I have memories of “Nadia’s Theme” being all over the radio when I was a youngster, and of course as a child of the 1970s I devoured the coverage of Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci’s unprecedented “perfect 10” performances at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. But up until now I thought Comaneci had performed her Olympics floor exercise to the delicate piano music that was the theme from the soap opera, “The Young and the Restless” and that thereafter became known as “Nadia’s Theme.”
This turns out to be a common misconception. Nadia Comaneci did do her exquisite tumbling runs to an instrumental piano recording, but that floor exercise music was a medley of “Jump in the Line” and “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby.”
“Nadia’s Theme” didn’t even originate with “The Young and the Restless.” Instead it’s a cue called “Cotton’s Dream,” and comes from the score for the 1971 film, “Bless the Beasts and the Children.” In this interesting “Story Behind the Song” interview, composer Barry De Vorzon recalls how he originally composed the piece to accompany a particularly emotional moment in the movie, taking a motif from the main theme for “Bless the Beasts and the Children” (whose Oscar-nominated theme song was famously recorded by The Carpenters) and shifting it to a minor key.
Two years later a TV producer reached out to De Vorzon to ask about repurposing the old “Cotton’s Dream” cue for the opening of a new daytime drama, “The Young and the Restless.” The transformation from “Theme from The Young and the Restless” to “Nadia’s Theme” happened in 1976, after Comaneci’s performances created such a sensation that ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” crafted a special montage of the gymnast’s Olympic triumphs. ABC happened to set the montage to “Cotton’s Dream,” and the song became forevermore associated with Nadia.
That original “Wide World of Sports” segment is hard to find online. This video circa 1980 gives a sense of the original montage with the Jim McKay narration, though it’s more of a look back at Nadia’s original success, along with an update of how things had changed for her by the 1980 Olympics.
Curiously Nadia Comaneci did finally perform to “Nadia’s Theme”; a 1997 episode of “Touched by an Angel” features a scene in which Comaneci and her real-life husband, gymnast Bart Connor, danced to “Nadia’s Theme” — apparently the very first time Nadia performed in public to the song.
There’s even another more recent and well-known incarnation of the music: in 2001 Mary J. Blige (along with producing legends Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) used the “Nadia’s Theme” melody in Blige’s influential song, “No More Drama.”
The vintage sheet music I have for “Nadia’s Theme (The Young and the Restless)” provides a pleasing and straightforward piano solo arrangement. Playing it takes me right back to the days of 1970s AM radio, when certain songs like “Music Box Dancer,” “All By Myself” and “Do You Know Where You’re Going To?” would be in heavy rotation. Plus it’s fun and nostalgic to have this original sheet music that trumpets the phenomenon that was “Nadia’s Theme,” declaring: “The 1 billion people who’ve heard it already associate it with gold.” Sam Tweedle’s Vinyl Stories blog has an entertaining history of the various recordings of “Nadia’s Theme.”
Over the years I’ve spotted “Nadia’s Theme” in vintage songbooks. For instance this gem of a collection — “Nadia’s Theme Plus 12 Golden Easy Piano Solos” — which also includes Dan Coates and Richard Bradley’s easy piano solo arrangements of “Muskrat Love,” “Mandy,” “The Way We Were,” “A Fifth of Beethoven,” and “Silent Movie March.” (Have I mentioned how much I love vintage Seventies songbooks?)
Where to find it:
“Nadia’s Theme (The Young and the Restless)”
Written by Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr.
VINTAGE SHEET MUSIC: find vintage sheet music for “Nadia’s Theme” on eBay or Amazon.
Publisher: Columbia Pictures Publications (1976)
Product Number: 0013NSMX
Status (2024): Out of Print
DIGITAL DOWNLOADS: piano solo sheet music for “Nadia’s Theme” available for purchase as a digital download on on MusicNotes or Sheet Music Plus.
So Many Songbooks 