Who wrote lyrics for the show's theme in 1961?

Everett Sloane wrote the lyrics for the show's theme in 1961. The original instrumental theme was composed by Earle Hagen, with Herbert W. Spencer receiving a BMI co-composer credit, and Hagen also performed the familiar whistling heard in the opening and closing credits.

Sloane's words were not added to the regular television opening. Instead, they accompanied an expanded vocal arrangement released on a 1961 Capitol Records LP of music from The Andy Griffith Show. Andy Griffith sang the resulting song, which was retitled “The Fishin' Hole.”

A common mix-up is to credit Hagen with the lyrics because he wrote the melody, or to credit Sheldon Leonard because he produced the series and supervised its distinctive musical approach. Sloane was an actor as well as a lyricist; he also guest-starred as Jubal Foster in the episode “The Keeper of the Flame.” The tune's association with Andy and Opie walking to the fishing hole helped make it one of television's best-known Americana themes.