Can you name any TV themes tunes from today that really light your fire?
On the recommendation of Planet Mondo (who's on hols at the moment, but who's always right about this sort of thing), I bought Girl In A Suitcase (Upgraded). it's packed full of evocative theme tunes from yesteryear. Not your obvious choices like Follyfoot or Black Beauty, but gems like Fruity Flute (the theme to Farmhouse Kitchen), Glad Gadabout (from stuffed toy show Teddy Edward), incidental bits from Mary, Mungo & Midge and my new song of the week, The Free Life by Alan Parker, from 1974 Thames TV sitcom Moody & Pegg, starring Derek Waring and Judy (or perhaps Charlotte) Cornwell as starcrossed squatters.
This rings a vague bell to me but I'd never have put the tune and the show together. I don't really remember the sitcom - though according to Wikipedia it's more comedy drama - but I do remember the tune. It's reedy with folky guitar, which is always a winner in my book and has a kind of wistful quality about it, like someone's sad but full of hope at the same time, fighting back the tears. A bit like the music in Gregory's Girl - evening sun glinting off brutal concrete estates, that kind of thing. It's glorious. It was also ITV schools programming music, so perhaps I remember it from there. I wish I knew how to post sound files!
But what I'm trying to say is, they don't really do memorable theme tunes anymore. Sure, you can identify programmes, but do you think in years to come you'll be moved or have some kind of Proustian rush on hearing one? Perhaps if you were a child now, you'll be doing the whole nostalgia thing for TV now, but television today is not what it was, is it?
Anyway, get this tune off the moviegrooves website if you get the chance.
