While doing some important lockdown research on the Banana Splits, I was reminded about the Sour Grapes Bunch and the groovetastic song they danced to.
Which got me thinking about all the great songs and tunes which used to populate kids TV.
What were your favourites? While you’re thinking, do the ‘dip and scoop’ a few times along with the Bunch.
Absolutely nothing, before or since, has been as down-right bonkers as The Banana Splits.
Nothing comes even near.
I remember summer holidays when they were a mainstay of morning T.V., alongside Champion the Wonder Horse, Tintin, Robinson Crusoe and The Monkees.
Ironically, The Monkees seemed to ratchet up the Banana Splits’ factor for their 69 special “33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee,” which is so nuts it makes “Head” look like “Little House on the Prairie.”
Hard to believe this wasn’t Ian Broudie moonlighting. But no it’s the same bloke who wrote Can We Fix It? for BTB. That was crap. this was great.
Down-right bonkers children’s entertainment continued:
How can I forget, “Dougal and the Blue Cat,” an honourable Anglo-French effort to out-bonkers “The Banana Splits.”
I got it on a video cassette about 15 years ago, and I couldn’t bring myself to watch it again.
It’s just TOO crazy.
I returned it to the Oxy.
I’m told the Banana Splits costumes were made by Sid and Marty Krofft. When they saw how well the show went, they thought they could have a crack at doing one too. Enter HR Pufnstuf.
The original theme song for Fireman Sam, written by Mal Pope, was in Welsh, as was the programme.
It was then translated into English for the original series in which all the voices were done by John Alderton. Very good it was too. A charming portrait of sleepy, small-town life in Wales.
And then, with the new millenium, Sam got a bit of a makeover. New uniform, lots of snazzy new gadgets. Less Dylan Thomas, a lot more Tony Stark or International Rescue.
Modern firefighters do have a lot of high-tech equipment, so the new show is probably more accurate.
Me? I’m living in the past. ….
A postman that takes his cat to work with him A steam train driver that takes care of a dragon egg.
The original Fireman Sam thing has a definite McCartneyesque air to it.
The Flashing Blade on Saturday mornings in the 70s…
That gets my vote. Was released fairly recently on Trunk Records.
There was a BBC kids series called (I think) ‘Out of Bounds’, in which the leads were gymnasts (or one of them was).
I can’t find a clip on YouTube, but the intro/outro featured the kids doing gymnastics against a dark background.
The banging theme was Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’; the boom-boom bit at or around 9 minutes 10 seconds;
Land of the Giants was a great theme tune. I love the gear change at about 28 seconds, just when you think the tune has climaxed.
Brilliant show with a great theme, like most Irwin Allen productions. Although I mainly remember that one from the bubble gum cards I collected as a kid.
My own favourite was The Time Tunnel:
The 1971 John Craven series “Search” used a few bars of the cymbals & then into the riff of Whole Lotta Love – the Led Zep version, not the CCS one used on TOTP.
Another great theme tune…. Cheggers Plays Pop. Anyone remember this?
I do remember it and even managed to be on the show. I was on the hot box answering some pop questions (typecasting at such an early age) and helped my school to win the series final claiming the prestigious CPP trophy. I was told later that the BBC in full cost saving mode sent someone to reclaim the trophy a year later. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that claim so perhaps one of the teaching staff decided to take it home.
This is etched into my brain for ever:
And then there’s H R Pufnstuf, a bizarre American kids show which I recall being on ITV in the very early 70s. Clearly the fruit of some acid-addled summer of love survivor’s mind
American, yes, but starring the none-more-English Jack Wild, the Artful Dodger in Oliver! He and Mark Lester then co-starred again in the truly delightful Melody (originally called SWALK) which bombed at the box office and meant the jig was up for the lads. Melody, like I say, is delightful: posh kid starts new state school in south east london, falls in love with girl, is befriended by photo-geezer played by Wild. Soundtrack by the Bee Gees, including the too-sad First Of May.
The script for Melody was written by Alan Parker!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067418/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_8
I remember this as a child in the early/mid 70s. I loved it. Still do. Otherworldy, psychedelic (very Sgt Pepperish vibe), and quite magical. The 70s was a weird and wonderful time for children’s tv. All those hippies and heads in production.
Dave Greenfield must have been watching.
Oh wow, I remember that.
Played on ‘Le Cristal Baschet’ (glass harmonica). Think the original music ‘Maneche’ is by Jacques Lasry.
Has that inviting and yet at the same time vaguely threatening sound of fairground music. (Possibly just me).
Not just you at all. There is an element of spookiness in it/fairground music/musical boxes/calliopes. I think it steams from our folk tradition memory where all is not necessarily what it seems and danger lurks too. Heck, even ice cream vans in the distance can slightly creep me out, and that probably is just me.
Its the kind of music you half-hear when unwell, that makes you feel even more disconnected.
Every Christmas, ‘The Range’ store in town has a section full of lights and those ghastly things that play seasonal tunes when pressed. Last year, a child went down the aisle pressing them all, and the resulting noise really freaked me out.
Some banging Hanna-Barbera themes:
When my kids were younger, I would sometimes watch Cartoon Network with them and two of their favourites had ace themes from Andy Sturmer – formally of one of my favourite groups, Jellyfish….
Apparently, he is so successful at writing kids TV Themes these days that he has no interest in reviving Jellyfish.
Teen Titans
Ben10
Watching Tutti Frutti, John Byrne’s series about the Majestics comeback. At one point in the bn’b Postman Pat comes on the television in Gaelic.
So here it is.
Padraig Post!
And do you know the Gaelic name for Dangermouse? It’s brilliant – Donnie Murdo!
Thanks for that Arthur.
As an extra, Sam Tân became Fireman Sam who then became Sam Smalaidh
Best two theme toons from two of the eeriest kids series of the 70s. And both of them ITV…
(written by Andy Bown out of the Quo!)
The Robinson Crusoe theme was lovely. I till get a shiver from it.
Also a French TV production; I used to love the White Horses theme, but it’s a bit too twee for my tastes now.
and while we’re talking about horses, there was UK production Follyfoot. Again I loved the song then, but it too hasn’t dated well.
That Robinson Crusoe theme bring back many memories. A cracker.
Talking of French TV shows…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEQCacAfJUI
Jamie And The Magic Torch – it’s got a sort of 60/70s Psych vibe about it. This “full” version is the intro and outro mixed together.
Tried to convince my mates band to do a cover years ago – they listened to it, and then decided to do Making Your Mind Up instead (the fools …)
The policeman/unicycle chimera in
that is frankly disturbing. A friend who’d never seen it thought I was on something when I described him.
You can gauge the age of someone if this theme conjures up images of Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, or Su Ingle and Tony Soper
The latter for me!
No Hey Duggee fans here? It’s the jewel in the CBeebies crown just now, a programme that, after a few, I will cheerfully argue is as good as The Wire, The Sopranos and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Parents of young children watch a lot of kids TV and we clutch at the good stuff frantically.
Anyway one episode featured a stick insect. “STICK!” they all shouted, leading to this ABSOLUTE BANGER which even got onto Newsnight.
Blatantly stolen (and improved on, LedZep style) from the infamous “Badger Song” that was all over the net, 10 years ago or more. Click on it at your peril.
Very keen on Duggee, which is lucky since I saw an awful lot while on grandpa duty. The kids are pretty keen too…
Ah, my first crush….Billie. Chock full of tunes, so much so I bought the cd!
Brilliant. Theme toon co-written by Melvin ‘Bombardier ‘Gloria’ Beaumont’ Hayes.
Want this as a ringtone. Well, i have the mp3 but easy to load on android, still no clue how you do it on iphone. Leonard Rossiter too, class! The Perishers
Wot no Roobarb!
My ringtone!
When I was a teenager it was obligatory to have a drunken singalong at every party to this brilliant tune, from our favourite childhood cartoon, “Kalles Klätterträd”. Written by and performed by the one and only Jojje Wadenius, of course:
By no means a banging tune…in fact quite the opposite…but the moaning, groaning ‘theme’ to Children of the Stones scared the crap out of me as a kid.
Listening to it again made me a little uneasy. What were the producers thinking??
I have never heard of that series and I don’t ever recall my younger siblings talking about it, but a cast that included Iain Cuthbertson and Freddie Jones is impressive!
And yes, the theme is quite spooky and disturbing.
Very good series. Locations shots filmed at Avebury during the heatwave of ’76. I missed the show at the time for some reason but caught up with it on dvd in recent years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWBAINpDuvk like @ganglesprocket I am a cbeebies dad – in my case from the early noughties. Brilliant intro sequence
The kids are a bit older now so I don’t get to enjoy things like Balamory any more.
I used to really like this tune -the theme to Clifford the Big Red Dog:
Let’s not forget the joy that is Handy Manny. Who better to provide the soundtrack for a mexicali carpenter in East L.A.? Yes, it’s the LaBamba hitmakers:
https://youtu.be/tDczWmG42Ug
Rather liked this but can’t say it’s particularly bangin’
That was splendid. Googled and discovered it was a Norwegian show. whch in the late 70 was popular both in the UK and Germany.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0231157/?ref_=ttalt_alt_tt
I’d looked it up before when a friend said she was learning a Finnish song, it turned out it wasn’t this.
I was surprised to learn then that it was from the 70s as I thought I’d watched it as a child and not someone in their 20s at the time.
Of course, Jackie Lee sang 2 classic kids TV themes.
In addition to the gentle loveliness of White Horses, she wigged out on Rupert.
The theme song was the only reason to catch the incredibly dull adventures of that bear.
Enjoy this rendition, where Jackie is rocking a none-more-1970 frock and hairstyle. Bob Monkhouse looking lovely too.
I drop the Rupert theme into DJ sets.
Jackie Lee also did lots of Northern Soul stompers under the alias Emma Rede, I have a CD from 10 years ago.
Three themes – you forgot this one. She was also one of three singers (jazz legend Norma Winstone was another) who sang on ‘The Goodies’ theme and incidental music.
Short but sweet. The music for the magnificent Trap Door.
When the children were a few years younger this show became a favourite. Actually I think we’d all probably still watch it now, I know I would.
Here’s the theme.
Each show had a musical number and here’s Slash no doubt earning some brownie points with his kids.
And finally try getting this earworm out of your head once you’ve been exposed.
Choon!
Some of the Zingzillas’ back catalogue is genuinely moving. ‘Welcome To The Island’ is quite the rollercoaster. Here’s an AW-friendly banger I spent a lot of time with a few years ago. https://youtu.be/5YTWT-4vW2Y
We are big fans of the Zingzillas here too.
Bearing in mind that every song had to integrate a guest instrument, I think they did an excellent job on the songwriting.
About 10 years ago on Nickelodeon they used to show the most Hipster kids show ever… Yo Gabba Gabba.
It was kind of the Banana Splits meets Dee Lite video. It featured guest spots from Biz Markie, Jack Black and Mark Mothersberg from Devo teaching kids how to draw.
Every episode would have a special musical guest like The Shins, Weezer, Jimmy Eat world, My chemical Romance, Cornelius and many more.
Here’s the Flamming Lips being the flamming lips.
Surprised the proggers from these parts haven’t mentioned this one yet, though it is more pop than some of their other output – I recently watched both series on DVD, and quite enjoyed the 70s northernness of it. This is a good song, TV theme or not:
Stripped back version compared to the record – from IMO their best album. Had 2 bashes as a single, did nothing on first release, and they had another bash with it after Northern Lights was a hit. Sold bugger all 2nd time as well.
Big Bird meets Tiny Desk! Unexpected Tubefellows!