Suicide Is Painless
| "Suicide Is Painless" | |
|---|---|
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| Single by The Mash | |
| from the album M*A*S*H (Original Soundtrack Recording) | |
| B-side | "The M*A*S*H March" |
| Released | 1970 |
| Format | 7" vinyl |
| Recorded | 1969 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 2:53 |
| Label | Columbia/CBS |
| Writer(s) |
Johnny Mandel (music) Mike Altman (lyrics) |
| Producer(s) | Thomas Z. Shepard |
| "Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Manic Street Preachers | ||||
| from the album Ruby Trax | ||||
| B-side | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (by The Fatima Mansions) "Sleeping with the NME" "Spectators of Suicide" "Star Lover" "Never Want Again" "Dead Yankee Drawl" "Ain't Goin' Down" |
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| Released | 7 September 1992 | |||
| Format | 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, CD | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, hard rock, soft rock | |||
| Length | 3:43 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Writer(s) |
Johnny Mandel (music) Mike Altman (lyrics) |
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| Producer(s) | Manic Street Preachers | |||
| Manic Street Preachers singles chronology | ||||
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"Song from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)" is a song written by Johnny Mandel (music) and Mike Altman (lyrics), which was the theme song for both the movie and TV series M*A*S*H. Mike Altman is the son of the original film’s director, Robert Altman, and was 14 years old when he wrote the song’s lyrics. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1980s, Robert Altman said that while he only made $70,000 for having directed the movie, his son had earned more than $1 million for having co-written the song.
Several instrumental versions of the song were used as the theme for the TV series. It became a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980. The song was ranked #66 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.
The song was written specifically for Ken Prymus (the actor playing Private Seidman), who sang it during the faux suicide of Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski (John Schuck) in the film's "Last Supper" scene. Robert Altman had two stipulations about the song for Mandel: first, it had to be called "Suicide Is Painless"; second, it had to be the "stupidest song ever written". Altman tried to write the lyrics himself, but found that it was too difficult for his 45-year-old brain to write "stupid enough". Instead he gave the task to his 14-year-old-son, Michael, who wrote the lyrics in five minutes.
Altman later decided that the song worked so well, he would use it as the film's main theme, despite Mandel's initial objections. This version was sung by uncredited session singers John Bahler, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin and Ian Freebairn-Smith and the single was attributed to "The Mash."
Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers released a cover version of "Suicide Is Painless" on 7 September 1992 as "Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)". In the UK it was a double A-side charity single to help The Spastics Society, with The Fatima Mansions' take on Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" as the other A-side. The 12" and CD versions of the UK single included "Sleeping with the NME" – an excerpt from a radio documentary recorded in the offices of the NME capturing staff's reaction to photographs of guitarist Richey Edwards' infamous self-mutilation. The single peaked at number 7 in the UK Singles Chart spending three weeks in the Top Ten.
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