Move Any Mountain

If it's Monday, it must be, er, Mike day. Yes, in a sequel to his guest post from a couple of weeks ago, Mike has another delve into the murky world of British TV theme tunes. Take it away, Mike...

 

 

Remember Weekend World? It was a Sunday lunchtime political show broadcast on ITV presented in later years by Brian Walden *

 

Brian Walden was said to be Margaret Thatcher’s favourite interviewer, but he was no easy pushover. A Labour MP for over a decade Wiki shows that he was a man of principle. 

 

Anyway the piece of music which was the theme tune was written by Mountain and as a young person growing up I had no idea that the this was 30 seconds taken from a much longer track. 

Remembering it as a dramatic and unusual piece of work to be introducing something on at Sunday lunchtime I went on Youtube to listen to it again. 

 

The full track Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) ** is fantastic. 

The theme tune part is extracted from the last part of the song [5:00 to 5:49 - K] but a similar refrain can be heard halfway through the original track [1:42 to 2:28 - K again]

Off the back of being blown away by the full track I investigated more Mountain material and wow – what a band! How have I never heard of them before?? 

 

I’m sure many of you reading this would have heard of Mountain [not until now - K yet again] but I guess they disbanded when I was 5 years old so maybe my lack of knowledge is fair enough. 

 

I include Tired Angels (To J.M.H.) *** as another excellent song off the Nantucket Sleighride album.

 

I will be seeking out more Mountain and I’m now wondering what other 1970’s theme tunes can I unearth with classic Heavy Rock buried underneath? Why Don’t You? Take Hart? Vision On?

 

Anything now seems possible...

 

 

Many thanks, Mike! This triggered a few memories and discoveries of my own:

 

* I would have been 6 years old when Walden took over as presenter of Weekend World.  Unsurprisingly, Sunday lunchtime politics shows would have bored me silly at that age, though I remember being morbidly fascinated by Brian Walden's ears (!) Fortunately, Walden remained presenter long enough to be immortalised as a Spitting Image puppet.

** Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) is dedicated to the 18-year old crew member of the whaling ship Essex, who suffered an untimely end during one expedition into the Pacific Ocean. The means of his death - a gunshot wound - is not unusual, but the circumstances leading up to and following it, make for grim reading.

 

*** Tired Angels (To J.M.H.) is dedicated to James Marshall Hendrix, better known to you and I as Jimi, and who had died aged just 27 whilst Mountain were in studio recording the Nantucket Sleighride album.