An hour's worth of work can win you a Grammy
Tips on working smarter not harder
I recently wrote in these pages of my affinity for The Rockford Files television program.
A need for more Rockford information a few months back led me into a really "deep dive" into all things Rockford.
The force of the Internet worm-hole is strong.
In my research, I stumbled upon an interview with the great Mike Post, composer of such theme songs from television shows such as The Rockford Files, The A-Team, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Greatest American Hero, all the Law & Orders.
Way more classic themes than you can shake a stick at.
The Rockford Files, an instrumental by Post and his co-composer Pete Carpenter, reached #10 on the Billboard charts in 1975.
The Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not) got up to Billboard’s number 2 slot in 1981.
The Hill Street Blues (theme to the hit television show Hill Street Blues) charted at #10, but rocketed to #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1981.
Magnum, P.I. reached #25 in 1982.
Theme from L.A. Law got up to #13 on the Adult Contemporary in 1988.
Post is a stone-cold killer of a musician. But he doesn’t give himself much credit.
In the interview, Post sounded to me like a man far more concerned in noticing the greatness of his peers.
Case in point: In a chance meeting late in the 1980s or early 90s, Post happened upon Rhymin’ Paul Simon at a rehearsal for a Hollywood awards show of somesuch. Simon and Post had never met. Never uttered a sentence to each other before this.
Without as much of a greeting or introduction, Post told Simon in no uncertain terms that he probably should have quit music after 1975, just after Still Crazy After All These Years [SCAATY] was released.
Simon was stunned. “So, Graceland was [shyte], was it?” asked Simon, the erstwhile songwriting teacher at NYU.
“No…” said Post. “But [SCAATY] was perfect.”
Not an outlandish claim in hindsight. SCAATY won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1976.
Post showered Simon with more praise. “Perfect orchestration. Perfect vocal.”
“Who the [*eff*] are you, man?” asked a confused and befuddled Simon.
“The name’s Mike Post.”
“The TV guy with all the theme music?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about getting into orchestration…”
“Maybe I can help…”
Did they work together after that or collaborate on anything we know about?
I have no idea.
But that’s not the point.
Each man, each an iconic musician in his own right, noticed the greatness in the other. Both guys saw the work of the other as the pinnacle of the craft.
Post admits, perhaps too humbly, that he doesn’t believe that he has done anything perfect…nowhere even approaching what he saw as Simon’s perfection in SCAATY.
He thought that one tune he wrote in just 30 minutes, The Hill Street Blues, may have approached greatness.
Uh, yeah. Really awesome tune. Go back and listen to it and you'll be transported immediately to the salad days of the hour-long prime-time drama. At least that's what it does for me.
How about the one other song of Post’s that he thought was really good?
He couldn’t remember the name of it.
Post said it was a composition from a movie-of-the-week that he doesn’t recall the name of and thinks that it probably doesn’t even exist anymore.
The man just cranked out the work. Still does, by the way.
In 1968, at age 24, Post produced the Mason Williams hit rock 'n' roll instrumental Classical Gas and arranged the entire composition in only an hour. Great song.
Post earned his first Grammy for that one hour of work. Not bad work if you can get it.
He claims the iconic A-Team theme he composed (again with Carpenter), "is just Zippity Doo Dah."
I listened back to that tune and ... gosh dang … Zippity Doo Dah (with some 1980s flourish).
What’s the point, then?
Do the work. Do what you like.
Occasionally, try some stuff you don’t know you like. It may be worth trying things out that you are uncomfortable with.
Get good at what it is you ultimately like doing and you’ll probably end up with a life well-lived.
That’s what I do. Try to anyway.
Without knowing for sure, I’d gather most of the folks who read what I write are on-track for a life well-lived—better than me…I’m still figuring it out every day.
But in case you need a little prodding to keep on going, realize that Mike Post wrote The Hill Street Blues in about the same amount of time it took me to get to this point in this here Epistle to the Good Folks.
That is some seriously genius stuff.
And you know what else is genius? Simple and genius at the same time, rather.
Draft Top.
I got a new one for Father’s Day just recently.
The geniuses who started it were featured on Shark Tank once upon a time.
The idea behind Draft Top is that you open the entire top off your aluminum can so that you can drink the beverage like you would out of a glass. They call it “Drinking Topless!”
I call it an outstanding idea and a great product, especially for when I’m down on a riverbank enjoying some suds on a hot summer’s afternoon. Or even in my backyard.
So nice to have a smooth “glass” of brewski or sparkling water—which is my preference most of the day—rather than the glug-glug-glug coming out of a can top.
Sorry, all you revolutionary can design guys, your latest space-age airflow design of a tab opening really doesn’t cut it.
When I want a quiet ale, I sip…I don’t chug or glug.
I sip and enjoy.
The folks at Draft Top are environmentally conscious, too.
“Cans are infinitely recyclable,” they say. So, “ditch the single use plastic cups and enjoy your beverage the way the brewer intended.”
I’m in wholehearted agreement.
https://rockfordagency.us/drafttop/
Let’s go topless together,
Brian O’Leary