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tv theme songs on the radio

S

skippercollector

In the 1960s and 1970s, my mother (and my father before he died) listened to what was then called easy listening (now soft rock or adult contemporary). I remember hearing a number of instrumental TV theme songs on the radio that were played periodically in rotation. The ones I can recall were:
Cade's County (a beautiful, haunting tune that was a favorite of my dad's)
Family Affair
Linus and Lucy (which I heard a few times throughout the year; now I hear it a lot but only in December, even though it's not really a Christmas tune)
The Odd Couple (although it may have been the movie theme song)
Room 222
Suicide is Painless (although it may have just been the theme of the movie M*A*S*H, not the TV show)
The above were all instrumentals. I know Suicide is Painless has lyrics, but I've never heard anyone sing them. The only sung TV theme song that was a hit that I can think of is Friends.
What TV themes have you heard on the radio? I'm not including themes such as The Flintstones or The Brady Bunch, which I've heard played as gags or tributes or even ad promotions.
 
Vocals: "Welcome Back Kotter" was a '70s hit for John Sebastian. So was "Happy Days" for Pratt & McLain (sp.?). In the '60s, Johnny Rivers had a big hit with "Secret Agent Man," the theme for "Secret Agent."
 
skippercollector said:
I know Suicide is Painless has lyrics, but I've never heard anyone sing them.
Click to expand...

The vocal version was used in the movie. I also seem to remember one episode of the TV show used the lyrics. Perhaps the final episode.

The movie's director Robert Altman's son wrote the lyrics. He made more in song royalties than his father made in directing the film.
 
Rhythm Heritage - Theme From S.W.A.T.
Cyndi Greco - Making Our Dreams Come True (Laverne & Shirley Theme)
Rhythm Heritage - Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow (Baretta Theme)
Maureen McGovern - Different Worlds (Theme From Angie)
 
Hawaii 5-O theme by the Ventures not only got radio play but made the Billboard and Cash Box charts when the original series first aired.
"Niki" by Burt Bacharach (theme from ABC's Movie of the Week) also got good airplay.
So did "Nadia's Theme" by Henry Mancini (The Young and the Restless).
"Dallas" got some airplay on MOR stations.
The theme from Walt Disney's "Zorro," by Jimmy Dodd and covered by the Chordettes also charted.

I'm not including songs used as TV themes that were already popular and had received airplay before being used as a TV theme ("The Dean Martin Show - Everybody Loves Somebody," "The Doris Day Show - Que Sera, Sera", "The Huntley-Brinkley Report - Beethoven's 5th Symphony," "CBS Reports - Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring," "The Jack Benny Program - Love in Bloom/Yankee Doodle Dandy.Hooray for Hollywood"...)
 
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The theme to Davy Crockett.

My mom still complains about a kid in her local malt shop who would not
quit playing it over and over on the juke box.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
The theme to Davy Crockett.

My mom still complains about a kid in her local malt shop who would not
quit playing it over and over on the juke box.
Click to expand...

The Ballad of Davy Crockett was actually four hits, each making it to the top 10 (and one was number one for the year). One version was by Bill Hayes (later Doug Williams on "Days of Our Lives"). The others were by Fess Parker, who played Davy Crockett (and later Daniel Boone), Tennessee Ernie Ford and bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman.

However, was it a "TV theme song?" It was used as a narrative device throughout the five Davy Crockett episodes of the "Disneyland" TV show, however the show's theme song was "When You Wish Upon a Star" (from Walt Disney's "Pinocchio", sung by Cliff Edwards as "Jiminy Cricket").
 
some more titles

Thank you for reminding me of all of those other songs. If I'd thought about it some more instead of just listing what was off the top of my head, I would have eventually remembered them.
I’ve come up with some more themes.
Batman
Brian’s Song
Roots
Something for Joey
The Young and the Restless/Nadia’s Theme/Cotton’s Dream


In a variation of my question, these themes are classical music songs used on TV series.
Flight of the Bumblebee/The Green Hornet
Funeral March of a Marionette/Alfred Hitchcock Presents
William Tell Overture/The Lone Ranger
 
eriedj said:
Rhythm Heritage - Theme From S.W.A.T.
Cyndi Greco - Making Our Dreams Come True (Laverne & Shirley Theme)
Rhythm Heritage - Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow (Baretta Theme)
Maureen McGovern - Different Worlds (Theme From Angie)
Click to expand...

Don't forget Mike Post's Theme from "The Rockford Files," my favorite of all the instrumentals.
 
eriedj said:
Rhythm Heritage - Theme From S.W.A.T.
Cyndi Greco - Making Our Dreams Come True (Laverne & Shirley Theme)
Rhythm Heritage - Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow (Baretta Theme)
Maureen McGovern - Different Worlds (Theme From Angie)
Click to expand...


Wouldn't that been Sammy Davis Jr. ???
 
"Crockett's Theme" - Jan Hammer (used in several Miami Vice episodes), can be heard on KOAZ 103.7/95.9 The Oasis in New Mexico. They air smooth jazz/NAC.
 
thought of some more

Here are a few more that I remember:
Peter Gunn
Route 66
Sesame Street (along with Rubber Ducky)

I don't know if the following were ever released as singles:
American Bandstand/Barry Manilow
The Ballad of Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies)/Flatt & Scruggs
The Love Boat/Jack Jones
People Let me Tell you 'Bout my Best Friend (The Courtship of Eddie's Father)/Nilsson

I know of two old English folk songs that were used as themes:
Greensleeves/Lassie
Early One Morning/The Friendly Giant
 
Let's not forget the memorable, "Mystery Movie Theme" done by the incomparable
Henry Mancini. It could be heard at the start of Columbo, McMillan and Wife,
McCloud and was also heard on many easy listening stations.
 
I sometimes hear TV show themes on NPR programs like "All Things Considered" and "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me"

I recently heard an instrumental version of the "All in the Family" theme, that was used as an outro from a segment where "Wait, Wait" quizzes
the producer of the show -- Norman Lear. It sounds like a version of the theme during the closing/end credits of the show.
 
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