wild west: new frontier how to get the fox

It's become a kind of legend in TV-music circles: the unused, unheard, lost Tiomkin theme for the show that would eventually be called The Wild Wild West. For Gunslinger (1961), he reteamed with Washington and Laine for another memorable tune in the service of a forgettable show.Īnd when, in 1964, the network was mulling musical decisions about an offbeat western pilot called The Wild West, thoughts again turned to Tiomkin to supply a strong series theme. For Hotel de Paree (1959-60), he supplied a song for Colorado adventurer Sundance, played by Earl Holliman, with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. It paid off for Tiomkin, too, who retained ownership of the music through his Erosa Music publishing company.ĬBS came back to Tiomkin again and again. Rawhide, with its indelible Ned Washington lyrics ('Keep rollin', rollin', rollin' / 'tho the streams are swollen / keep them dogies rollin', Rawhide!'), is one of the all-time great TV themes. Corral had been so memorable especially as performed on records by Frankie Laine. So when CBS bought a western called Rawhide in 1958 and decided to commission a song for its theme, the network went after the biggest name possible: Dimitri Tiomkin, whose songs for High Noon and Gunfight at the O.K. W hen it comes to music, TV people are essentially the same breed as studio executives: They want the guy who had the last big hit. Dimitri Tiomkin & The Wild Wild West: The Untold Story

Wild west: new frontier how to get the fox