197. Okay, everyone, like this is me on the drums, eh!

197. "The Theme from Hawaii Five-O" by Morton Stevens

It is a rare thing for the best part of a TV theme song to appear in the first few measures. It is rarer still for that best part to be a raring drum solo. That's why "The Theme from Hawaii Five-O" is one of the raringest rarers of the rare. The drum solo hooks you from the get-go, and then the trumpets hit those opening notes of the theme, and then the trombones blast those staccato notes until they get their own low-down booming shot at the theme. That's the part of the pep band performance where the trumpets stop playing and start pretending their instruments are canoe paddles, with two strokes to each side in time with the beat. And then, after the musical excitement has built, the interweaving sounds of the drums and brass and woodwinds work their magic, and we all come to realize an important, undeniable truth: Zulu is Kono and Kam Fong is Chin Ho!