Why, oh why, don't TV shows have theme songs anymore?
I have been thinking a bit about this lately (well, not a lot, just now and then, in the shower usually when I want to sing something to myself, usually The Love Boat theme or similar, because it's camp, snappy and short). TV shows used to have great theme songs, such as the theme to Prisoner - so melancholy, so touching - when you heard it you just knew how awful it must be to be a woman in prison.
This week, while I should have been writing essays, I stumbled across some interesting versions of some of my favourite classic TV themes. First, here is a cover version of the usually hypnotic Prisoner theme song by none other than the Living End. Quite different isn't it?
Second, here is a cheesy disco version of the aforementioned Love Boat theme, "performed" by Charo. It makes me want to get aboard.
Finally, here is the version of the wonderful EastEnders theme song with very clever lyrics, Anyone Can Fall in Love. It was recorded by cast member Anita Dobson who played every one's favourite neurotic alcoholic with a heart of gold worn on her sleeve, unforgettable pub landlady Angie Watts. This song was never used in the actual show, it was just recorded to cash in on the show's success. The lyrics are so cleverly matched to the theme music, offering sage advice about how you must work to keep your love alive - advice that in my memory was seldom followed by any of the characters in the show, whose love affairs were always brief and usually ended with a dramatic revelation of infidelity in the pub in front of all their friends and family. I love how they use the whistling from the actual theme tune - what a shame they could not also have used those famous drums!
And on those drums, apparently the EastEnders theme tune and those dramatic drums that mark the close of each episode, is more recognisable to Brits than their national anthem! Blimey.
