The Mash
"Theme From M*A*S*H"

Entered Top 20: 24 May 1980
Chart peak: 1
Catalogue: CBS 8536

Biography

Richard Hooker's novel about the staff of a US field hospital during the Korean war provided the source material for one of 1970's more surprising hit movies. The black comedy M*A*S*H (with asterisks originally added purely to grab people's attention on the movie poster) not only made a star of its director Robert Altman, but also spawned a long-running TV series, a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

The series was at the height of its popularity when Radio 1 DJ Noel Edmonds started playing the original movie theme song. The version used on the TV series was an instrumental remake and as most viewers had never seen the original film, the melodramatic lyric (written by Robert Altman's son Mike) made quite an impression. The resulting public demand swiftly led to the song's release as a single. As the track was recorded by a group of session musicians, it was credited simply to The MASH.

The song returned to the charts in 1992 when a beefed-up but otherwise quite faithful version by Welsh angst-rockers Manic Street Preachers became their first top ten hit.

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