McHale's Navy Them (comp. Axel Stordahl)

[JSngry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xIop3mQgTk&NR=1

[Harold_Z]

Yeah! It's very hip. I love a lot of the old tv themes...especially the so called "crime jazz" genre of themes like Perry Mason. Impact, M Squad, etc.

[Free For All]

Dig The Crazy Counter-Melody

It's chromatic guide tones on crack!

[7/4]

That's some mighty fine loopy insane music!

I like that flute line in the begining.

dB

[JSngry]

I never really dug Stordahl's arrangements for Sinatra's Columbia sides. Maybe I should go back and relisten.

Or not.

However, his "farewell" album w/Frank on Capitol, Point Of No Return, is a real gem. Highly underrated & overlooked, I think.

But this McHale's Navy thing, hey, I watched that show for years and years and years. Who knew it was ear-conditioning for the years to come?!?!?!

[Jim R]

But this McHale's Navy thing, hey, I watched that show for years and years and years. Who knew it was ear-conditioning for the years to come?!?!?!

"Ear conditioning", yes indeed. I haven't looked at the video yet, but it occurs to me that a lot of 50's and 60's tv themes were re-arranged, and my recollection is that McHale's Navy was one of those (the themes from Leave It To Beaver and Dick Van Dyke also spring to mind in this regard). Generally, I recall them being syncopated differently when everything went a little more hip (and I do mean a stronger jazz influence) as the 60's progressed.

I always thought that the "I Love Lucy" theme was pretty advanced too, particularly melodically.

[JSngry]

There's a fine trio (piano, bass, & conga!) version of the Lucy theme on Jerry Gonzalez' Ya Yo Me Cure. Hillton Ruiz really shont on that one.

As per the Beaver there, wiki lays it down thusly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_It_to_Beaver

The show's opening and closing sequences are accompanied by an orchestral rendition of the show's bouncy theme tune, "The Toy Parade", by David Kahn, Melvyn Leonard, and Mort Greene. For the third season, the tempo was quickened and the tune whistled by a male chorus over an orchestral accompaniment for the closing credits and for the production crew credits following the opening sequence. For the final season, the song was given a jazz-like arrangement by veteran composer/arranger Pete Rugolo. Though lyrics exist for the theme tune, an instrumental arrangement is used for the show's entire run. Elements of the theme tune were given a subdued musical arrangement which was then used as background music for tender and sentimental scenes.

I don't recall re-arrarngements of either Van Dyke or MaHale though.

[Jim R]

I don't recall re-arrarngements of either Van Dyke or MaHale though.

I'm thinking the Van Dyke re-arrangement coincided with the updated opening sequence where he side-steps the ottoman instead of tripping over it. But I could be wrong.

I'm less sure about the McHale theme being altered, but I want to say there was at least a subtle change at some point (more subtle than the Gilligan's Island lyrics being changed on behalf of the Professor and Mary Ann)... (mmm... Mary Ann... )

[JSngry]

Ok, you're talking about changes within an existing arrangement, not a total re-arrangement.

You might be right then. I don't know.

[JSngry]

Ok, here we go:

No rearrangement here.

But...

I had completely forgotten about this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRZ9NJ3amQ

When the hell did they use that one?

[Jim R]

Van Dyke Show... "2nd Theme"...?

This wasn't what I was thinking of, but I do remember it vaguely. Weird.

Edit: Oops, you got back in before I got back in.

Edited April 19, 2009 by Jim R

[JSngry]

Yeah, I'm wondering if that 2nd Theme might not have been used for daytime reruns or something. As I understand it, the opening "I Love Lucy" opening that we all know was constructed for exactly that purpose, not the theme itself, just the opening sequence with the script rolling out over the heart.

[JSngry]

Well now! Lyrics!

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/...themesong.shtml

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW THEME SONG

(Music by Earle Hagen / Lyrics by Morey Amsterdam)

So you think that you've got troubles?

Well, trouble's a bubble,

So tell old Mr. Trouble to "Get lost!".

Why not hold your head up high and,

Stop cryin', start tryin',

And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.

When you find the joy of livin'

Is lovin' and givin'

You'll be there when the winning dice are tossed.

A smile is just a frown that's turned upside down,

So smile, and that frown will defrost.

And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed!

Edited April 19, 2009 by JSngry

[Jim R]

Yeah, I'm wondering if that 2nd Theme might not have been used for daytime reruns or something. As I understand it, the opening "I Love Lucy" opening that we all know was constructed for exactly that purpose, not the theme itself, just the opening sequence with the script rolling out over the heart.

You may be right. Did you see/hear this? It's taken from a CD titled "Television's Greatest Hits", and it has a slightly different feel (don't think I ever heard this exact take).

[Jim R]

Well now! Lyrics!

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/...themesong.shtml

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW THEME SONG

(Music by Earle Hagen / Lyrics by Morey Amsterdam)

So you think that you've got troubles?

Well, trouble's a bubble,

So tell old Mr. Trouble to "Get lost!".

Why not hold your head up high and,

Stop cryin', start tryin',

And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.

When you find the joy of livin'

Is lovin' and givin'

You'll be there when the winning dice are tossed.

A smile is just a frown that's turned upside down,

So smile, and that frown will defrost.

And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed!

Who knew?

[JSngry]

Ok, this guy says the "photo" version of the opening was the original: http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/04/16/when-ba...od-theme-songs/

The Dick Van Dyke Show theme got much better in its second version.

Original theme (despite being labeled otherwise in the YouTube title) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRZ9NJ3amQ

Second version (introduced through season one) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqIyjLxwk-s

What I did not know was that CBS cancelled the DVD show after the first season, but then Carl Reiner lobbied the network,, got new sponsors, CBS un-canceled the show, and then it became a hit. So in that context, that makes sense of that that "odd" theme, espcially since another poster on that same board quoted above says thi:

When CBS was regularly programming sitcom reruns into their daytime schedule in the 1960s and early ’70s, they had a habit of attaching the same main title to every episode of a series, irregardless of how the show opened in prime time. Every CBS daytime rerun of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, for example, opened with Dick tripping and falling. Every LUCY SHOW opened with the fourth, fifth and sixth season ‘kaleidoscope’ titles. The network’s reason for doing this was that they figured regular viewers of a series wouldn’t realize a series had begun a second, third or fourth cycle of repeats if they couldn’t immediately associate a particular set of opening titles with a particular season of a show.

[JSngry]

Yeah, I'm wondering if that 2nd Theme might not have been used for daytime reruns or something. As I understand it, the opening "I Love Lucy" opening that we all know was constructed for exactly that purpose, not the theme itself, just the opening sequence with the script rolling out over the heart.

You may be right. Did you see/hear this? It's taken from a CD titled "Television's Greatest Hits", and it has a slightly different feel (don't think I ever heard this exact take).

Yeah, but most of those are re-recordings, not original broadcast versions. I remeber when that CD came out. A lot pf people were disappointed. But there were some rights issues or something, jsut like you still cna't get the original Beverly Hillbillies theme.

[BruceH]

Yeah, I'm wondering if that 2nd Theme might not have been used for daytime reruns or something. As I understand it, the opening "I Love Lucy" opening that we all know was constructed for exactly that purpose, not the theme itself, just the opening sequence with the script rolling out over the heart.

You may be right. Did you see/hear this? It's taken from a CD titled "Television's Greatest Hits", and it has a slightly different feel (don't think I ever heard this exact take).

Yeah, but most of those are re-recordings, not original broadcast versions. I remeber when that CD came out. A lot pf people were disappointed. But there were some rights issues or something, jsut like you still cna't get the original Beverly Hillbillies theme.

Yeah, that stinks. It's also why it's not worth getting a lot of those TV-music-theme compilations.

[blind-blake]

The guy who played Gruber was a friend of my dad's. (I'm not sure why I felt the need to say that. I'll shut up now.)

[JSngry]

Carl Ballentine was/is a trip!

[nemo7]

there's some baritone brass work that splits off as the woods and the winds meld and keep waiting to hear it before borg9's eyebrows curled under pt seven3.

[rostasi]

Looking at the title of the thread,

I was expecting to see Van Morrison on McHale's Navy!

[BruceH]

Yeah! It's very hip. I love a lot of the old tv themes...especially the so called "crime jazz" genre of themes like Perry Mason. Impact, M Squad, etc.

Yes indeed!

The McHale's Navy theme always struck me as a goosed-up "comedic" version of military music. Listening to it now, I can hear the hipness though!