Actually the legend (recording artist Roger Miller) stated back in 1977 that the iconic Star Wars theme song is nothing more than John Barry’s “Born Free” played upside down (not backwards).

To find out, we asked the Music Director for the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, James R. Cassidy to analyze the two tunes,

“I’ve repeated that myth myself for the humor of it,” says the KSO conductor.  If you take a few bars and play the main theme of both songs back to back, you’ll hear faint similarities, and you can understand why many people might believe that one is an inversion of the other.”

Hear it for yourself:

The Star Wars Theme

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“Born Free”

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“It’s actually not a true inversion intervalically speaking, and there is a rhythmic difference, but they do sound somewhat similar.  So Roger was just jesting and waving the flag for his 1966 hit single (Born Free).”

“John Williams, now 83, wrote the scores to the 6 previous Star Wars films employing Wagner-esque leitmotivs to musically introduce returning characters and ideas.  I am thrilled to hear his latest installment to the saga that I’ve followed for 38 years,” Cassidy commented.