The Ballad of Jed Clampett

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" is the theme song for the television series The Beverly Hillbillies and the later movie of that name, providing the introductory story for the series. The song was composed by Paul Henning, and recorded first by bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with Jerry Scoggins singing. The single phono-album version, released for radio and retail sale, merges both the beginning and ending lyrics of the theme song of the television series. The beginning theme comprises the first two verses (starting with "Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed" and "Well the first thing you know, old Jed's a millionaire"), and the ending theme is the third verse ("Now it's time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin..."). A banjo-dominated sequence occurs between verses and as the ending fade-out. The song was sung by Jerry Scoggins for the beginning of the series, with instruments played by Flatt and Scruggs.

Although the first two seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies lapsed into the public domain, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" did not and is typically edited from public-domain releases of these episodes.