“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” is an American sitcom that starred Mary Tyler Moore and was created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns. It was aired on CBS between 1970 and 1977. Others who starred in this show included Edward Asner, Valerie Harper, Gavin McLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, Georgia Engel, and Betty White. The show focused on the life of Mary Tyler who was an independent, unmarried career woman. This series has the honor of being one of the most acclaimed sitcoms in the history of United States television and has won 29 Primetime Emmy Awards.
The show’s theme song is one of its most recognizable features and when viewers heard the song on the television, they knew it was time to sit down and watch their favorite sitcom. It is called ‘Love Is All Around’ and this song was composed by Patrick Williams with lyrics written by Sonny Curtis who also performed the song.
Patrick Williams is a famous composer of film and television music in a variety of genres. He has composed music for over 200 films, which include ‘The Grass Harp’, ‘Cuba’, ‘Swing Shift’, ‘All of Me’, and ‘Breaking Away’. For television, in addition to composing the music, for ‘The Mary Tyler Show’, he also composed music for ‘The Bob Newhart Show’, ‘The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd’, and ‘The Streets of San Francisco’.
Sonny Curtis is a singer and songwriter who has predominantly worked in the country and pop genres. Two of his best-known songs are ‘More Than I Can Say’ and ‘I Fought the Law’. Curtis also wrote the Everly Brothers hit ‘Walk Right Back’.
This song was part of the opening sequence of the show, which includes clips of scenes filmed in Minneapolis and the show’s studio scenes. It also featured the famous clip of Mary tossing her hat into the air in front of Donaldson’s department store. It was ranked as the second greatest moment in television by Entertainment Weekly.
The story of the actual song in the title sequence is also interesting as it has changed. The lyrics of the song were rewritten between season one and season two. The main reason for this is that Mary moves house between the seasons and has settled into her new home.
It is the changed lyrics that are the best-known because it was this version of the song that was played as the opening sequence of the show for the episodes when the sitcom was at the height of its popularity. There have been several covers of the theme song for the sitcom and these have all used the lyrics from the changed version of the song. Some of those who have covered this song include Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Conniff, Christie Front Drive, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
When Mary Tyler Moore launched the variety show ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Hour’ in 1979, an instrumental version of ‘Love is All Around’ was rewritten in an instrumental format and used as the opening sequence.
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