The Gong Show Theme

[BlankBoy]

Hi,

I have two questions about this theme... Who wrote this theme song, and which version is on the second GSN CD?

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[Matt Ottinger]

Wow, that's one of the longest short posts ever.  A question that could have taken up one line takes up thirteen, not counting a preposterously long sig.

Anyway, the song is called "Lovee's Come Back", and is typically credited only to Chuck Barris himself, though the CD of which you speak also credits Gong Show bandleader Milton DeLugg, who probably wrote the arrangement.  Like many of Chuckie Baby's songs, this one has lyrics.  He released a single with his own vocals, which can be found on the import CD of Chuck Barris themes, but NOT on the original vinyl album of Barris theme music, which was released before The Gong Show debuted.

I'm not sure what you mean by "which version", since there can't have been too many versions released.  It's instrumental, and you can hear what sounds like an audience clapping to the beat in the background, so I'd guess this was recorded live in the TV studio.

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 5 2005, 11:18 AM\']I'm not sure what you mean by "which version", since there can't have been too many versions released.  It's instrumental, and you can hear what sounds like an audience clapping to the beat in the background, so I'd guess this was recorded live in the TV studio.

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I might be able to help out a bit here.  To these ears, it sounded like the theme was rearranged about three to six months into the show's run.  If that's what the original poster means, the answer is the latter version.

[BlankBoy]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'Mar 5 2005, 10:48 AM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 5 2005, 11:18 AM\']I'm not sure what you mean by "which version", since there can't have been too many versions released.  It's instrumental, and you can hear what sounds like an audience clapping to the beat in the background, so I'd guess this was recorded live in the TV studio.

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[/quote]
I might be able to help out a bit here.  To these ears, it sounded like the theme was rearranged about three to six months into the show's run.  If that's what the original poster means, the answer is the latter version.

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I meant, is this theme for the 1976 version or the 1988 version. IMDB has two versions of the Gong Show listed.

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[BlankBoy]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Mar 5 2005, 12:29 PM\']*sigh*
The 70s version.
You know, the one people actually remember?

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Thanks.

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[ChuckNet]

Interestingly enough, while The Best of TV Quiz and GS Themes includes an edited on-air version of the 70s theme, they ALMOST used the 1988 theme instead and intended to pass it off as the former.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'Mar 5 2005, 12:48 PM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 5 2005, 11:18 AM\']I'm not sure what you mean by "which version", since there can't have been too many versions released.  It's instrumental, and you can hear what sounds like an audience clapping to the beat in the background, so I'd guess this was recorded live in the TV studio.

[snapback]77083[/snapback]

[/quote]
I might be able to help out a bit here.  To these ears, it sounded like the theme was rearranged about three to six months into the show's run.  If that's what the original poster means, the answer is the latter version.

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The "first" theme uses the melody of "Lovee's Come Back", and the "second" theme was originally a ticket-plug variation which eventually became the main theme. Of course, the theme does get a little monotonous, particularly when the sparser six-piece band was used and there's no Bill Neale guitar licks to make things interesting. (Perhaps due to budget, sax/clarinet player Lanny Morgan and Neale didn't play on early-in-the-week shows, although they were on the NBC lot, perhaps in the audience watching the show. You could see Lanny's bari sax sitting next to an empty chair quite often from the fall of 1977 until the week of May 8, 1978, the last time the smaller band was used.)

There's one show that aired in early May 1978 (it may have been the one that aired May 1, 1978) that had the smaller band and a lot of time to fill; you could hear the fatigue in those chops as the band struck up the umpteenth chorus of the theme. There's no question that those two extra players - Morgan with his clarinet fills and trills, and Neale with his great guitar solos, really enlivened up the band and sent it into another orbit when they played that theme.

[whammy5000]

Didn't someone here have a link to some of the songs from Chuck Barris' album "Themes from TV Game Shows" up in a theme song topic?  That album had that Lovee's Come Back song with the words sung by Chuck Barris himself.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'whammy5000\' date=\'Mar 6 2005, 11:06 PM\']Didn't someone here have a link to some of the songs from Chuck Barris' album "Themes from TV Game Shows" up in a theme song topic?  That album had that Lovee's Come Back song with the words sung by Chuck Barris himself.

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I have the CD...the tracks are:
1-Dating Game Theme
2-Dating Game Close
3-Newlywed Game Theme
4-Treasure Hunt Theme
5-True Grit Winners Theme
6-Treasure Hunt "Klunk" Music
7-Peoples Pickeres Theme
8-Operation Entertainment Theme
9-Family Game Theme
10-Cop-Out Theme
11-Mother-In-Law Theme
12-Parent Game Theme
13-Dream Girl Theme
Bonus Tracks
14-Theme Theme from Gene Gene
15-Lovee's Come Back
16-Baja California
17-Donnie
18-Too Rich
19-I Know a Child
20-Why Me Oh Lord
21-Sometimes it Just Doesn't pay to get up

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Mar 6 2005, 12:56 PM\']Interestingly enough, while The Best of TV Quiz and GS Themes includes an edited on-air version of the 70s theme, they ALMOST used the 1988 theme instead and intended to pass it off as the former.

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Off topic, but it's amazing how things get switched around sometimes in doing clearance--in the documentary "Inside Deep Throat" (yes, that's what it's about), which is still playing in theaters, there is one instance where they use a clip of an appearance by Linda Lovelace on "Donahue," which includes one of those logo-floating-over-film-clips-of-Chicago bumpers with the theme that was used for the entire Chicago run of the show.  However, the music credits instead list "The New Donahue Theme," which was written by Mike Post when the show moved to New York in the 80s, even though that is definitely *not* the music heard in the clip.  Strange, considering that Universal, the studio that released the film, owns "Donahue."  All I can guess is that the records may've gotten lost in transferring from Multimedia to Universal to Studios USA back to Universal.

Meanwhile, the guy in Cincinnati who wrote that music won't see a penny of royalties for its 5-second use in the film while Mike Post gots more money he doesn't really need.  LIfe ain't fair sometimes...

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'whammy5000\' date=\'Mar 7 2005, 12:06 AM\']Didn't someone here have a link to some of the songs from Chuck Barris' album "Themes from TV Game Shows" up in a theme song topic?  That album had that Lovee's Come Back song with the words sung by Chuck Barris himself.[/quote]
Oh, good.  Someone else who apparently doesn't read earlier posts.

To clarify, again.  The original ALBUM Themes from TV Game Shows does NOT include Lovee's Come Back, primarily because The Gong Show had not yet debuted when the album came out.  The import CD, fairly easy to find on Ebay, includes eight bonus tracks (see Mark's post above) which were originally released as four 45rpm singles.  Don't blame me when you track down the original vinyl and are bummed when the vocals aren't there.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Mar 7 2005, 05:52 PM\']
 However, the music credits instead list "The New Donahue Theme," which was written by Mike Post when the show moved to New York in the 80s, even though that is definitely *not* the music heard in the clip.  Strange, considering that Universal, the studio that released the film, owns "Donahue."  All I can guess is that the records may've gotten lost in transferring from Multimedia to Universal to Studios USA back to Universal.

Meanwhile, the guy in Cincinnati who wrote that music won't see a penny of royalties for its 5-second use in the film while Mike Post gots more money he doesn't really need.  LIfe ain't fair sometimes...

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Didn't "The Phil Donahue Show" use the Herb Alpert tune "A Banda" during the AVCO station years, or were my ears deceiving me?  If so, I believe Universal controls the A&M catalog..

[Robair]

Herb Alpert's back catalog will soon be re-released on Shout Factory records, so they more or less have the rights. SF has come out with a great album of unreleased TJB tracks from 1965-1974, including some rare vocal tracks (like the original "Close to You") and pop classics like "And I Love Her". Their classic food-inspired "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" will be included in this package as well.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Mar 8 2005, 12:06 AM\'][quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Mar 7 2005, 05:52 PM\']
 However, the music credits instead list "The New Donahue Theme," which was written by Mike Post when the show moved to New York in the 80s, even though that is definitely *not* the music heard in the clip.  Strange, considering that Universal, the studio that released the film, owns "Donahue."  All I can guess is that the records may've gotten lost in transferring from Multimedia to Universal to Studios USA back to Universal.

Meanwhile, the guy in Cincinnati who wrote that music won't see a penny of royalties for its 5-second use in the film while Mike Post gots more money he doesn't really need.  LIfe ain't fair sometimes...

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Didn't "The Phil Donahue Show" use the Herb Alpert tune "A Banda" during the AVCO station years, or were my ears deceiving me?  If so, I believe Universal controls the A&M catalog..

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"A Banda" was the original theme music for Donahue as a local Dayton show, on the Avco WLW stations and the beginning of syndication.  A year or so after they started national syndication, they switched to a soundalike of "A Banda" (presumably Alpert wanted more money).  When they moved to Chicago, they went to the original theme from the guy in Cincinnati, Multimedia's TV headquarters.  And went they went to New York, Mike Post wrote their final theme.

Sorta ObGameShow:  Donahue had an audience because the station had already booked audiences for the show he replaced, hosted by some guy named Johnny Gilbert, and didn't want to cancel them.  The Dayton Women's Club groups filing into WLW-D that first morning in 1968 were probably expecting a few songs and a few innocuous little games and prizes, not Madelyn Murray O'Hair discussing being an atheist.