Several of you have mentioned this as one of your all-time favorite TV theme songs, so I thought it fitting to post it here for everyone to enjoy–The Beverly Hillbillies, classic TV sitcom from 1962-1971, with the music provided by Country & Western stars Flatt and Scruggs.
(Yo, Lee! What’s with all the TV themes?)
Look, the nooze is just so bad, our popular culture is fit only for the landfill, and readers have been clamoring for something better. Well, by George, America used to be better! And we can riffle through the past and find an infinite number of things to prove it.
These shows were harmless fun–and there’s something to be said for that! Last time I watched a Beverly Hillbillies episode on YouTube, it made me laugh out loud. There’s something to be said for that, too. And the humor was never malicious or snide–can’t say that for today’s brew, can we?
This old stuff is so far ahead of Disney and the rest of ’em, they couldn’t find it with a telescope.
Love this one. It can really get into your head though! The Dick Van Dyck show was my all time favourite, and the theme song is pretty memorable as well. Back in the 80s I won a prize from a local radio station. It was a record of old TV theme songs. I should dig it out and see what else is on it. And my older brothers had a Peter Gunn album which got lots of play in our house, so that is ingrained in my memory as well. It’s a good one!
Can’t beat Henry Mancini!
I was in high school when Beverly Hillbillies came out. We laughed like crazy how dumb those people from Arkansas were. Now I live in Arkansas!
I had forgotten there was also a second “verse” of that song at the end of the program. But I remembered it when I heard it.
I just thought of another theme song, “Green Acres.” Here is the first part, I think I have the words correct.
Green Acres is the place to be,
Farm living is the life for me,
Land spreading out so far and wide,
Take Manhattan just give me that countryside.
The Beverly Hillbillies theme is a masterpiece, IMHO. Beautiful Bluegrass banjo work, made accessible to a very wide audience.
Hats off to Flatt & Scruggs
Absolutely great musicians. Earl Scruggs all but defined Bluegrass banjo.