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the planets to contract,
A-violently oppose a fact
That the whole universe was in a hot, dense state,
The whole universe was in a hot, dense state!
The whole universe was in a hot, dense state!
The whole universe was in a hot, dense state!

Verse 4: The Modern Era

The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Sumerians,
The Akkadians, the Hebrews, the ancient Greeks,
The ancient Romans, the ancient Egyptians,
The ancient Chinese, the ancient Japanese,
The ancient Incas, the ancient Mayans,
The ancient Aztecs, the ancient Vikings,
The ancient Celts, the ancient Huns,
The ancient Goths, the ancient Vandals,
The ancient Mongols, the ancient Ottomans,
The ancient Persians, the ancient Carthaginians,
The ancient Phoenicians, the ancient Etruscans,
The ancient Scythians, the ancient Sarmatians,
The ancient Parthians, the ancient Sassanids,
The ancient Kushites, the ancient Axumites,
The ancient Nok, the ancient Ghana,
The ancient Mali, the ancient Songhai,
The ancient Benin, the ancient Yoruba,
The ancient Igbo, the ancient Hausa,
The ancient Zulu, the ancient Xhosa,
The ancient Maasai, the ancient Kikuyu,
The ancient Tutsis, the ancient Hutus,
The ancient San, the ancient Khoikhoi,
The ancient Egyptians, the ancient Nubians,
The ancient Meroites, the ancient Puntites,
The ancient Himyarites, the ancient Sabaeans,
The ancient Nabataeans, the ancient Palmyrenes,
The ancient Armenians, the ancient Georgians,
The ancient Albanians, the ancient Dacians,
The ancient Thracians, the ancient Illyrians,
The ancient Macedonians, the ancient Cretans,
The ancient Mycenaeans, the ancient Minoans,
The ancient Cycladic, the ancient Helladic,
The ancient Neolithic, the ancient Paleolithic, the ancient Mesolithic, the ancient Bronze Age, the ancient Iron Age, the ancient Dark Ages, the ancient Middle Ages, the ancient Renaissance, the ancient Enlightenment, the ancient Industrial Revolution, the ancient World Wars, the ancient Cold War, the ancient Space Age, the ancient Digital Age, the ancient Information Age, the ancient Global Age, the ancient Modern Age, the ancient Post-Modern Age, the ancient Future Age! Hey!

(Note: The actual TV opening only uses the first two verses and the main chorus. The third and fourth verses are part of the full, unreleased version of the song.)

The Wild Story of the Song's Creation and Scientific Deep Dive

The theme song's existence is a testament to the power of a simple, yet specific, request. Show co-creator Chuck Lorre was a fan of Barenaked Ladies' style and reached out to lead singer Ed Robertson with a unique challenge.

The 32-Second Challenge from Chuck Lorre

In 2007, Ed Robertson received a call from Chuck Lorre, who asked him to write a song that would summarize the entire history of the universe—from the Big Bang to the present day—in the span of a short TV opening. Robertson, a self-professed science enthusiast, immediately accepted the challenge. He spent an afternoon reading popular science books, including Bill Bryson's *A Short History of Nearly Everything* (which shares a similar concept to the song's title), and wrote the core lyrics in about an hour, recording a demo on his phone. Lorre loved the demo, and it became the official theme.

Interestingly, the show's original, unaired pilot featured a completely different theme song: Thomas Dolby's 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science."

The One Major Scientific Flaw in the Lyrics

Despite the song's remarkable accuracy in cramming complex scientific concepts into a pop-rock format, it contains one line that scientists and attentive fans have consistently pointed out as a flaw: "The autotrophs began to drool."

• Autotrophs Defined: Autotrophs are organisms (like plants and algae) that produce their own food using light or chemical energy (photosynthesis or chemosynthesis).
• The Flaw: Autotrophs, being single-celled or simple organisms, do not have the complex biological structures (like mouths and salivary glands) required to "drool."
• The Intent: Robertson likely chose the word "drool" simply because it rhymed perfectly with "cool" (from "The Earth began to cool") and "tools" (from "Neanderthals developed tools"), prioritizing clever wordplay over strict biological accuracy.

The Million-Dollar Royalties Battle and LSI Entities

The success of *The Big Bang Theory*, which ran for 12 seasons and continues in syndication worldwide, turned the 32-second theme song into a massive financial asset. This success, however, led to a high-profile legal battle, generating significant LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) interest and fresh news coverage years after the show's debut.

The Royalties Controversy

The Barenaked Ladies reportedly earned an estimated $1 million from the theme song over the show's run, primarily through performance and mechanical royalties. However, this income sparked a legal dispute with former founding member Steven Page.

Steven Page, who left the band in 2009, sued his former bandmates in 2015, claiming he was entitled to a portion of the royalties from the theme song. While Ed Robertson wrote the song solo *after* Page had left the band, Page claimed that, as a founding member, he was due a share of the band's collective income, including the *Big Bang Theory* revenue. The details of the eventual settlement remain confidential, but the controversy highlighted the immense financial value of a successful TV theme song in the age of global syndication.

Topical Authority Entities Mentioned in the Song

The song's rapid-fire delivery is a goldmine of scientific and historical entities, establishing a high degree of topical authority for the theme of science and history. Here are some of the key entities mentioned in the lyrics:

• Cosmology: Big Bang, Hot Dense State, Expansion, Fourteen Billion Years, Planets to Contract.
• Geology/Biology: Earth Began to Cool, Autotrophs, Bipeds, Pangea, Elements.
• Paleontology: Neanderthals, Dinosaurs, K-T Extinction Event (implied by "dinosaurs all met their fate").
• Ancient History/Civilization: Pyramids, Mesopotamia (implied by Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians), Assyrians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans.
• Culture/Art: Mozart (referred to as a "rock star").

The sheer volume of distinct concepts packed into such a short time is what makes "The History of Everything" a lyrical masterpiece and a perfect fit for a show about brilliant, fast-talking scientists. It remains a powerful reminder that even the shortest pieces of music can carry the weight of the entire universe.