It’s “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” it’s “Everywhere you Look,” it’s “I’ll Be There For You,” it’s “Where You Lead.”

These songs serve as passages into some of our favorite moments and memories, even though they aren’t ours.

Perhaps you’ve zoned out. You’re checking your phone. You’re not paying attention. Then all of a sudden, you hear it! The theme song of your favorite show. Always the same, always introducing the next half hour or hour of your life's entertainment.

Many of us were introduced to Carole King because we love to keep up with "Gilmore Girls", the same goes for Gavin DeGraw from “One Tree Hill,” and Regina Spector from “Orange is the New Black.”

These shows bring attention to popular music we come to know very well.

How about the instrumental theme from "The Office” or the epic, orchestral “Game of Thrones” main theme? They have a ring to them. We hum them. And we would recognize them anywhere.

These songs cause our ears to perk up and they set the tone for the episode to come.

I wish to argue that these songs serve as memories of sorts. We remember songs better than we remember conversations and regular words. We remember rhythms, beats, and tempos. And I would argue that in fifty years when we forget some of the gags and plots of our favorite TV shows, we will still associate them with their themes. We'll be listening to some playlist on some device—probably one that hasn't even been developed yet—and we'll experience a moment of a nostalgia, a throwback, and we'll remember our favorite TV show.

I would say this phenomenon is new to our generation, considering we can add the majority of theme songs—even those that are just short instrumentals—to our Spotify playlists. They can be part of our daily listening even outside of our TV viewing.

Additionally, since TV shows—even less so than movies—only have music playing in the background, as a supplementary soundtrack, their theme song is like their icon. It sets their tone, their mood. It’s something continuous and stable in a sitcom that has a new storyline and new conflicts in each episode.

So consider “I’ll Be There For You” from “Friends” and then consider your own friends. Think about your relationships, your friends’ personalities, the combination of personalities, the jokes, the funny moments, the deep moments, and think about which song precedes all of it. Which song serves to introduce you all each time you start a new day or adventure together?

Perhaps it's one you discovered together while browsing Spotify. Or just one that you like, and one day you turned to your friend and said, "This is going to be our song." Maybe it's one you have a memory of listening to together.

Don't ask why, but whenever "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston comes on, I will always tear up a little—shout-out to the gals back home. The same goes for "The Final Countdown," "Eye of the Tiger," "Featherstone" by The Paper Kites—though that one was discovered by two of my roommates—and "It's Raining Men."

We have memories with certain songs, and at different points in our lives, for whatever the reason, I would argue, they serve as our own themes. They introduce us. They say a lot about our mood, our tone, our beat, and our moments.

They serve as are our nostalgia. And even though they may not be playing in the background right before we enter a room, we still hear them. They will forever play on repeat in our minds.

It may be a bit of a stretch, but maybe after some time, these songs will come to be associated with us—the style, lyrics, and tempo with which we are remembered.

So enjoy the theme songs, even when you just want to be entertained by the show.

Think of them as well known opening acts that introduce timeless memories and special moments.