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The Composer Of One Of TV's Most Famous Theme Songs Has Died
You may not instantly know the name Lalo Schifrin, but you definitely know his most famous song.
Strike a match and think of the original TV theme to "Mission Impossible." Schifrin wrote the tune for the CBS show in 1966, a striking piece of music that earned him a Grammy and also an Emmy nomination. But like some moments of great inspiration, incredibly, the piece almost wrote itself.
"Schifrin said it took him just three minutes to put the theme together, and he composed it without seeing any footage from the show.
“Orchestration’s not the problem for me,” he told the New York Post in 2015. “It’s like writing a letter. When you write a letter, you don’t have to think what grammar or what syntaxes you’re going to use, you just write a letter. And that’s the way it came."
Schifrin's distinctive tune was also used in the Tom Cruise films of the same name and he wrote numerous other movie and TV themes over the years, including the opening to Starsky & Hutch.
He was 93.
Lalo Schifrin, Acclaimed Composer of ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Mannix’ Themes, Dies at 93
- mace
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Re: The Composer Of One Of TV's Most Famous Theme Songs Has Died
The Mission Impossible theme was released as a single in 1967. It peaked at #41 on the Hot 100.
- newsguy1
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Re: The Composer Of One Of TV's Most Famous Theme Songs Has Died
He did tons of other movie soundtracks including Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry and Magnum Force and Kelly's Heroes along with the TV themes for Mannix and Starsky and Hutch.
He apparently wrote Mission Impossible in just a few minutes with only a verbal description of what the show was about.
Reminds me of Isaac Hayes who is said to have written the theme from Shaft in about 10 minutes with a group of session musicians on hand to improvise.
The only thing he told them was the theme should be hard driving and funky.
- Doug Thompson
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Re: The Composer Of One Of TV's Most Famous Theme Songs Has Died
To bring Lalo Schrifin's passing back to radio, it was legendary LA DJ Gary Owens who named Lalo's 1968 album, "There's A Whole Lalo Schrifin Goin' On."
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- Easily Amused
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Re: The Composer Of One Of TV's Most Famous Theme Songs Has Died
newsguy1 wrote:
He did tons of other movie soundtracks including Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry and Magnum Force and Kelly's Heroes along with the TV themes for Mannix and Starsky and Hutch.
He apparently wrote Mission Impossible in just a few minutes with only a verbal description of what the show was about.
Reminds me of Isaac Hayes who is said to have written the theme from Shaft in about 10 minutes with a group of session musicians on hand to improvise.
The only thing he told them was the theme should be hard driving and funky.
For 'Bullitt', I recall reading that there was music intended to accompany the entire car chase, but Schifron stated that it would only detract from the drama. Once the Dodge accelerates away and McQueen pursues in the Mustang, the track ('Shifting Gears') ends. I don't know if this account was exactly how it happened, but it did result in Lalo having to do that much less composing. No dummy, he! 😁