Composed by Tony Hatch with the lyrics written by his then wife, Jackie Trent, it was once voted the world's most recognised television theme song.
"[1] The theme was written and recorded in a day and Trent said "We called in Barry Crocker at about 10pm to put his voice on it and it was on the producer's desk by 10am the following morning.
To begin with, this was because the BBC could not broadcast the advertising featured at the end of Neighbours credit roles; it was also due to a 30-second timing restriction imposed on all programming.
The full closing theme of version one that was attached to Seven Network-commissioned episodes received a few edits following the # day #, # away #, # blend # and # friends # climaxes when it was shown on the BBC, but was left untouched in the rest of the world.
It was sung by actors Lisa Armytage, Anne Charleston, Fiona Corke, Alan Dale, Annie Jones, Paul Keane, Craig McLachlan and Ian Smith.
This was arranged by Peter Sullivan, and had its debut in 1992 essentially as a re-record of the 1985 and 1989 Barry Crocker versions of the theme with Melbourne-based singer Greg Hind.
Version four, arranged by music director / screen composer Chris Pettifer, debuted in 1999 essentially as a re-record of the 1992 theme with two Melbourne-based singers Wendy Stapleton and Paul Norton.
Pettifer changed it to a more rock & roll key to suit the vocalists and introduced over-driven electric guitar, giving it a rockier feel.
Version five was launched in January 2002 and once again a shorter piece of closing music was edited for the UK market, with the rest of the world using the same 76 second variant.
A new version of the theme tune, sung by Sandra de Jong, debuted in Australia on 23 July 2007 as part of a revamp of the show.
Five finalists from each country were shortlisted and their version of the theme was broadcast over the opening titles of Neighbours episodes on Eleven and Channel 5 from 18 March.
[6] Daniel Boys from the United Kingdom and Stephanie Angelini from Australia went head-to-head in Melbourne to become the vocalist on the revamped and remixed theme tune.
[6][8] Original theme vocalist Barry Crocker, plus executive producer Richard Jasek and music director Chris Pettifer were on the judging panel to decide the winner of the competition.
[7] On 8 April, the judges announced that the competition had resulted in a tie, meaning that Angelini and Boys would sing the theme tune together.
[10] A new retro-inspired theme tune, sung by Garth Ploog, debuted on 5 January 2015 as part of the show's 30th anniversary celebrations.
[14] A new version of the theme tune sung by Neighbours actress Bonnie Anderson debuted on 25 March 2020, as the opening titles were updated following two cast departures.
"[15] Ahead of the serial's return on 18 September 2023, it was announced that Chris Sebastian, the winner of ninth season of The Voice, had been chosen to sing the theme song.
[18] Madge Bishop also received the sad theme tune over the regular 2001 season closing sequence as the programme decided it would not be appropriate to create a special photo montage due to the show's recent move into 16:9 digital widescreen transmission and historic footage would have to be rendered for broadcast in the new format.
[21] It also came fourth in a survey by the building society Abbey National to find the most memorable theme tune, beating out rival soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street.
"[25] In 1999, Merle Brown from the Daily Record expressed her dislike of the new version sung by Norton and Stapleton, saying "all I want to say about Neighbours is where did they get that new theme tune?
"[28] The lyric of the song were famously quoted by John Smith, the then United Kingdom Shadow Chancellor, in a House of Commons Debate on government economic policy.
[29] Smith was bringing to attention the divergence in the economic policies of, and the tensions in the relationship between the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her Chancellor of the Exchequer, (and Downing Street "neighbour") Nigel Lawson.
In August 2005, Muslim students sang the theme tune to the then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, amid a row over the banning of hijabs at a school.
[32] In April 2014, American actor Seth Rogen sang the theme song in a television commercial promoting his film Bad Neighbours in Australia.
[33] In February 2022, Corine Vuyk launched an online campaign to get Barry Crocker's version of the theme tune to number one in the UK charts, after British broadcaster Channel 5 decided to cut the show's funding, leaving it facing cancellation.