Saturday, 10 November 2007

The Archers' Theme Tune

Tum ti-tum ti-tum ti-tum
tum ti-tum ti ta tum

Even if you don’t listen to The Archers, or even Radio 4, you can probably hum the opening bars of the theme tune. One of the most instantly recognisable pieces of music in contemporary culture, it has heralded the start of this agricultural soap opera since it began in 1950. A particularly joyful ditty, Billy Connolly once suggested it should be adopted as the UK’s national anthem.

The original composition is called Barwick Green, written by Arthur Wood. It is taken from his suite My Native Heath where it features as a maypole dance. And perhaps that explains the enduring appeal: to have a jaunty country tune explode onto the airwaves immediately after a depressing news report can put the supposed ills of this world into perspective.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Steve,

This is the chill out room of blogs. Hope you don't mind that I linked to this archers post at
http://www.mestizaland.com/

Ro the mestizalandlady x

18 November 2008 at 12:14
Noel Whitemore said...

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose enjoyment of Arthur Wood's theme has been ruined by its insipid association with the piss-poor acting travesty that is The Archers.

I know the BBC tried (and failed) on numerous occasions to axe The Archers but can we have another attempt at a petition please? :)

13 May 2009 at 23:08

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