Johnny Todd
"Theme from Z-Cars" was the theme tune to the long-running BBC television drama Z-Cars. It was based on the traditional folk song "Johnny Todd", which appeared in Frank Kidson’s 1891 collection Traditional Tunes: A Collection of Ballad Airs. Kidson described "Johnny Todd" as a children’s rhyme and game heard among Liverpool children, noting that the words seemed old but were partially reconstructed due to gaps in the reciter’s memory. The song also appears in Songs of Belfast, edited by David Hammond, who learned it from Mrs. Walker of Salisbury Avenue, Belfast, who claimed it dated from around 1900. A version of the song is also mentioned in the first of the Para Handy stories, written in Scotland in 1905, which stated that the tune had been popular about thirty years earlier.
The Z-Cars theme was arranged for commercial release by Fritz Spiegl and Bridget Fry, and performed by John Keating and his Orchestra. The single reached number 8 in the Record Retailer chart in April 1962, and as high as number 5 in other charts. The original television theme was arranged and conducted by Norrie Paramor with his orchestra. Episode credits from at least three of the 1962 broadcasts include the line "Music arranged by / BRIDGET FRY / and FRITZ SPIEGL".
Contemplations
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Solo Set
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The Trio
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Spider Walk
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