Wednesday, October 3, 2007
And It's Goodnight From Him - Ronnie Hazlehurst
So farewell then Ronnie Hazelhurst.
'Write the theme tune, write another theme tune' that was your catchphrase.
He may not have had the melancholy melodies of John Barry or the funky punch of Keith Mansfield and Alan Hawkshaw, but Ronnie H was a master of the light entertainment lilt and wrote the soundtrack to seventies Saturday night TV.
Politely modern, neat clean lines and economical arrangements, sort of G Plan furniture for TV themes.
My recommended Ronnie riffs are;
The Two Ronnies - big, brassy and sets the scene for something special.
Are You Being Served - Pink Floyd must’ve plundered this for Money.
Reginald Perrin - the essence of the Hazlehurst/BBC theme team.
You probably knew the Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em theme is the letters of the title played in Morse code on a piccolo.
(S) dot dot dot (O) dash dash dash………
But did you know there’s a search for the lost Ronnie Chord ?
Why not dig out, dust off and spin up your TV theme tune albums and raise a glass to Ronnie Hazlehurst?
Or treat yourself with these downloads;
The AYBS theme
AYBS Sir? A musical skit with John ‘inside leg’ Inman
And this sounds like an absolute hidden winner;
Exelby - it's described as Burt Bacharach meets Bob Dylan meets Ronnie Hazelhurst.
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2 comments:
I was sad to hear of Ronnie's death. It takes a real genius to write a tv theme I think. It has to fit the programme, be instantly recognisable and catchy. Not easy. Ronnie was one of the best.
Id like to see a Best of album at some point too.
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