How the "Only Murders in the Building" Theme Song Was Created Using Home Depot Buckets

Composer Siddhartha Khosla picked up three Emmy nominations this year, including one for the original title track to "Only Murders in the Building."

The catchy earworm, Khosla says, happened easily. "I got on my piano and just sang it."

The eccentric and emotional melody is backed by Khosla's buzzing, overturned buckets, which are used as drums. According to Khosla, "That starts the piece, and they are the driving force."

The drummer is James McAlister, who plays with Sufjan Stevens and the National. “I called James and asked if it would be weird to put Home Depot buckets on that piece of music,” Khosla adds. “He went out and bought five buckets to create a battery. He put microphones on it and it looked like he was a busker. The theme music was the perfect love letter to New York. Just under a minute long, the theme music encapsulates the collaborative process between departments. “What would the costumes look like? Our decorator, Curt Beech, had ideas. I played this piece of music, and you learn that New York is a very socio-economically diverse place and shouldn't the music reflect that?"

With Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez leading the cast of the murder mystery, Khosla says, "There's this dichotomy between rich and poor and grandfathered people in the building; if the music reflected that, that would make it more New York, so we tried to honor that."

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