2000 Great Songs #1342: The Rockford Files

Breaking a few of my rules here--I've tried to minimize instrumentals, not to mention kitschy guilty pleasures that I don't actually listen to with any regularity--but it's not like this is the first 70s tv theme to make the cut. And damn, what a banger! Written and performed by Mike Post (who wrote a gazillion tv themes, including Hill Street Blues and Law & Order), with various studio musicians, including Jim Gordon (best known as the drummer for Derek & The Dominos, who became mentally ill and killed his mother, ugh), it's got a little of everything, from moog synths to rockabilly guitar solos.

Now, frankly, I never watched the tv show. But the song was released as a single in 1974, and ended up charting in 1975, still getting some airplay on the local AM station when I first started listening late that year on the heels of "Convoy." And that hook, just a drop-dead savage classic, permanently stuck in my brain. I mean, sure, I've got the track on some 70s compilations, but it's not like I hang out at home listening to "The Rockford Files," yet I'll find myself humming it like ALL the damn time for no reason at all.

With tv clips:

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