An Infectious Anthem of Family Unity and the Pure Joy of the Road.
Come On and Get Happy: Remembering the Sunny Sound of The Partridge Family‘s Unofficial Theme
There are certain pieces of music that, with just a few opening notes, instantly transport you back to a specific, simpler time. For many of us, the sounds emanating from the Mondrian-colored bus of The Partridge Family are a warm, technicolor slice of the early 1970s. While “I Think I Love You” topped the charts and became the signature smash, and “Come On, Get Happy” was the ultimate theme song, the tune that perhaps best encapsulated the spirit of this fictional, family-band phenomenon was the infectious, lesser-known gem, “Together (Having a Ball!)” .
This song was never released as a single and therefore, it has no official chart position on the Billboard Hot 100, which is fitting for a track whose importance lies in its narrative rather than its commercial performance. Its primary role was in the very DNA of the television series. “Together (Having a Ball!)” was initially slated to be the show’s theme song, a bubbly, upbeat declaration of purpose for the newly formed band. Though replaced by David Cassidy’s vocal on “When We’re Singin'”—which itself was later updated to the iconic “Come On, Get Happy”—a version of “Together (Having a Ball!)” featured prominently in the pilot episode and was frequently used as overscore music during montage sequences in the first season. It was the musical shorthand for the Partridges’ cheerful, on-the-road existence.
The story behind the song, in essence, is the story of the show itself: a widowed mother, Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones), and her five talented children, who against all odds, form a successful pop-rock band to help make ends meet. Inspired loosely by the real-life family band The Cowsills, the narrative was pure fantasy, right down to the instant, inexplicable success of an unknown garage band landing a gig at Caesar’s Palace. “Together (Having a Ball!)” is the soundtrack to that fantasy. Written by Shorty Rogers and Kelly Gordon, the meaning is beautifully uncomplicated: it’s about the sheer joy of togetherness, the excitement of travel, and the thrill of making music. Listen to the lyrics—”Everybody’s going places, doing things / Look at all the smiling faces sing / Havin’ a ball… Getting it on / Together, Together, Together“—and you can almost see the family piled into their bright bus, manager Reuben Kincaid rolling his eyes from the front seat, heading toward the next hilarious misadventure.
For those of us who grew up watching the show, this song evokes a powerful wave of nostalgia. It reminds us of a time when the world seemed a little sunnier, when the biggest drama was whether Keith would finally get a date, and when the family that sang together, stayed together—even if the actual music-making was handled largely by the legendary Wrecking Crew session musicians, with only Shirley Jones and a pre-superstardom David Cassidy providing lead vocals. Its unreleased, almost ephemeral nature on the original albums only adds to its mystique; it feels like an inside joke, a happy secret we share with the Partridge Family themselves. It’s a moment of pure, bubblegum-pop bliss, a perfect reflection of a television family who taught a generation of viewers the simple, undeniable pleasure of “Havin’ a Ball” in each other’s company.