Theme One

George Martin composed it and produced the 1967 original, credited to George Martin and his Orchestra, released as a 45 on September 29, 1967, the day before BBC Radio 1 launched, with "Elephants and Castles" on the B-side. It was the opening and closing theme of Radio 1 and Radio 2 from 1967 until the mid-1970s, first played on Radio 2 on September 30, 1967. The band first played it live, then recorded it at Trident in July 1971, produced by John Anthony, and released it in February 1972 (February 18 by the discography) on Charisma in the UK and Philips elsewhere, with "W" on the B-side, 2:53. "W" was an out-take of the album, already broadcast in a BBC session on September 23, 1971. It appeared on US and Canadian pressings of Pawn Hearts but not on UK or European ones.

Head Heritage, reviewing in May 2000, called it a perfect companion piece to Pawn Hearts and said the B-side was so dark the label used the instrumental as the A-side. It reached number one in Italy on Wikipedia's account and Run Out Grooves's, reported as reportedly, and we found no chart source; it is said to have led to a successful Italian tour. uDiscover says the band's version even usurped the original's place as the BBC's nightly closing theme and that the composer praised it. Cozy Powell recorded Martin's piece in 1979 on Over the Top. A longer alternate mix is on the 2005 Pawn Hearts remaster and a June 1971 BBC version on The Box (2000). Setlist.fm counts 19 plays. We cannot say whether our upload is the studio take or a live or BBC version.