Soap operas

[cjwatson]

Apparently I had nothing better to do while shopping and so was semi-consciously analysing the key change in the theme tune to "The Gilmore Girls". I remarked to ghoti that it was unusual for a soap theme tune to include a key change, and so we were trying to remember various soap theme tunes. Later:

cjwatson: And then there's "Neighbours", which was apparently written by a six-year-old.
ghoti: How did the theme tune to "Home and Away" go?
cjwatson: All I can remember is the bit right at the end: ♫ Home and away ♫
ghoti: ♫ Together each day, home and away ♫
cjwatson (after some thought): Wasn't it ♫ Closer each day, home and away ♫?
ghoti: Oh yes, of course.
cjwatson: Why are my neurons bothering to remember this?
ghoti: Isla Fisher.
cjwatson: Point.

Comments

[cjwatson]

It's still one of the musically weakest theme tunes of any soap I can think of. The lyrics are repetitive and inane, and the melody is far too basic; to me the tune sounds as though it was written by somebody who'd been told that it needed to go up in the middle for melodic structure but hadn't quite figured out how so took a flying leap at it.

Bill Bailey excoriated the Eastenders theme tune as "everyone is going to die". Neighbours is sort of the opposite - it positively vibrates "shiny happy people". The theme tune never really fit the show for me, since the first I saw of it was around the time of the "Robinson Street" Ramsay/Robinson feud ...

That's not to say it didn't do what Hatch and Trent set out to do with it, of course. It was a highly memorable and easily identifiable theme. I just don't really think very much of it musically when compared with the themes for many other soaps.