A Cover Of A Cover: The Mary Tyler Moore Theme

Just feels right.

I never watched Mary Tyler Moore as a kid. The show would come on, I think it was already in syndication, playing daily during the week, and I’d hear the theme song. A nice little ditty. Written by Sonny Curtis, don’t you know, a Cricket, the man who played on early Buddy Holly sessions. He wrote the Everly Brothers’ ‘Walk Right Back’ and ‘I Fought The Law’ (covered by The Clash and ripped off to a hilarious degree by John Cougar Mellencamp’s ‘The Authority Song’), and then he wrote this iconic TV theme. The rock and roller to TV theme composer not such a strange path. It worked for John Sebastian, from Lovin’ Spoonful to ‘Welcome Back Kotter’. I even tried it back in the day. A sitcom called ‘Perfect Couples’ that ran for 8 or 10 episodes, famous mainly for starring Olivia Munn. They wanted me to write a 20 second long jingle that sounded like ‘Use It’ and had the same tempo of a Kings Of Leon song, which was the temp music before I came in. Lyrics that mean nothing and everything. Take your pick! They let me keep the publishing! If it had hit, I might have made some serious dough. But you know how these things go. Here it is:

I was only trying to walk in the footprints of giants. I literally wrote it in 2 minutes, which seems about right for a 20 second song.

I did not think much about the MTM song until I was in high school and bought the Husker Du ‘Makes No Sense At All’ 7” single on SST. The b-side was their cover of ‘Love Is All Around’, which I learned is the proper name of the Mary Tyler Moore theme. They brought something out of that song that I hadn’t heard before. It was defiant. It wasn’t light like the other version. It was deadly important that the world be turned on by her smile, that the nothing day was made suddenly worthwhile, it was important that she knew that, that she knew she was going to make it after all. It didn’t feel like a cheeky cover. When I stupidly ran for student council, a job I didn’t want but it seemed like a fun idea, I had to give a speech in front of the school. With no idea what to say or do, I basically recited the lyrics, knowing them by heart now thanks to Bob Mould and co. I received a standing ovation and won my spot on the council. I don’t recall being of much use there. I only wanted to win, I didn’t want to work. That old story.

When the song popped into my head a couple days ago, it was the Husker Du cover. I didn’t listen to it or the original. I just looked up the lyrics online. The first season it had different lyrics. I didn’t know that. It popped into my head because I was thinking of how I felt before I had to give that speech in front of the school. I remembered the feeling because I was sitting in my studio and thinking ‘You need to make content for your Substack!’. I’ve been working on finishing a single that is basically for YOU, but I can’t really talk about it yet. There is a part of it that will only be for paid subscribers, but that doesn’t count yet. It’s time has yet to come. Soon. It’s finished but currently hanging in stasis. I was working on some originals but they weren’t cooked enough, they were not ready to send out into the world. It’s a frustrating feeling. That plus the world is in a bad place, everywhere we look. In the middle of that uneasy frustration, the Mary Tyler Moore theme, via Husker Du, popped into my head. I held it up in front of me like a shield. This recording came out quickly. It feels right to me. It served its purpose. It made me feel a little better. It has more melancholy than either of the other versions and that feels honest.

Here’s to some hope in the new year. I hope we make it after all because the song says we’re going to and I don’t want to be full of shit. I hope we take the nothing days and somehow make them all worthwhile. If I don’t post again in the next few days: Happy New Years!