My Favorite Post of 2024: The Greatest TV Theme Song Of All Time
Also John Lennon, Watts, Chevy Chase, Illegal Dumping, and the Bass Harmonica
Editor’s Note: I am concluding 2024 with my favorite post. Happy New Year!
The greatest TV theme song of all time is “The Streetbeater,” the theme for “Sanford and Son,” which ran on NBC for six seasons from 1972-1977. The show starred legendary comedian Redd Foxx and was modeled after a 1960s BBC series, “Steptoe and Son.”
“The Streetbeater” was recorded in July 1973 by Quincy Jones for his album “You’ve Got It Bad Girl.” It opens with a walking bass figure in G Major (above) and a wah-wah infused electric piano (G/C).
The bass figure is repeated by a reedy, bass harmonica played by Toots Thielemans;* the horns and chromatic harmonica follow with a sort of hillbilly/blues/jazz/funk sound that has never really been duplicated.
When asked for his musical inspiration, Jones said, “I just wrote what he (Redd Foxx) looks like.”
Foxx’s character, Fred G. Sanford, moved to the Watts section of LA in his youth from his native St. Louis. The fact that Fred was a junk dealer was an oblique reference to the Watts Towers, erected in that poor, working-class neighborhood a century ago with discarded materials from the construction of the glittering, Southern California metropolis.
As has been the case in most cities, construction and hazardous waste disposal sites are located in poor, usually African-American communities. Generations of systemic racism have stripped these communities of the political power to stop such abuse, which in turn encourages the illegal dumping of waste wherever poor, black people live.
“Sanford and Son” was a great show. At its center was the father-son relationship between Fred and his son Lamont (Demond Wilson in a brilliant, underrated series performance). Fred was mercurial, stubborn, and bigoted while Lamont was measured, open-minded, and gracious.
Although a comedy (an hilarious one at that) the show probed themes such as race, poverty, class, and intergenerational conflict. Elizabeth, the beloved, deceased wife and mother never appeared in the show but her character played a crucial role.
The show employed a running gag: whenever Fred was caught out in one of his self-dealing schemes he would fake a heart attack, raise his eyes to heaven, and exclaim “I’m coming Elizabeth!”
I can’t prove this, but I believe that this was the inspiration for Community’s mercurial and bigoted Pierce Hawthorne regularly faking heart attacks during the six seasons of that outstanding show.
I have thus made my case on behalf of “The Streetbeater” and I humbly submit this matter to the collective judgment of my wise and thoughtful readers.
I conclude by offering the following cautionary note to those who may take to the comments below and argue that another, lesser TV theme song should displace Quincy Jones’ jazz-funk classic at the top of my (admittedly pointless) ranking.
Before you press “enter,” ask yourself this question: did Ella Fitzgerald compose lyrics and sing your selection?
* Toots Thielemans was a legend. Aside from being a master of the harmonica he was also a composer, guitarist, and whistler. One of his biggest fans was John Lennon who, when he saw Thielemans play a Rickenbacker while performing in Hamburg, immediately bought one.
Lennon explained, “if it’s good enough for Toots Thielemans it’s good enough for me.”
My own discovery of Toots Thielemans came during his work with Pat Metheny. I leave you with “Back in Time” from Pat Metheny’s “Secret Story” (1993) recording.
Great stuff. Foxx was from St. Louis too. There used to be a Redd Foxx Boulevard on the North Side. Not sure if it got renamed or not.
A note on the Los Angeles Neighborhood of Watts. Until around 1940 it was predominantly Hispanic. At the time referred to as Mexican because California was at one time in Mexico, and the great majority of Hispanic immigrants were Mexican, particularly from the north. The cuisine in the area was what is sometimes called TexMex. It is a style of food common to northern Mexico.
When the second world war started southern California became a major center of war production. Demand for labor increased. Blacks started flooding into the area, drawn by jobs, and pushed by Jim Crow out of the south.
This article mentions the fictional character Fred Sanford as coming from St. Louis. The migration of blacks out of the south to California was mostly from Texas and Louisiana, due to the availability of transportation at the time. There were exceptions. From St. Louis Fred would have more likely wound up in South Chicago.
The man who built the Watts Towers was an Italian immigrant.
In the 1990s a new wave of immigration started turning Watts more brown again, and the cuisine started to include pupusas and mole. Southern, and Salvadoran cooking.