Well done Shawn for getting this online. I've been looking out for it for years and only ever found the inferior 1980's crappy remix. Amazing organ riff! Good luck with your battle against dickhead Weston...One more question. Where did this come from? Just a jam, Jesus! you must be a bloody genius! Get the copyright back and get some rapper to sample it to make some money. Even after all these years it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!
I was a kid during the time of the Vietnam War, and my parents used to watch World In Action; and It scared me, as I knew that the footage that was shown was REAL. Those dead people were REALLY dead. That naked little girl running down the road with her skin hanging off in tatters had just been burnt, FOR REAL with Napalm. The show never shied away, not for cheap ratings, but because the average person needed to see what was going on, and fuck the politicians' lies. It was a great show.
Reminds me of rainy Sunday afternoons when we'd 3 channels to pick from. But.....i always thought it was Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain.....isn't it?
@pinball1970 I grew up with programs WIA, Weekend World and the supreme Alan Whicker. Programs that made you think about what was going on in the world, even as a teenager. I try to get my two daughters to take a slight interest in current affairs but its all TOWIE, Big Brother, the x factor, Jeremy Kyle and sixteen and pregnant. They're just not arsed. They will both be able to vote at the next election, i do despair. But that's the way the ruling class wants it.
Brilliant music. I remember how this music would kick in right after the final scene of the show and I would just sit there wide-eyed and transfixed by the moving subject matter.
Same old comments Fivestring. This haunting tune has stayed with me from childhood. Brilliant.!! Maybe i`m a morbid old bastard but it`s up there with Clair De lune. Ha,ha.!!
Predictably this went during the great dumbing down at ITV. Now it's slot is filled by Coronation St, a show which has been dumbed down in the extreme.
Who played the organ? I have been told it was Shawn Phillips, I also believe it was he who composed the music - £189,000?? This needs to be sorted...... no one can compose a piece of music like this and not get a penny - I mean, look at Mathew Fisher from Procol Harum - he just won a claim for part ownership to "AWSOP" after a mind numbing court battle.
Who played the organ? I have been told it was Shawn Phillips, I also believe it was he who composed the music - £189,000?? This needs to be sorted...... no one can compose a piece of music like this and not get a penny - I mean, look at Mathew Fisher from Procol Harum - he just won a claim for part ownership to "AWSOP" after a mind numbing court battle.
I loved that programme & tune. It reminds me of the quality journalists of the day, such as John Pilger, Roger Cooke & the likes, who carried out in depth & interesting investigations. These days journalists just seem to phone Downing Street Press Office to ask "what bullshit do you want us to pump out next?" or look on Wikipedia to do their investigations.
I wrote to Granada years ago and got the usual answer."just written for thje show,not available" So, thinking it sounded like it has a certain KEITH EMERSON ring to it, I pulled the piece apart note by note and happily jam it with anyone who can play the decending guitar progession. Dead easy all in a minor key. D, C, B flat,, A, G, F, E, ,D. The riffs are endless and it can cause your head to explode. Just love it myself. GO ON! Have a go.
that haunting high note at 0:57 is where the Granada Colour Production slide used to appear at the end of World In Action and still sends a shiver down my spine 30 years later
@northernscrew1 Scared the shit out of the establishment as well. Thatcher once raged that Granada TV was full of trotskyists, how wrong she was. Fantastic program, i often wonder what the WIA team would have done to the likes of New Labour, Northern Rock, the city and Fred the shreds RBS.
Absolutely Fantastic!! So sinister, So morbid sounding. If ever there was a TV theme that reaches you deep down this has to be it. This theme strikes depression to a whole new level even 30 years later.
Weston may have produced it but Shawn Phillips wrote and Weston took the royalties from it. Plus, he said he would return the copyright and didnt do that either!
To continue, YOU STILL STOLE THE MONEY AND HAVEN'T TRANSFERRED THE COPYRIGHT BACK TO ME. Just to reiterate, and so people know, It was 189,000 Pounds British Sterling. This ain't chump change scumbag. Do I sound angry? Deal with it. I could educate my 4 year old son with that money. Why don't you take out a loan, give me my money, and pay it off with the royalties you're still getting? If this hasn't been eating away at you all these years, you are the personification of what's wrong today.
Awesome Intro still one of the best bits of TV music ever aired!
Shame on you Jonathan Weston for keeping all the royalties from this track... you may have produce it but the genius is with the guys that composed it and played it.
A superb piece of music, and i have to agree it was perfect for the program. Why oh why dont ITV commision investigative TV like WIA anymore ? It was up there with the likes of the brilliant Whicker's World. Brown, Blair and the rest of them would have been quaking in their boots at the thought of being sussed out by the WIA team. Thanks for posting, brings back great TV memories.
This was from the time when the independant TV channels had some bite and were not affraid to push their necks out, unlike the BBC who i have always eyed with suspicion, but don't get me started on what i think about that!! Television on the whole has become bloated with mind numbing drivel and trivia, it needs some new cutting edge, hungry British independents to shake them up....
@fivestring Yeah! plastic, fame hungry models with their big plastic tits. Overblown, rigged karaoke competitions, celebrities in the jungle, ice skating, ballroom dancing and trying to be opera stars and overpaid overrated footballers who cant keep their dicks in their pants. Cheers Simon Cowell, ITV, Ant & Dec and Rupert Murdoch, you lot have a lot to fucking answer for you cunts!
I actually thought that when the regional broadcasters had a little more control then the programme content was a little more focused to the particular geographical area and it's problems... With the centralization of television as such i feel that ideas have become slightly diluted, with a tendency to play it safe when it comes to delivering what they perceive we all want.
BTW... i hope you are enjoying Devon... my location.
I produced every mili second of this theme which was edited together from a jam session at Trident Studios actually on time while I was producing for polydor records. Just for the record - Jonathan P Weston
Whatever happened all of those years ago is between yourself and Shawn.... i'm certainly not going to encourage debate on this post about what went on, what we did end up with though was a historic peice of music that still has the capacity to inspire thought after all of these years.
I hope people continue to appreciate it as they have been doing so far.
Hey Jonathan, I think you're having a senior moment. You walked into the session AFTER we had done all the recording. You did help edit the sections together, but Robin Cable was the engineer, and Mick Weaver, (AKA), Wynder K. Frog, and John Sheppard, (the real Producer, and instigator for the piece), and I showed you how the sections went together. I wouldn't say that calls for a full Producer credit. Shawn Phillips
You may have produced it but Shawn Phillips wrote it and you took the royalties from it. Plus, you said you would return the copyright and didnt do that either!
This is truely one of the best intro and outro tunes ever and yes completely suited the hard hitting nature of what was a really groud breaking no holds barred programme. Thanks for posting it.
- Probably the most compelling and powerful intro/outro in television history... it totally suited the subject matter - perfection! This was the flagship for a once pioneering and cutting-edge regional TV organisation that has since fallen in the gutter!
Thanks for the post, it's nice that people like yourself take the time to leave your comments.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who have posted comments about this one. No swear words or text message type answers, just intelligent honest words.
My dad worked on World in Action at Granada TV on and off from the 1970's - 1990's so I guess I'm a bit biased but I do think it's a shame that ITV has become what it is today and that we don't have this calibre of no-nonsense TV journalism anymore.
@dnalor1975 you're not wrong about the decline of the ITV network. Outside of cable channels is is the single worst culprit for the dumbing down of tv schedules. There were often excellent travel/documentaries on the ITV network. Those days are long gone now.
13 World in Action episodes came out on DVD yesterday. The earliest is from 1963; the latest from 1996, the year before it was cancelled in favour of the dreadful Tonight.
I've watched five of them and they are stunning. British TV died in 1996 or at least it totally disengaged with the real world and became obsessed with trivia to amuse the affluent classes. It's a sad loss.
Thanks for letting us all know about the box set, i would be weird to watch them again. I'm sure people will buy it though. Christmas pressies anyone.... beats the hell out of a magpie annual!
Thanks to rebel vodka for telling us about the dvds, they are a must see for anyone not old enough to remember fantastic, thoughtful programmes such as this. And many thanks to fivestring for posting the music. It never fails to send a shiver down my spine and takes me back to childhood watching this amazing programme and feeling a burning desire to try to do the right thing in the world. This was British TV at its finest.
Yes indeed, "It's a sad loss." As is the loss of investigative journalism throughout the msm. It would be laughable what passes as newsworthy now (and especially what doesn't), were it not that the long term consequences will be so tragic. The post 1984 brave new world is a cowardly place. Zombification is the order of the day. Dumb it down and then some more, how low can we go...? :-|
Thanks for this. The commentary about Shawn Phillips being ripped off is shockingly predictable and all the more so as this would have made a good investigation for World in Action.
I notice (in the UK) that the schools have broken up for the holidays. Up out of bed without a wash, into yesterdays (and the day before) clothes and straight out... played out until you heard the war cry of "come on... it's getting dark!" My kids now take the mick out of that.
@fivestring thanks for posting this up, iTS GREAT!Remember the grimness of the 70's, with my dad's nion mates coming round and discussing strikes etc etc...........................if only this could be purchased. A heavy track.
Stupid ITV replaced this well respected current affairs show with a bigger audience than Panorama with an extra Coronation St episode. Shows that all this once excellent broadcaster is interested in is pandering to stupid soap addicts and the fans of Katie Price.
That's why audience figures are tumbling. Anyone with half a brain avoids mass audience fodder like Corrie and The X Factor. BBC Radio seems to provide most of the intelligent programming now.
Bleak times. The Yanks bankrupted us for not joining the Vietnam war, the IRA, Strikes, Power Cuts etc etc. Loved every minute of it as a kid. No Nintendo, peer pressure to wear silly clothes you don't want to get dirty, playing football and cricket with your mates all day, no anxious parents greeting you with anger and fear if you turned up for tea an hour late because they think you've been kidnapped by a pedo etc, etc. No better time to be a child than the 70's. I feel sorry for kids today.
It's based on Nantucket Sleighride by U.S. Prog-Rock band Mountain. I don't know where you would buy this variation from however. I'd try Googling some likely sounding phrases like Granada theme tunes. You might get lucky.
it's like any memorable "where were you/how old etc" when you heard any track... music is a powerful medium. cant beat the nostalgia, and we can keep it forever (well almost!) !
This music, and the Hammond organ sound, just fills me with horror. Memories of childhood, the remnants of 70s strikes, IRA terrorism, the shadow of the cold war, the threat of nuclear apocalypse: those were dark, sinister days, and so were the TV programmes and theme tunes. Even hearing the old jingle to Thames TV or Granada TV sends a shiver down my spine. This music in particular is reminiscent of utter doom and hoplessness, a backdrop of rusting, derelict, cold desolation; chilling.
I'm forty grew up in the UK and couldn't put words to the emotions this music generated in me and no I don't need to-I coincide 100% with you.
I listen to this and I can see a 14-year-old throwing half a house brick at a police cordon and flicking the V's at the tv camera, all in black and white of course,we didn't get colour til the 80's.
we are a generation of thinkers, and worriers, mind you we spawned the punk movement during that time so i reckon we are going to be real pains as pensioners. :-)
God we'd have this, within these walls with Googey withers, The Sweeney, Thriller then you would have to go to bed at nine and they wondered why we had a bad dream, not knocking it mind you it made you think and analyse your world, something that is missing today.
the theme tunes now don't seem to "introduce" what you are about to watch. Now you have some 162bpm dance track with slick mad visuals.... the prog turns out to be about vets!
This is one of the greatest pieces of music i have heard in my life. Especially as i was a child when i first heard it. it was one of those things that, when one was so small, and knowing only pop songs or children's songs gave such an edge of adult seriousness to the world. Perhaps it was the first melancholy piece of music i heard and signified a shift in my childhood thinking about the real world even tho i was too young to process or comprehend. I fear we'll never hear it in it's entirety.
Sorry I'm confused... who composed this? Shawn Phillips or Johnathon Weston? I agree wholeheartedly with LarryOneZeroSix. It was this single piece of music that inspired me to become a musician.
Neither.... it's Brian Auger!!. My video was just a random set of Hammond and WIA related images to look at whilst you listened to the music, i happened to have that picture of Brian on my PC at the time. :-)
It does seem to conjure up the feeling of that period in time...... My kids see the 60s and 70s as "retro" in a digital TV way, which has kind of had the dirt filtered out of it.
Somehow I doubt Botox: The revolution & Nancy Dilalio: The Inside story would go with this tune. That being the present state of ITVs current affairs output.
Forgot to say, i was doing some background work at a certain EMI owned library music company ten plus years ago.
I was told i could get a copy on DAT, but they could not license it to put it out on a comp LP!!!!!....why??, think i now know the answer, do not want it to be released because it may stir up things.
If so,
1, West.n is a a..ho.e for ripping of Sha.n
2, not allowing a great piece of music out to the people who want to hear it.
Coz when i originally did the video the music was meant to be by Weston, of course we have since found out it is by shawn. If i change the video i will need to upload it and lose all of the comments and views the video has acquired. I may do in the future.
Dear fivestring, great respect for posting the two versions of this magical tune. Loved em both. After a great deal of effort and advice, it seems the best way to obtain a good quality version (ie. not converting via compressed files etc)of this is to ask the poster if they would consider sending an MP3 audio version of it to the 'requester'from the original source. Well...er.. would you consider it? Let me know (preferably politely). Thanks.
This, a TV theme of all things, is my all time favourite piece of music and the reason why the Hammond moves me like no other musical instrument can. Awesome.
P.S: Congratulations on re-signing for Man City by the way. (just kidding)
i wrote to the programe makers when it was on air and asked about the theme only to be told it was a piece written for the programme and not available to purchase.
I can only say what other's are saying that I have waited for many a year to hear this great tune.I am old enough to remember the programme & hearing this marvellous piece of Hammond played by Mick Weaver I believe aka
Wynder K Frogg, am I correct.Thankyou very much.
How can I keep it, any ideas anyone.Wish it was on CD !
Thank you so much for posting this. I first heard this as a teenager back in the seventies and it remains to this day one of the most powerful and deeply moving pieces of music I've ever heard - thank you "fivestring" and thank you Shawn Phillips
i soooo understand what tyreburster is talking about: tuning in on the wonderful music coming out of my parents' tv and then being introduced to the neverending problems in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Unions versus Management in British Leyland, Vietnam, Watergate, Economic collapse, tories and Labour. how we saty sane in the seventies? by listening to beautiful music like Shawn Phillips'. Health, Love and Clarity indeed!
PS Check out the Pilger report about the rebellion amongst the grunts in Vietnam on YouTube; a really typical example of excellent documentary making from the World in Action production team of the Seventies.
Every time I hear this tune I remember Monday nights after Coronation Street and being convinced the world was about to end. And I was all of nine years old. How tragic. Such is the power of this music.
Well done Shawn for getting this online. I've been looking out for it for years and only ever found the inferior 1980's crappy remix. Amazing organ riff! Good luck with your battle against dickhead Weston...One more question. Where did this come from? Just a jam, Jesus! you must be a bloody genius! Get the copyright back and get some rapper to sample it to make some money. Even after all these years it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!
daveriba 2 days ago in playlist Favorite videos
I was a kid during the time of the Vietnam War, and my parents used to watch World In Action; and It scared me, as I knew that the footage that was shown was REAL. Those dead people were REALLY dead. That naked little girl running down the road with her skin hanging off in tatters had just been burnt, FOR REAL with Napalm. The show never shied away, not for cheap ratings, but because the average person needed to see what was going on, and fuck the politicians' lies. It was a great show.
brianartillery 2 weeks ago
I can't comment on the dispute over the credits and rewards of the music, only on the pieces themselves. Astonishing, moving, and far, far too short.
MarkTheMorose 2 weeks ago
Modern day ITV decrees World in Action is too highbrow for its auduience and would much rather show drivel like The Biggest Loser.
Glenn1967ful 1 month ago
Awesome piece of music, remember it as a kid watvhing World in Action and thinking the Adult World looks bad! Thanks for uploading!
StoppersREME 4 months ago
The uploader of this video should change the titles to say 'by Shawn Phillips' and not Jonathan Weston?
GaraGambini 4 months ago
Reminds me of rainy Sunday afternoons when we'd 3 channels to pick from. But.....i always thought it was Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain.....isn't it?
carhandle 5 months ago
@carhandle
Nah.... That was World In Action. People aways get the two mixed up.
fivestring 5 months ago
@carhandle
Nah.... That was World In Action. People aways get the two mixed up.
fivestring 5 months ago
@carhandle
Nah.... That was World In Action. People aways get the two mixed up.
fivestring 5 months ago
@fivestring So was this before or after World in Action? I'm confused (but you guessed that already)
carhandle 5 months ago
@carhandle Nantucket Sleighride was the theme to Weekend World, which was indeed Sunday at noon.
Marillionboy 2 months ago
@carhandle This tune was for World In Action. Nantucket Sleighride was for Weekend World !! ;-)
CrassOldBoy 2 months ago
@carhandle Mountain's Nantucket Sleighride was the theme tune to Weekend World with the superb Brian Walden.
railman01 1 month ago
@carhandle Nantucket Sleighride is used on Weekend World
sniffypigster 1 month ago in playlist Favorite videos
haunting
reminds me of being a kid and watching stuff on TV that I knew about adult stuff wars politics famine
great music - just one chord really with a descending bass
never heard all this though- it always faded out
pinball1970 5 months ago
@pinball1970
Thanks for your comments,
Have you had a listen to the final version i posted?... Nothing fading about that ending.
fivestring 5 months ago
@fivestring
yeah this is great no fade out
it is actually a very beautiful piece isnt it? nostalgia aside
I have been surfing for others since and found a few crackers
Thanks again anyway – this stuff cant be lost!
pinball1970 5 months ago
@pinball1970 I grew up with programs WIA, Weekend World and the supreme Alan Whicker. Programs that made you think about what was going on in the world, even as a teenager. I try to get my two daughters to take a slight interest in current affairs but its all TOWIE, Big Brother, the x factor, Jeremy Kyle and sixteen and pregnant. They're just not arsed. They will both be able to vote at the next election, i do despair. But that's the way the ruling class wants it.
railman01 1 month ago
Brilliant music. I remember how this music would kick in right after the final scene of the show and I would just sit there wide-eyed and transfixed by the moving subject matter.
NealR2000 7 months ago
magnificent thanks for uploading.....they were the days. It is a very haunting tune, very poignant.
irishgent 8 months ago
A fantastic piece of progressive rock.
Glenn1967ful 9 months ago
I'm casting my vote with Shawn Philips on this one!
normandeplume 10 months ago
Same old comments Fivestring. This haunting tune has stayed with me from childhood. Brilliant.!! Maybe i`m a morbid old bastard but it`s up there with Clair De lune. Ha,ha.!!
thedrownedinsound2 10 months ago
@thedrownedinsound2
Wait until we are old bastard pensioners.... that will be attitude to behold!!
fivestring 8 months ago
thanks for the vids fivestring,and thankyou too for letting me know about the final version,best wishes
blade0954 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
How I long for the days when we had decent documentaries like WIA. I will upload one from Vietnam in the next day or two.
crossbake 1 year ago
How I long for the days when we had decent documentaries like WOA. I will upload one from Vietnam in the next day or two.
crossbake 1 year ago
I love this music. Thank you : )
NedsMissingTeeth 1 year ago
Predictably this went during the great dumbing down at ITV. Now it's slot is filled by Coronation St, a show which has been dumbed down in the extreme.
Glenn1967ful 1 year ago
serious program,dont make them like this anymore.
lympia3 1 year ago
Strange how truly iconic pieces of music always seem to have a story of betrayal behind them....
tinnitus2000 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Who played the organ? I have been told it was Shawn Phillips, I also believe it was he who composed the music - £189,000?? This needs to be sorted...... no one can compose a piece of music like this and not get a penny - I mean, look at Mathew Fisher from Procol Harum - he just won a claim for part ownership to "AWSOP" after a mind numbing court battle.
musicplateau1 1 year ago
Who played the organ? I have been told it was Shawn Phillips, I also believe it was he who composed the music - £189,000?? This needs to be sorted...... no one can compose a piece of music like this and not get a penny - I mean, look at Mathew Fisher from Procol Harum - he just won a claim for part ownership to "AWSOP" after a mind numbing court battle.
musicplateau1 1 year ago
@musicplateau1
Mick Weaver played on this... check out my latest post
Thanks for your comment.
fivestring 1 year ago
Please tell me where I can download this, it is simply brilliant. Thank you Shawn Phillips. Thank you fivestring.
wackadnaze 1 year ago
Many thanks, Shawn Phillips should be paid. This is great!!
Any response from Jonathan Weston??
wackadnaze 1 year ago
@wackadnaze
Hi
Yes, Jonathon did reply, see my description at the top....
Thanks for posting.
fivestring 1 year ago
Many thanks, Shawn Phillips should be paid. This is great!!
wackadnaze 1 year ago
OMG i use to remember this as a kid, I've been trying to find this track for years thanks for posting it awesome :)x
161Pebbles 1 year ago
great post!
duffymoony 1 year ago
I loved that programme & tune. It reminds me of the quality journalists of the day, such as John Pilger, Roger Cooke & the likes, who carried out in depth & interesting investigations. These days journalists just seem to phone Downing Street Press Office to ask "what bullshit do you want us to pump out next?" or look on Wikipedia to do their investigations.
crossbake 1 year ago
@crossbake LOL!
MrFrontallobotomy 1 year ago
I wrote to Granada years ago and got the usual answer."just written for thje show,not available" So, thinking it sounded like it has a certain KEITH EMERSON ring to it, I pulled the piece apart note by note and happily jam it with anyone who can play the decending guitar progession. Dead easy all in a minor key. D, C, B flat,, A, G, F, E, ,D. The riffs are endless and it can cause your head to explode. Just love it myself. GO ON! Have a go.
martianmusic1 1 year ago
@martianmusic1
Hi
You may want to view my latest post... the final version, the part no one has never neard.
Hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for the comments.
fivestring 1 year ago
£189,000 ??
Johnathan Weston - just pay the man.
You owe him AT LEAST half, if not ALL the royalties.
Re-mortgage your house if you have to.
But this isn't going away. It was NEVER your place to collect that money.
toryluvsrlh2 1 year ago
that haunting high note at 0:57 is where the Granada Colour Production slide used to appear at the end of World In Action and still sends a shiver down my spine 30 years later
sparks1976 1 year ago
Now replaced with yet another episode of " Corrie", as the fans call it. Actually that's another programme that's really gone downhill.
Glenn1967ful 1 year ago
music and the programme scared the shit out of me as a kid, but what a hell of a tune. awesome posting fivestring.
northernscrew1 1 year ago 5
@northernscrew1
Thanks for the comment, I'm glad people are still finding it and taking the time to appreciate it.
fivestring 1 year ago
@northernscrew1 Scared the shit out of the establishment as well. Thatcher once raged that Granada TV was full of trotskyists, how wrong she was. Fantastic program, i often wonder what the WIA team would have done to the likes of New Labour, Northern Rock, the city and Fred the shreds RBS.
railman01 1 month ago
i fort this was done by THE NICE
duxberry1958 1 year ago
I always put this track on if someone is going on a downer.
carbonarapadrino 1 year ago
Absolutely Fantastic!! So sinister, So morbid sounding. If ever there was a TV theme that reaches you deep down this has to be it. This theme strikes depression to a whole new level even 30 years later.
It does not get more darker than this.Love it.
MrBritUSA 1 year ago
Think, time and its sedimentary layering. Weston's argument, "thats how the cookie crumpled". ? Is Weston thinking long term? Time will tell...
ThePizzapal 1 year ago
Weston may have produced it but Shawn Phillips wrote and Weston took the royalties from it. Plus, he said he would return the copyright and didnt do that either!
guitarloo 2 years ago
To continue, YOU STILL STOLE THE MONEY AND HAVEN'T TRANSFERRED THE COPYRIGHT BACK TO ME. Just to reiterate, and so people know, It was 189,000 Pounds British Sterling. This ain't chump change scumbag. Do I sound angry? Deal with it. I could educate my 4 year old son with that money. Why don't you take out a loan, give me my money, and pay it off with the royalties you're still getting? If this hasn't been eating away at you all these years, you are the personification of what's wrong today.
shortfits 1 year ago
Awesome Intro still one of the best bits of TV music ever aired!
Shame on you Jonathan Weston for keeping all the royalties from this track... you may have produce it but the genius is with the guys that composed it and played it.
Time to own up and pay up I feel.
foursixtyfour 2 years ago
This is track worth setting up a record label for.
carbiify 2 years ago
A superb piece of music, and i have to agree it was perfect for the program. Why oh why dont ITV commision investigative TV like WIA anymore ? It was up there with the likes of the brilliant Whicker's World. Brown, Blair and the rest of them would have been quaking in their boots at the thought of being sussed out by the WIA team. Thanks for posting, brings back great TV memories.
railman01 2 years ago 2
This was from the time when the independant TV channels had some bite and were not affraid to push their necks out, unlike the BBC who i have always eyed with suspicion, but don't get me started on what i think about that!! Television on the whole has become bloated with mind numbing drivel and trivia, it needs some new cutting edge, hungry British independents to shake them up....
fivestring 2 years ago 4
@fivestring Yeah! plastic, fame hungry models with their big plastic tits. Overblown, rigged karaoke competitions, celebrities in the jungle, ice skating, ballroom dancing and trying to be opera stars and overpaid overrated footballers who cant keep their dicks in their pants. Cheers Simon Cowell, ITV, Ant & Dec and Rupert Murdoch, you lot have a lot to fucking answer for you cunts!
railman01 2 years ago 4
@fivestring Do you mean the return of Thames, LWT, TVS and the good old Granada as it used to be?
Superb music by the way.
antjeisback 1 year ago
@antjeisback
Many thanks for your comments....
I actually thought that when the regional broadcasters had a little more control then the programme content was a little more focused to the particular geographical area and it's problems... With the centralization of television as such i feel that ideas have become slightly diluted, with a tendency to play it safe when it comes to delivering what they perceive we all want.
BTW... i hope you are enjoying Devon... my location.
fivestring 1 year ago
@antjeisback Top comment!
Strac1972 1 year ago
I produced every mili second of this theme which was edited together from a jam session at Trident Studios actually on time while I was producing for polydor records. Just for the record - Jonathan P Weston
beancrafts 2 years ago
Thank you, I appreciate your input Jonathan.
Whatever happened all of those years ago is between yourself and Shawn.... i'm certainly not going to encourage debate on this post about what went on, what we did end up with though was a historic peice of music that still has the capacity to inspire thought after all of these years.
I hope people continue to appreciate it as they have been doing so far.
fivestring 2 years ago
Hey Jonathan, I think you're having a senior moment. You walked into the session AFTER we had done all the recording. You did help edit the sections together, but Robin Cable was the engineer, and Mick Weaver, (AKA), Wynder K. Frog, and John Sheppard, (the real Producer, and instigator for the piece), and I showed you how the sections went together. I wouldn't say that calls for a full Producer credit. Shawn Phillips
shortfits 1 year ago
@shortfits Robin Cable the engineer, Mick Weaver, (AKA), Wynder K. Frog or John Sheppard, back up that claim i would be interested to know ?
ImAsMadAsHell 1 year ago
You may have produced it but Shawn Phillips wrote it and you took the royalties from it. Plus, you said you would return the copyright and didnt do that either!
guitarloo 2 years ago
This is truely one of the best intro and outro tunes ever and yes completely suited the hard hitting nature of what was a really groud breaking no holds barred programme. Thanks for posting it.
cuddlybear47 2 years ago
No problem, thanks for taking the time to comment.
fivestring 2 years ago
I wanna know how to play the dam thing.
hogrider9 2 years ago
many thanks for posting this!
- Probably the most compelling and powerful intro/outro in television history... it totally suited the subject matter - perfection! This was the flagship for a once pioneering and cutting-edge regional TV organisation that has since fallen in the gutter!
dnalor1975 2 years ago 16
Thanks for the post, it's nice that people like yourself take the time to leave your comments.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who have posted comments about this one. No swear words or text message type answers, just intelligent honest words.
thank you again.
fivestring 2 years ago
No worries and thanks
My dad worked on World in Action at Granada TV on and off from the 1970's - 1990's so I guess I'm a bit biased but I do think it's a shame that ITV has become what it is today and that we don't have this calibre of no-nonsense TV journalism anymore.
dnalor1975 2 years ago 4
@dnalor1975 you're not wrong about the decline of the ITV network. Outside of cable channels is is the single worst culprit for the dumbing down of tv schedules. There were often excellent travel/documentaries on the ITV network. Those days are long gone now.
ridjam 1 year ago
13 World in Action episodes came out on DVD yesterday. The earliest is from 1963; the latest from 1996, the year before it was cancelled in favour of the dreadful Tonight.
I've watched five of them and they are stunning. British TV died in 1996 or at least it totally disengaged with the real world and became obsessed with trivia to amuse the affluent classes. It's a sad loss.
RebelVoDKa 2 years ago 8
Thanks for letting us all know about the box set, i would be weird to watch them again. I'm sure people will buy it though. Christmas pressies anyone.... beats the hell out of a magpie annual!
fivestring 2 years ago
Thanks to rebel vodka for telling us about the dvds, they are a must see for anyone not old enough to remember fantastic, thoughtful programmes such as this. And many thanks to fivestring for posting the music. It never fails to send a shiver down my spine and takes me back to childhood watching this amazing programme and feeling a burning desire to try to do the right thing in the world. This was British TV at its finest.
jamietucknutt 2 years ago 5
RebelIVoDKa
Yes indeed, "It's a sad loss." As is the loss of investigative journalism throughout the msm. It would be laughable what passes as newsworthy now (and especially what doesn't), were it not that the long term consequences will be so tragic. The post 1984 brave new world is a cowardly place. Zombification is the order of the day. Dumb it down and then some more, how low can we go...? :-|
ELGROOVER 2 years ago
Minor celebrities who think they have talent dancing naked in the jungle whilst eating worms?...... oh, it's been done!! ;-)
fivestring 2 years ago
Thanks for this. The commentary about Shawn Phillips being ripped off is shockingly predictable and all the more so as this would have made a good investigation for World in Action.
steggg 2 years ago
Some chords at the beginning make me think of the end of Paranoid Android by Radiohead.
ipodnano2G 2 years ago
YES!!!
Fivestring YOU BEAUTY!!!!
So many memories!!!!
Any full lenght versions ANYWHERE!!
LOVE IT!!!
Bestie007 2 years ago
Well thank you Bestie.
I notice you are a soundhog fan... try my other post for world in action, i think you may be pleased.
fivestring 2 years ago
As others have said, fantastically evocative! I would (like many) so love to have a full, decent quality copy of this. It must exist, somewhere.
I have contacts in the production industry, so if anyone knows where it is I might be able to track it down.
Andy.
totalbroadcast 2 years ago
Aww, love this theme. Reminds me of the 70's and being called in from playing out - the middle bit always seemed to be on the telly when I got in.
dontlookanthea 2 years ago 3
Yep....
I notice (in the UK) that the schools have broken up for the holidays. Up out of bed without a wash, into yesterdays (and the day before) clothes and straight out... played out until you heard the war cry of "come on... it's getting dark!" My kids now take the mick out of that.
fivestring 2 years ago
yes.... but not yet.
fivestring 2 years ago
Love it , Love it, Love it. Played more than my own tunes, driving the family mad with it!!
MrPINKFLOYDUK 2 years ago 2
Thank you very much for your reply. check your own youtube page comments section ;-)
fivestring 2 years ago
@fivestring thanks for posting this up, iTS GREAT!Remember the grimness of the 70's, with my dad's nion mates coming round and discussing strikes etc etc...........................if only this could be purchased. A heavy track.
moisescruickshank 1 year ago
Thanks for taking the time to reply. it's a pleasure.
fivestring 2 years ago
Stupid ITV replaced this well respected current affairs show with a bigger audience than Panorama with an extra Coronation St episode. Shows that all this once excellent broadcaster is interested in is pandering to stupid soap addicts and the fans of Katie Price.
Glenn1967ful 2 years ago 3
audiences seem to prefer visual chewing gum these days rather than food for thought.
fivestring 2 years ago
That's why audience figures are tumbling. Anyone with half a brain avoids mass audience fodder like Corrie and The X Factor. BBC Radio seems to provide most of the intelligent programming now.
Glenn1967ful 2 years ago 3
Got an mp3 version of this?
powersherlock 2 years ago
This takes me back Hauntingly beautiful and powerful Iconic Series and tune - This takes me back to when was about 14 as well and reminds me of Dad
jonnykay67 2 years ago
What a shitty thing for J. Weston to do. Dirty, dirty action, oh the shame Weston, the shame!!!!
GaraGambini 2 years ago 3
I have always wanted this tune where can i get it?
brizeeuk 2 years ago
Bleak times. The Yanks bankrupted us for not joining the Vietnam war, the IRA, Strikes, Power Cuts etc etc. Loved every minute of it as a kid. No Nintendo, peer pressure to wear silly clothes you don't want to get dirty, playing football and cricket with your mates all day, no anxious parents greeting you with anger and fear if you turned up for tea an hour late because they think you've been kidnapped by a pedo etc, etc. No better time to be a child than the 70's. I feel sorry for kids today.
molfluon 2 years ago 12
Couldn't have put it better myself.
RebelVoDKa 2 years ago
Can i get this tune anywhere? Is it on any albums?
yojimbo869 2 years ago
It's based on Nantucket Sleighride by U.S. Prog-Rock band Mountain. I don't know where you would buy this variation from however. I'd try Googling some likely sounding phrases like Granada theme tunes. You might get lucky.
molfluon 2 years ago
Yes,this is THE one!!! Takes me back to when i was kid,the ending is what i remember most.NICE ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
bestbass42 2 years ago 4
Thanks for taking the time to comment on both... glad this one hit the spot.
fivestring 2 years ago
why does this remind some people, of a certain age, of their childhood? is there a shrink out there who knows?
LarryOneZeroSix 2 years ago
Larry,
it's like any memorable "where were you/how old etc" when you heard any track... music is a powerful medium. cant beat the nostalgia, and we can keep it forever (well almost!) !
ollybeat 2 years ago 3
This music, and the Hammond organ sound, just fills me with horror. Memories of childhood, the remnants of 70s strikes, IRA terrorism, the shadow of the cold war, the threat of nuclear apocalypse: those were dark, sinister days, and so were the TV programmes and theme tunes. Even hearing the old jingle to Thames TV or Granada TV sends a shiver down my spine. This music in particular is reminiscent of utter doom and hoplessness, a backdrop of rusting, derelict, cold desolation; chilling.
tinyclaw 2 years ago 25
I'm forty grew up in the UK and couldn't put words to the emotions this music generated in me and no I don't need to-I coincide 100% with you.
I listen to this and I can see a 14-year-old throwing half a house brick at a police cordon and flicking the V's at the tv camera, all in black and white of course,we didn't get colour til the 80's.
ubergoldfish 2 years ago 4
Brings back memories of the current affairs programme such as Weekend World with the Nantucket Sleighride theme. Well found, brilliant!!
ollybeat 2 years ago 2
we are a generation of thinkers, and worriers, mind you we spawned the punk movement during that time so i reckon we are going to be real pains as pensioners. :-)
fivestring 2 years ago
Let's hope so. ;o)
Rawlinson18 2 years ago 2
God we'd have this, within these walls with Googey withers, The Sweeney, Thriller then you would have to go to bed at nine and they wondered why we had a bad dream, not knocking it mind you it made you think and analyse your world, something that is missing today.
Rawlinson18 2 years ago 7
Thriller theme tune was scary , was allways frightened to goto bed afterwards
pmc40 2 years ago
The episode about a dog called Tina springs to mind, "Good dog Tina". That was just plain disturbing.
Rawlinson18 2 years ago
Sorry that was Armchair thriller a bit later on 1978.
Rawlinson18 2 years ago
This theme tune always got my attention when I was a child.
It meant that there was 'bad shit' going on in the world.
Thank you so much for posting.
DMK748 2 years ago 3
the theme tunes now don't seem to "introduce" what you are about to watch. Now you have some 162bpm dance track with slick mad visuals.... the prog turns out to be about vets!
fivestring 2 years ago
This is one of the greatest pieces of music i have heard in my life. Especially as i was a child when i first heard it. it was one of those things that, when one was so small, and knowing only pop songs or children's songs gave such an edge of adult seriousness to the world. Perhaps it was the first melancholy piece of music i heard and signified a shift in my childhood thinking about the real world even tho i was too young to process or comprehend. I fear we'll never hear it in it's entirety.
dimebolt1976 2 years ago 4
@dimebolt1976
Hi
Check my latest post.... it's there in it's entirety.
fivestring 1 year ago
I like Bill Bailey's version too. Ha ha
agfagaevart 3 years ago
me too :-)
There isn't any hidden cockney intro in it though.
fivestring 3 years ago
Sorry I'm confused... who composed this? Shawn Phillips or Johnathon Weston? I agree wholeheartedly with LarryOneZeroSix. It was this single piece of music that inspired me to become a musician.
geraberl 3 years ago
Shawn Phillips wrote/composed it, but for years Weston took credit for it, hence the reference in the video. see the info above for the full story.
fivestring 3 years ago
Cheers mate, so is that a picture of Phillips or Weston at 1:08?
geraberl 3 years ago
Neither.... it's Brian Auger!!. My video was just a random set of Hammond and WIA related images to look at whilst you listened to the music, i happened to have that picture of Brian on my PC at the time. :-)
fivestring 3 years ago
LOL! Ok then. it's more than enough of a treat to be able to hear this again. Thanks so much for the upload, it's made my weekend.
geraberl 3 years ago 4
You're welcome, thanks for your comments.
fivestring 3 years ago
Thanks so much for posting this up, and to Mr Phillips for being a true human being and letting it remain here.
Stratoszero 3 years ago
♥
LollieSmith 3 years ago
I love this track but it is also quite depressing as it used to be on t.v when I had to go to bed! Very nostalgic. Thanks for posting.
eezy1972 3 years ago
Well...that was BRILLIANT!
Thankyou, bought back memories of decades ago.
bithot2nite 3 years ago 2
One of the most amazing pieces of music i've heard. This used to haunt me as a child and it still does now! so so good! thank you!
LarryOneZeroSix 3 years ago 4
Are there any commercial recordings available of this? I want one!!!!
fingalcrom 3 years ago
nothing commercial... pm me.
fivestring 3 years ago
this is arguably the greatest piece of music ever produced,for those over 40 anyway,powerful,seductive,reminicient,its that good!!!!
blade0954 3 years ago
It does seem to conjure up the feeling of that period in time...... My kids see the 60s and 70s as "retro" in a digital TV way, which has kind of had the dirt filtered out of it.
fivestring 3 years ago
I'm 36 and this music evokes so many memories of the Eightys.Strange how music can do that eh?
eezy1972 3 years ago 2
@blade0954
Hi
Please see my latest post... it's THAT good!!
fivestring 1 year ago
Angry music for television that had a point to make. Now just a memory.
DrMrEcho 3 years ago 8
How right you are...
fivestring 3 years ago
Somehow I doubt Botox: The revolution & Nancy Dilalio: The Inside story would go with this tune. That being the present state of ITVs current affairs output.
DrMrEcho 3 years ago 2
Probably one of the all time great Hammond B3 theme tunes ever....period, in fact i cannot think of a better theme of moody music on a B3.
For a theme tune, Shaun gives a lot of library composers a run for there money, even tho he never got his royalties!!!!
Anyone know how to trace this Weston person, he needs to be told he is a using idiot?
bruceyover 3 years ago
Forgot to say, i was doing some background work at a certain EMI owned library music company ten plus years ago.
I was told i could get a copy on DAT, but they could not license it to put it out on a comp LP!!!!!....why??, think i now know the answer, do not want it to be released because it may stir up things.
If so,
1, West.n is a a..ho.e for ripping of Sha.n
2, not allowing a great piece of music out to the people who want to hear it.
Nuff said.
bruceyover 3 years ago 2
This song has got such a sinister, downbeat sound. I really love it and it must be one of the most memorable theme tunes ever. Thanks for posting.
SNEDILLIO 3 years ago 3
Sublime just sublime
cuddycuddydumdum 3 years ago 5
Fucking classic!!! Made me piss my pants. I'd love to see that clip of the talking head.
hollowwitch 3 years ago 2
Coz when i originally did the video the music was meant to be by Weston, of course we have since found out it is by shawn. If i change the video i will need to upload it and lose all of the comments and views the video has acquired. I may do in the future.
fivestring 3 years ago
Dear fivestring, great respect for posting the two versions of this magical tune. Loved em both. After a great deal of effort and advice, it seems the best way to obtain a good quality version (ie. not converting via compressed files etc)of this is to ask the poster if they would consider sending an MP3 audio version of it to the 'requester'from the original source. Well...er.. would you consider it? Let me know (preferably politely). Thanks.
Dinglemass 3 years ago
Ohmygawd!! I've just sprained my goosebumps..
This, a TV theme of all things, is my all time favourite piece of music and the reason why the Hammond moves me like no other musical instrument can. Awesome.
P.S: Congratulations on re-signing for Man City by the way. (just kidding)
getcarter1971 3 years ago
i wrote to the programe makers when it was on air and asked about the theme only to be told it was a piece written for the programme and not available to purchase.
its fab to hear it after all these years
thanx
Maynews 3 years ago
I absolutely love this. Both pieces are beautiful. They moved me as kid and they still do now.
FitzNugly 3 years ago
Thankyou for posting Great to hear this tune again!!!
ba001e6750 3 years ago
this is just great, id love to hear the full version
urban592 3 years ago
@urban592
Hi
Full version now up after 4 years of holding onto it. enjoy.
fivestring 1 year ago
How about Magpie with Eddie Hardin
oh btw, I forgot to rate "World In Action" 10+ of course.
mikemasterton 3 years ago 2
I can only say what other's are saying that I have waited for many a year to hear this great tune.I am old enough to remember the programme & hearing this marvellous piece of Hammond played by Mick Weaver I believe aka
Wynder K Frogg, am I correct.Thankyou very much.
How can I keep it, any ideas anyone.Wish it was on CD !
mikemasterton 3 years ago 2
download a youtube to mp3 convertor (free!), follow the instructions, put it on your computer then burn it to disc.
i'm a computer dope but i got the hang of it with a different song in the space of a morning.
cheapy2006 3 years ago
Cheapy, thanks for the tip, but can I ask which converter you downloaded? There seems to be 100's.
Dinglemass 3 years ago
god !!! I have hunted for this for YEARS !
dont know why .. but to hear it again means so much !!!
thanks for putting it up here.
Red
redqueento 3 years ago 3
@redqueento
Hi
You may be interested in my latest post.
Hope you enjoy it.
fivestring 1 year ago
Shawn, thank you for this piece of genius, fivestring, thanx for finding this and uploading.
junior1138 3 years ago
thank you for your kind comments
fivestring 3 years ago
Thank you so much for posting this. I first heard this as a teenager back in the seventies and it remains to this day one of the most powerful and deeply moving pieces of music I've ever heard - thank you "fivestring" and thank you Shawn Phillips
dminchaconne 3 years ago 2
i soooo understand what tyreburster is talking about: tuning in on the wonderful music coming out of my parents' tv and then being introduced to the neverending problems in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Unions versus Management in British Leyland, Vietnam, Watergate, Economic collapse, tories and Labour. how we saty sane in the seventies? by listening to beautiful music like Shawn Phillips'. Health, Love and Clarity indeed!
whufcrok 3 years ago 2
PS Check out the Pilger report about the rebellion amongst the grunts in Vietnam on YouTube; a really typical example of excellent documentary making from the World in Action production team of the Seventies.
whufcrok 3 years ago
Every time I hear this tune I remember Monday nights after Coronation Street and being convinced the world was about to end. And I was all of nine years old. How tragic. Such is the power of this music.
tyreburster 3 years ago