I first saw The Honeymooners while working a very boring night shift job in the late winter - spring 1986. It was on at 11:30pm after the news. The music has enchanted me ever since. The music along with the night time feel of the opening visuals is just…awesome. A year later I began working at the resort where Jackie Gleason was a frequent guest and played his first game of golf in 1959 (his score was 143). Gleason composed the theme music for The Honeymooners.
I loved the Dukes of Hazzard as a kid, and just really like that era of country music. It think it would be a great song on its own, and also carries the theme of the show well.
(Does that work for an explanation? Now I have to get back to grading, and telling students they didn’t explain well enough.)
When I was in 3rd or 4th grade and in bed my parents could relax and watch a little TV. I could hear the TV in the living room and when the very beginning of the theme song for Ironside came on it would freak me out because it…well, it’s obvious. Tarentino used it in one of the Kill Bill movies.