HeavyHardMetalmania: Peter Gunn Theme

Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator (and also writer and director on occasion) was Blake Edwards. Also directed by Robert Altman, a total of 114 thirty-minute episodes were produced.

The series is remembered most for its music, especially "The Peter Gunn Theme," which won an Emmy Award and two Grammys for Henry Mancini and has become a jazz-rock standard...

...The show's use of modern jazz music, at a time when most television shows used a generic orchestra for the background, was another distinctive touch that set the standard for many years to come. Innovative jazz themes seemed to accompany every move Gunn made, ably rendered by Henry Mancini and his orchestra (which at that time included John Williams), lending the character even more of an air of suave sophistication. Famous jazz musicians occasionally made guest appearances, such as trumpeter Shorty Rogers in an early episode.

Most memorable of all was the show's opening (and closing) "Peter Gunn Theme", composed and performed by Mancini. A hip, bluesy, brassy number with an insistent piano-and-bass line, the song became an instant hit for Mancini, earning him an Emmy Award and two Grammys, and became as associated with crime fiction as Monty Norman's theme to the James Bond films is associated with espionage. The harmonies fit the mood of the show, which was a key to success. Like the main theme of "In the Mood," taken from Wingy Manone's "Tar Paper Stomp" for Glenn Miller's most famous number, the bass line was lifted from someone else's work, a boogie-woogie tune, "Down the Road Apiece," composed by Don Raye for the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley big band. Mancini changed one of the eight notes of the base line for the ostinato in "Peter Gunn Theme." No harmony actually is written into the song, it is a one-chord piece until the coda.

The soundtrack album by Henry Mancini reached #1 in Billboard's Pop LP Charts. Ray Anthony won achieved #8 on Billboard's Hot 100 with his 45 of the title theme. Mancini's single made the Variety magazine Top 25 retail chart, selling well in the Boston area.

"The Peter Gunn Theme" has been performed by numerous jazz, blues, and rock artists since, including Jeff Beck, Ray Anthony, Elvis Presley (on the '68 Comeback Special), Duane Eddy, Quincy Jones, The Remo Four, The Blues Brothers, Croon & The Creepers, Brian Setzer, The Cramps, Jimi Hendrix, Bosse-de-Nage, Gary Hoey, Aerosmith, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Roy Buchanan, Melvin Taylor, The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGee, The Swingle Singers, Pulp, They Might Be Giants, Dick Dale & The Del-Tones, Johnny Guitar Seven, Colonel Mustard & The Condiments, The Silencers, The Tubes and many others. A version by Art of Noise (with guest artist Duane Eddy reprising his original 1959 performance on twang guitar taking the piano riff) earned a Grammy Award in 1987. Furthermore, the riff has been incorporated into many blues and jazz songs. The riff was referenced in the Freddie King blues instrumental "Hide Away", creating a breakdown in the middle of the tune. The theme is also used as the background music for the 1983 arcade game Spy Hunter; Saliva recorded a song which used the main theme, with added lyrics, for the 2001 remake. Versions of the theme have appeared in countless films, including The Blues Brothers and Sixteen Candles. The song was used by Monty Python in their sketch, "The Bishop". In 2004 the theme was used in the Disney direct-to-video production, The Lion King 1½. Today, many people with no knowledge of the original show still can identify the theme.

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Below can be watched some performance videos of the theme.

Art of Noise - Peter Gunn "performance " with Duane Eddy in Montreux 86