By David Biello | The Hollywood Reporter

How two musicians have jazzed up what a sitcom theme should sound like.

A simple piano riff backed by bass and a light drumbeat has called viewers to CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" since 1996. And behind that simple tune, written by Rick Marotta and Terry Trotter, is an even simpler tale.

"It was the easiest job I ever had," says Marotta, who became the show's composer after decades as a noted jazz and rock drummer. He got his start as the composer on "Coach" -- a show for which "Raymond" creator-showrunner Phil Rosenthal produced and directed -- and has gone on to create the music for series like CBS' "Yes, Dear."

"To be very acoustic and very real was the idea for the music," Marotta says. "(Trotter and I) came up with two or three ideas, and I went over to (Rosenthal's) house with a cassette. ... He immediately liked what became the theme for the show."

Part of the job's ease came from Rosenthal's specific direction, and part came from limited funds. "We didn't have a budget for a symphony orchestra," Marotta recalls. "We didn't even have enough money for a guitar player."

Marotta's pianist friend Trotter agrees that the composing part was simple. "The actual writing of the song probably took half an afternoon, with maybe a little tweaking later," he recalls. "I just thought I'd walk away and never hear about it again. You don't bet on shows to win."

Instead, each season, Marotta composes roughly 100 new pieces of music to serve at various cues in the show, each based strictly on the theme, and Trotter plays them. "Considering everything is in the same key and it's just Terry, me and (the bassist), it was amazing that we could come out with 100 new pieces of music every year," Marotta says.

Still, "Raymond's" producers often go back to the same favorites for the eight to 10 music cues in each episode. "We like to use the most current year, but sometimes we'll go back and use previous years," says Holli Gailen, producer in charge of postproduction.

Marotta was able to use a full orchestra when the Barones went to Italy for a special episode during Season 5, but ultimately, that simple piano song has defined the show musically. "I'm not inventing any new notes or sequences of notes or anything harmonically brilliant," he says. "Just something that is interesting and cute that fits and leads people to the TV."