Paul Fitzpatrick: London February 2024

You know you’re turning into a curmudgeon when you have thoughts like –
‘when I was a lad there were only 3 tv channels and now there are 500 and I still can’t find anything to watch!’

It’s a ridiculous sentiment of course – there’s always a channel showing The Sopranos or Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes these days.

Anyhow, I was having one of those moments recently, frustratingly flicking through the channels when I stumbled across an old episode of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’.

I was quickly reminded of the hammy acting and the absurd storylines, but I sat through the whole episode anyway just to experience the end credits with the hypnotic theme music and the girls frolicking amongst sham-effect flames.

In these days of high production values ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ is actually a fun watch, the antithesis of everything todays streaming giants have to offer.
Going by the kipper ties and Hillman Imps I was staggered to learn that ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ first aired in 1979, I thought it must have aired much earlier than that.

Checking back, the music was written by Ron Grainger, a talented chap who also wrote the themes for Doctor Who, The Prisoner and Steptoe and Son.
Sadly, Ron’s no longer with us but I hope his family are receiving all the residual payments his talent deserved.

Like Tales of the Unexpected, some 60s and 70s theme tunes just stay with us.

It started for me in the 60s, young, impressionable and soaking up everything the goggle-box had to offer.
It doesn’t take much to transport me back to those days, sitting cross legged in front of the telly, watching – Fireball XL5, The Monkees, Bewitched, Mission Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, The Odd Couple or The Addams Family, all with distinctive theme tunes that still ring around my head some 60 years on!

Then, along came the 70s and colour tv. We were teenagers now and had other distractions… television was now very much by appointment.

Whilst a lot of the 60s theme tunes were impressively catchy, 70s theme tunes were more contemporary, often featuring some of the best composers and session musicians of the day.

Being as this is a 70s blog I’ve picked out my favourite 70s tv themes that still sound pretty good today.

6. The Sweeney – Harry South.

A perfect accompaniment for a cop show featuring irreverent coppers and reams of action.

It’s no coincidence that shows and movies from that era took inspiration from Isaac Hayes’ soundtrack for “Shaft“… all chunky wah-wah guitars and punchy horn sections at the front of the mix and ‘The Sweeney’ was no exception.

The theme for ‘The Sweeney’ was written fittingly by a Londoner, Harry South, a jazz pianist who worked with the cream of UK jazz players and composed and arranged for artists like Sarah Vaughan, Buddy Rich and believe it or not Emerson Lake & Palmer.

With its hard-hitting intro the theme was a perfect aperitif for what was to follow with Detectives Regan & Carter.

5. M*A*S*H – Johnny Mandel

‘Suicide is Painless’ or the theme from M*A*S*H is a sweet, melodic piece that could easily have been written by Burt Bacharach or a Brill building compatriot.

Originally composed by Johnny Mandel for a scene in the original 1970 movie, the track was elevated by the director, Robert Altman, to become the movies main theme song.
When the tv series came along three years later it adopted a ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach and maintained Mandel’s composition as the shows theme music.

Mandel, a legendary Grammy & Oscar winning composer/arranger had previously worked with Sinatra, Streisand, Count Basie and Quincy Jones and composed soundtracks for multiple movies including ‘The Last Detail’ and ‘Caddyshack’.

The song was eventually released as a single in 1980 and reached number one in the UK singles charts.


4. The Rockford Files – Mike Post

I guess there has to be some connotation between favourite theme tunes and favourite shows and The Rockford Files is another that fits the bill in that respect.

The 70s was the era of the Moog synthesiser which composer Mike Post mixes here with a bluesy harmonica played by Tommy Morgan who featured on lots of 60s/70s hits including the Beach Boys ‘Good Vibrations’ .

Mike Post, a multiple Grammy/Emmy award winner who composed and recorded the track is a tv theme colossus who also composed the themes for Hill Street Blues, LA Law, Magnum P.I. and countless others


3. Theme From Taxi (Angela) – Bob James

In the mid 70s inspired by all the session guys I was hearing on Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell albums I started getting into a bit more fusion and contemporary jazz.

One of the first guys I started listening to was Bob James, a master of the electric piano,
so the first time I heard the theme to Taxi I knew straight away Bob was on the Fender Rhodes.

Introspective and dusky the song sets the theme perfectly for the show’s weary characters who all think they should be doing something else with their lives.

At 84 years of age, Bob is still playing today, and sounding pretty good….

2. Theme to Starsky & Hutch (Gotcha) – **Tom Scott

The best tv cop theme ever written?
Tough call but because of the musicians involved it’s probably my favourite – basically the cast of Steely Dan’s classic Aja album plus Richard Tee on keyboards.

Scott himself is a legendary sax player and session guy who’s played on some of my favourite albums, including Steely Dan’s ‘Aja’, Joni Mitchell’s ‘Court & Spark’ and Boz Scaggs ‘Silk Degrees’.

‘Gotcha’, as the title suggests is high energy and sets you up for 60 minutes of good guys chasing bad guys down dark alleys in Bay City.

If the theme to ‘The Sweeney’ represents polyester-suit-wearing cockneys driving Ford Granada’s, Scott’s theme portrays Gran Torino’s, funky cardigans and a side hustle of Huggy Bear.

1. Theme to Film Night (I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free) – Billy Taylor

This song has become one of my all-time favourite jazz tracks and I have Barry Norman’s ‘Film’ series in the 70s to thank for that.

Like The Old Grey Whistle Test it’s a show I’d religiously stay up to watch as a teenager to keep up to date with the culture of the time.

Written as an instrumental by Taylor in 1963, (he later added lyrics), the song was recorded by Nina Simone in 1967 and became synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement in America.

I’m not sure if it was Barry Norman’s idea to use Taylor’s music as the theme but I’d like to think so…. I can picture Baz, Macallan in hand listening to a bit of Coltrane or Miles.

I first heard the song as the theme music to Norman’s ‘Film 72’ movie review show and was played religiously until Norman’s farewell in 1998 when his parting words were….

“For the very last time I bow myself out to the accompaniment of Billy Taylor and the best theme tune on television”…..

Amen Barry.

*For an insightful deep-dive into 70s Cop/Detective shows see George Cheyne’s excellent piece below…
https://onceuponatimeinthe70s.com/2021/02/28/oh-just-one-more-thing-who-loves-ya-baby/

** For a great piece on the legend that is Tom Scott see John Allan’s excellent article below…
https://onceuponatimeinthe70s.com/2021/11/08/tom-scott-musician-producer-arranger-hall-of-fame-induction/