Saturday, April 07, 2007

A tribute to MASH

The MASH theme, written for the movie by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman is called "Suicide is Painless". Although sung in the film, the TV series made a conscious decision to never feature the lyrics. However, in this lovely tribute to the show, the words are included.

Personally, I love the lyrics. What do you think?

16 comments :

James Patrick Joyce said...

I always enjoyed the lyrics.

And that final shot... I remember crying during the final shot of the series.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

What happened to all the comments on this posting? There were a whole lot of them yesterday. Or have I gone insane. (Possible)

By Ken Levine said...

That's my fault. I accidentally hit the wrong thing. Apologies from your retard blogger.

Anonymous said...

The movie was a comedy about death.

The television series was a comedy about living.

For all you did on M*A*S*H, thank you.


P. S.: I never thought it would hurt to see pictures of Larry Linville and McLain Stevenson. I was wrong.

the third coast said...

I've always love the lyrics.

Anonymous said...

I think it is a great tune. I once saw R. Altman on some interview show. He said that his son or his estate had never recieved any compensation for the use of the song.

Is that true? He was a lttle peeved looking as he spoke about the show. Any scoop?

Anonymous said...

Ken:

Great post. I always loved the lyrics. The thing that gets me watching this is how much time of the video compilation features Wayne Rogers and McClean Stevenson. The first two seasons of M*A*S*H were so good and that cast was so tight. I don't want to denigrate the other cast members. But the show was funny and poignant in the first two seasons. Afterward, it became political and poignant. Thanks for the video. Right now, I'm remembering the great scene where Klinger tried to hang glide his way home. "A big yellow bird with fuzzy pink feet."

Mitch Klein said...

M*A*S*H is one of my all-time favorites. What a great tribute. Thanks!

Batocchio said...

I always liked the lyrics. The song had some wit and weight. Atypical and effective, just like the show.

Mike Barer said...

I would like to say that MASH is arguably the greatest comedy ever and raised the bar for realistic adult comedies. We will never see a Saturday night again like when it was All In The Family followed by Mash followed by Mary Tyler Moore.

Anonymous said...

Since you mistakenly deleted a bunch of comments, I'm reposting mine because I didn't get an answer to my question.

I seem to remember Loudon Wainwright singing the song in the camp. I don't recall if that was in the movie or the show. But his version was far better than the official one.

Also don't you think Dwight and Angela on "The Office" are the reincarnation of Frank Burns and Hot Lips Houlahan? I think that's why I love their relationship. It's a hilarious dymanic that still works.

By Ken Levine said...

Louden Wainwright sang original material. I think he had one for the "Rainbow Bridge" episode. It was a short lived experiment. But he never sang the MASH theme.

Your Office analogy sounds pretty accurate.

Mike Barer said...

Loudon starred as a soldier in one episode.

ajm said...

Loudon starred as a soldier in one episode.

His name was Captain Spaulding.

Seeing as my earlier post was "accidentally" erased, lemme reiterate that it might have been interesting had the producers of the MASH sitcom used another of Johnny Mandel's other musical themes from the MASH movie as the MASH sitcom theme -- the football game march, perhaps, or the pompous music when Hawkeye enters camp.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ken ,
We are so pleased that you used our tribute slideshow for your web site , thank you
Glen and Kelly

Anonymous said...

Thanks, it was just what I was looking for. Is it available to download?
Thanks,
JIm