Five For Friday: Instrumental TV Themes

Five For Friday 1 Minute

Here are six (you get a bonus today) instrumental TV themes that became charted hits, from the ’50’s and ’60’s.

  1. Ray Anthony, "Dragnet": Released in 1953, it reached #3 on the Hot 100 and sold 500,000 records.

  2. Ray Anthony, "Peter Gunn": Written by Henry Mancini, it reached #8 on the Hot 100 in 1959.

  3. The Ventures, "Hawaii Five-O": While it wasn’t used on the actual show, their cover reached #4 on the Hot 100 in 1968.

  4. Billy Vaughn, "A Swingin’ Safari": Written by Bert Kaempfert, this was used as the theme for the NBC version of The Match Game.

  5. Henry Mancini, "Mr. Lucky": Written by Henry Mancini for the 1959 TV series. The theme reached #21.

And that’s Five For Friday, July 16, 2021.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

16 thoughts on “Five For Friday: Instrumental TV Themes”

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  4. John,

    Nice TV theme instrumentals! The last two in the set are new-to-me. Hawaii 5-O is one of the best television theme songs of all times in my opinion! I’ll see you on the Monday’s Music Moves Me dance floor, my friend. Have a songsational weekend!

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  5. Hi John – musical themes for tv programmes and films are often just wonderful to hear … the only one I know is Hawaii-Five0 … but I’ll always enjoy these … cheers Hilary

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  7. I like the Peter Gunn a lot but I have never once watched it. I want to though.

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  8. One of my favorite instrumental TV show themes of that era was the theme from Route 66 by Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra.

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