If you’ve ever visited a repertoire theater in your city, chances are you’ve seen a film snipe of “OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION” right before the film unspooled on screen. And if you’ve seen that snipe, you’ve probably heard a funky tune playing with it. And if you’re anything like me the first time I heard it around 25 years ago, you’ve thought to yourself “what song is this?” There was a time when quick jingles like this were nameless and the composers were essentially ghosts.

A while back, I watched David Fincher’s Zodiac and at first I was intrigued by seeing all the characters working hard on cracking down...