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​Prepare To Have Your Mind Blown With A Secret Verse to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme Song

​Prepare To Have Your Mind Blown With A Secret Verse to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme Song

The lyrics aren’t quite as good as the famous verses

Anonymous

Anonymous

Will Smith is probably best known these days as the star of hit films such as Men in Black, Wild Wild West, I am Legend, Suicide Squad and, erm, Seven Pounds. There are probably some better examples I could have gone for instead of that last one, but I remember Ali being fairly disappointing. Hancock! That was alright.

But before Smith became a global superstar with superstar children and a superstar, Oscars-boycotting wife, he was best known to TV audiences as, well, Will Smith, in this case playing himself in the hit television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Almost all of us will be familiar with the show.

And one of the best things about it was the theme tune. While some of us can recite the whole bloody thing, most people at least know the opening verse: Now this is a story all about how/My life got flipped-turned upside down/And I'd like to take a minute/Just sit right there/I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air.

Well now... It turns out that all these years there has been a secret verse to go with the classic tune. Take a look here.

Credit: Comedy Central

The show ran for six seasons and 148 episodes and saw Smith play a fictionalised version of himself as a kid from the rougher side of Philly sent by his mum to live with his aunt and uncle in LA to keep him out of trouble. Naturally, he got into a fair bit of trouble (would have been a fairly bad show otherwise) but gang-related activity was kept to a minimum and it was more about chasing girls and fitting in with the other kids at the preppy private school he found himself in.

While the hi-jinks of Will, Carlton and Uncle Phil (played by the late, great James Avery) were the stuff of tellybox gold, most fans best remember the show's fantastic opening theme. The song, written by Quincy Jones and Smith, and produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff, is the stuff of legend, becoming a staple of late night university/night bus/stag-do singalongs that annoy the hell out of everyone within earshot.

Fresh Prince Of Bel  Mum
Fresh Prince Of Bel Mum

Credit: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The secret verse is mind blowing. Well, it's not as good as the verses that made it into the original, and the words 'is this what the people of Bel-Air livin' like' clearly don't quite roll off Smith's tongue with the free-flowing lyrical genius of the ones that actually made it into the song.

But still, it's cracking stuff, and a good reminder of many hours spent in front of the telly, living the pre-dinner, post-school dream. Word.

Words: Ronan O'Shea

Featured Image Credit: Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air

Topics: Will Smith