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What is your favorite tv theme song/composition?
Since many on Audiogon are baby boomers television must have been a big part of your childhood. In grade school my mother allowed me to stay up until 10pm to watch Barnaby Jones. She knew I wouldn't make it past the great Jerry Goldsmith theme. My current favorite is the dark and haunting John Rubinstein composition for the ABC drama Family.
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Youngster or oldster, it's hard not to enjoy this tune: Route 66 ...Or another high energy TV cop show theme Kojak with a great horn section. ...Or maybe a nice extended version of Voyage to the bottom of the sea ...Or even something spooky like Dark Shadows |
Here's a couple of high-energy 70's tunes from youtube. There's several versions/quality of SOSF, but the first 60 seconds of this one sounds decent and still conveys all of the tight horns. Crank the volume! Streets of San Francisco UFO ~ |
Great version of Johnny Quest theme by Reverend Horton Heat on the "Saturday Morning Cartoons" CD. Nice transition into "Stop the Pigeon" from "Dastardly and Mutley in their Flying Machines". Classic baby boomer stuff! That's a very good CD chock full of nice, energetic versions of old cartoon themes overall actually! LEt's not forget the "Groovy Goulies". They're gonna do their thing for you! Don't ask what that is! |
What is this TV thing? I remember getting very excited about hearing "The Lone Ranger" on the radio. I think my earliest memory was standing up in my crib listening to the Popeye theme on the radio. I guess I do remember, after a while, the radio came with pictures and they moved. Wow! I still listen to my Henry Mancini "Peter Gunn" music and I even remember Mr. Lucky. Now how lucky is that? I think my favorite theme from that CD is "Experiment in Terror", which was a movie, not a TV show. It was funny seeing the movie and realizing I already knew the theme music. Great! |
There is a bunch of great vintage TV listed here…. As TV goes. As theme songs go some of these previously mentioned might ought not be listed here… maybe. Great shows… or series… not too great theme songs. The Thin Man? Avengers? The Man from UNCLE? Maybe under the title of Most recognizable, but not great theme songs. Under memorable and maybe good… “3 blind Mice”… fit the 3 Stooges like a glove. Dick Van Dyke theme song was always a favorite. Route 66! Sheesh! ‘Moving on up!’... the Jeffersons! I seem to recall being intrigued by the “I Dream Of Geanie” theme.. or maybe it was just seeing Barbara Eden. Happy Days! was always a favorite. Bill Haley? C’mon man! And the spin off… you’d instantly notice, ‘’Schlemeel, schlamozzle,.. Hosenfefer incorporated….’ Laverne & Shirley. Star Trek! Certainly. Perry Mason… absolutely. Taxi! Cheers was simply where everbody knew your name… it was in the script, so of course they knew! Good tune though. I also liked John Sebastian’s theme song for Gabe Kaplan’s show, “Welcome Back Kotter!”….juan, not Vinny, often stole that show. Twilight Zone intro …. Even if I get Alzheimers I’ll remember that one. ‘course, lest we forget, Flatt & Scruggs “Ballad of Jed Clampet” was attached as the theme song for the Beverly Hillbilies’. Green Acres!, not great but memorable. Oh, so many westerns! Before TV, westerns had theme songs, they had song singers… such as Gene Autry… or Roy Rogers… or The ‘Singing Sherriff’ Faron young. I seem to recall Frankie Lane also did the theme song for the Western series hosted by Ronald Regan, Zane Grey Theater? “High Noon” ? if it wasn’t Ronnies show.. it was someone else. Bonanza … who can forget that one! Not the words, the melody. John Cash’s singing of ‘The Rebel’’ starring Nick Adams, was a hit that got tacked onto a western… then there was Cheyenne, High Chapparal. Laramie, Laredo, Wagon Train, Definitely Rawhide, Branded, yancy Derringer, Co-cheese, and of course… Maverick…. With Bart, Brett, and Bo. Another always comes to mind and the lead actor did a lot in H’wood, but after this TV series I simply never was interested…. “He wore a kane and derby hat, they called him Bat… Bat Masterson.” Cop & Spy shows? Car 54! The orig ‘M.I.F.’… was just killer. S.W.A.T. and Hawaii 5-0 were super! Only S.W.A.T. made it onto the disco scene club’s dance floors as I recall. Magnum P.I. & Hill Street Blues…. Were quite unique. N.Y.P.D. Blue…? Not sure about the song/tune… but loved the show. You go Bocchco! ‘Boston Legal’ got sort of fancy, hip, and bluesy all at the same time following in the NYPD Blues footsteps. Nearly 3 full decades of Doc Severenson playing intro’s for Ed McMahon’s “Here’s Johnny!” on the Tonight Show. … and the current top fav… ‘Family Guy’. Music… be they quality tracks or simply memorable melodies, always make the TV show, Film, etc., come alive… engage…. Adds texture and whet the appetite. The theme songs live on longer than the characters in the episodes. |
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Emily Barker's song, Nostalgia, is used for the Kenneth Branagh series, Wallander. That song, and that entire CD, Despite the Snow, is just stunningly beautiful and not at all typical of what one might otherwise associate with a TV theme song. Other cuts from that CD are used throughout the series sparsely. It has been on frequent rotation for me for over a year now, and would probably make it to my desert-island disc status at this point. The series is very good as well. As far as the mainstream TV series from my childhood - some of them are wedged in my brain and I'd rather not have them there at all. I haven't had TV in my house for over 12 years now (just watch DVD's if there is a series that interests me). |
