Spider-Man: Amazing Background Music! (1967-69)

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My first favorite TV show was the reruns WGNX-ATlanta played about 2:30 each weekday afternoon when I was a little boy.
Turns out, this was what professionals call "needle-drop music": composed for a library to be used in film and television as incidental music.
All rights belong to the creators and I make no apologies for my utmost joy at re-discovering these songs again! I really don't think you had to grow up watching that crazy ol' cartoon to appreciate these as music.

I dug them up under their original names, where applicable. You should leave a note of thanks if you feel so moved, for the people who dug up these rare tunes. Many of them had not been released to the public in decades!

I'll start you off right: you get to see this drummer lay into "Powerdrive" !
(Who is Johnny Pearson? You know another of his composition for sure, "Heavy Action"- the NFL Monday Night Football theme!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p41_M_mehG0


Now this one shares a soundtrack history with Dr. Who, Episode 42, it's said. It's Johnny Hawksworth's composition: "The Eyelash"!!


My soft spot for Spider-Man would bring me back to the character throughout my life, but when I was a boy, imagining my life as the dual identity of Peter and his alter ego was an ongoing game. There was no guile in telling my Sunday School teachers my name was Peter Parker; I thought EVERYone knew who that was! Five-year-old me went by that name without a hitch for months. I really thought the teachers were in on it with me. It was only one day while leaving with my Aunt Linda, bless her, who took my sister and I to Trinity (where we evenutally attended academy, thanks to her sacrifice and connection teaching there), that someone addressed me as "Peter" in a friendly voice- much to her surprise!

She never knew about me fighting the Green Goblin in the parking lot. OR was it Doc Ock? It pays to wear your second-hand Underoos tee under your dress shirt...

I'll tell that one, later. I only mean to say, I would swing around the back yard and climb trees imitating this music, hours on end. It followed me everywhere. I had no means of recording the actual cartoon, but I would sit patiently with a tape recorder and copy episodes. I probably got four to six half hours (20 min +) of the show. All I had was Paul Soles' voice as Spidey/Pete- all those voices- the sound effects (also duly imitated as I leapt about), and the groovy music.

I remember stalking around primary school with this in my head between classes. It's Bill Martin and PHil Coulter, "Big Bass Guitar"
A jazzy number now, by Johnny Pearson


NOw here is one tough sounding tune- rad muted trumpet solo, with a dash of bebop tenor sax to top it off. Syd Dale's "Rescue Squad":



and now Syd's "Maelstrom"

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And, the classic theme, as found on the Ramones' very last LP as a hidden track (AND the collection, Saturday Morning Cartoons, a gift to me X-Mas '95)


C'mon...it's already right there in your head, anyway, I bet! :-D
Bye!

Saaay...I posted this on August 11th- a very special day in Spiderdom! It's the birthday of Peter/ Spidey's voice actor, Paul Soles! Many happy trips more 'round the sun! (Paul was not actually Bruce Banner, he's said in an interview. He didn't know fandom was all going on about it years later- his first ComicCon was in 2015!)

Check out part two! It's the next post.

-Compliments of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

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