Mozart, James Garner, And Rainbow Halter Tops

Also, Clint Eastwood, Gerald Ford, Phone Book Ads, and The First Synthesizer

Friday: Mozart’s “Requiem” in Concert

Look for my review of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Mozart’s “Requiem” on Friday afternoon. Click here for my discussion of the “Requiem” composition scene in the movie “Amadeus,” published January 5.

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See you Friday. Until then, please enjoy a favorite, previously published post.

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Town and Country: The Rockford Files Theme Song

James Garner was a leading man for a prior generation: big, handsome, handy with a drink, and quick with a punch. His career was launched by the TV Western Maverick, in which Garner starred as a professional poker player. You get a sense of Maverick in this short clip, where he beats up a young Clint Eastwood for delivering a wooden performance.

The Rockford Files was essentially Maverick set during the Ford and Carter (RIP) presidencies (1974-1977). Jim Rockford was a private investigator (and ex-con pardoned after a false conviction) rather than a gambler, but many of the same Maverick plots were recycled for The Rockford Files.

The Rockford Files and its theme song are time capsules. The first sound is a ringing phone (black, pushbutton, standard issue PacBell) attached to an answering machine (below) which used a cassette tape, a new technology when the show debuted.

Although not present in the opening montage, Rockford advertised his services in the local phonebook (below) in an ad that makes clear he only handles “cold cases,” i.e., cases the police are no longer investigating. This self-imposed limitation was calculated to avoid awkward encounters with the same law enforcement personnel who sent him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

L-R (1) Dictaphone Remote Ansafone 660. Although the Ansafone 660 is dated, it included a sub-woofer which produced audio fidelity far superior to the tinny, algorithmic mediocrity foisted upon us by digitization. (2) Prop ad for “The Rockford Agency.”

Each episode’s action began with a message played aloud on the Ansafone 660, sending Rockford marauding through the streets of LA in his gold, 1978 Pontiac Firebird Esprit. Plots included controversial themes such as police corruption, the Vietnam War, and Watergate.

The Rockford Files theme song was written by Mike Post, a composer who wrote theme songs for The White Shadow, Law & Order, The A-Team, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues, and many others.

Post tells the story of the writing of the theme, his collaboration with Rockford Files creator Stephen J. Cannell, and the song becoming a Top 10 hit (#10 for two weeks in August 1975. It is this extended, instrumental version that is featured in this post) in the interview below.

Post seized on Garner’s Oklahoma roots (“a little southern”) and the show’s LA location to create a pendulous, “town and country” theme: the melody swings from synthesizer (:15-:37) to harmonica (:38-52), to electric guitar (:52-1:09).

Oklahoma and LA amiably mingle as the harmonica is joined by jazzy horns (1:09) and a “chickin pickin” electric guitar solo (1:54-2:41). Note the guitarist misses a note at 2:02, perhaps left in the mix to subtly reflect Rockford’s status as a flawed antihero. This a bold decision, but one which would never be made in the current environment of highly (over?) produced television music.

The Rockford TV theme was the first to use the (then) au courant “Minimoog” a portable version of Robert Moog’s original, highly influential (but unwieldy) synthesizer. The Minimoog’s unique sound is the ear-worm first heard at :15.

L-R (1) First commercial Moog synthesizer, constructed 1964. (2) The Minimoog, introduced 1970.

Despite the fact that the Minimoog has been displaced by 50 years of innovation The Rockford Files theme, I respectfully suggest, holds up well. A propulsive (105 bpm) rhythm supports a lively melody that is passed around from Minimoog to harmonica to guitar like a spliff at a Bob Marley concert.

In the end, the opening theme’s long-lens photo montage and unique sound play the role of an overture in an opera, introducing character, action, and tone.

One final thing. Who would I speak to about getting rainbow halter tops back in fashion?