July 21st, 2004

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Music
17 Comments »

The As It Happens Music

I almost never listen to the radio. When I do, it’s only in the car, only the CBC, and generally only in the evening, when the compelling programming is on. If I’m in the car at 6:30pm, though, I always turn it to the CBC and crank up the volume. Why? Because the As It Happens music plays.

As It Happens is a popular radio show (it’s syndicated by several US networks) hosted by the husky-voiced Barbara Budd and Mary Lou Finley. It follows the 6:00pm news, and is generally a news magazine program.

The content is good, but the intro theme is awesome. It’s a song called “Curried Soul” by Moe Koffman, and has kicked off the show since 1969. Koffman died in 2001. I searched the Web and file networks high and low, but couldn’t find an actual recording of the song. Suffice it to say, it’s a funky, bass-heavy jazz piece with this crazy flute solo in the middle of it. If you’re Canadian, you’ve probably heard it at least a few times in your life.

Comments: 17 Responses so far

MJ
July 22nd, 2004
1:45 am

I like how they play As It Happens nightly in the states… keeps the Yanks a little more enlightened to their neighbors up north… not many themes still sound cool and timely after 35 years…

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Alan
July 22nd, 2004
3:16 am

Saw him at Truro High in 1980 when I was 17. My folks used to go to the Old Spagetti Factory (?) in Toronto in the 50s/60s to see him. We looked for CDs bvut there do not seem to be any. The lps, now sitting in a closet at the cottage, were under Nimbus publishing.

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Jeff
July 22nd, 2004
7:55 am

What I am about to say may be blasphemous; but I always hear that theme and think to myself ‘Time to update that’. It just has such a 70’s feel to it.

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Shane
July 22nd, 2004
11:13 am

You are right, it was blasphemous. As It Happens rocks out! :)

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Casper
July 24th, 2004
7:26 pm

Thanks for the info! I had always wondered who wrote that song (I get it on NPR in the DC area at 10pm every evening).

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c.
July 26th, 2004
11:18 am

Are you kidding? That is the most ridiculous theme song ever!

I love it when the show comes up three minutes short and they just let the song fill in the dead air at the end of the show.

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Henry H
August 1st, 2006
9:41 pm

that theme sure sounds alot like buddy miles or the stones or
something. bitch?

cool that it’s from 69!

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dave
July 11th, 2007
8:04 pm

i agree that theme song is awesome. i live in the dc area and hear it every night. i have heard it for years and always wondered if there was a cd…thanks for the info

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Phred Z.
January 31st, 2008
6:34 am

I love the AIH theme song. Rather that seeming dated, to me it sounds raw and real amongst the more white-bread generic theme songs of today. I hope they never change it.

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luke skywalker
February 4th, 2008
2:53 pm

It looks like the tune can be had from the cbc online shop right here:

http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/product.aspx?Product_ID=ERDOC00051&Variant_ID=2233&lang=en-CA#

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Bill Cayemberg
February 4th, 2008
8:39 pm

I stumbled upon this blog when doing a search for the theme song. This song rocks. I love that flute blasting away. Kind of Jethro Tull like. I wish we could purchase the tune some place. The address listed above appears to be an entire DVD for $25 bucks. Anyone else have any luck finding just the tune?

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JF
May 3rd, 2008
6:06 pm

I wasn’t a huge fan of the theme for a while (not a fan of the flute, in general), but it has grown on me. It even inspired me to play ‘air-flute’ for my wife one punchy evening. She was very amused (and a little frightened) at how well I knew that song! Caution: do not play ‘jazz air-flute’ if you have back problems.

Anyway, after much searching, she found this link to a download of Koffman’s Curried Soul album. (click the album cover to download. You’ll need something like WinRar to decompress it.)
http://headfonehaus.blogspot.com/2007/06/moe-koffman-moes-curried-soul-kama.html

I wouldn’t normally advocate downloading copyrighted material, but sheesh, can they possibly make it any more difficult to find a song??

The song at the end of AIH is actually “Koff Drops”. I could only find it on this “Best Of” album:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Moe-Koffman-Vol-2/dp/B00006L60J

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pat C
May 23rd, 2008
6:38 pm

hey.. thanks for the link.. however i tried to download it.. and it says i need a password to unlock the encryption..
help please..

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show and tell « working on it
July 6th, 2008
7:43 pm

[...] moments, like when I catch a “Hinterland Who’s Who” spot on TV, or hear the theme song to As It Happens (how cool is it that the song is actually called “Curried Soul”? I just learned [...]

DS
November 18th, 2008
4:53 pm

Does anyone else think “Curried Soul” sounds remarkably like “25 Miles” by Edwin Starr (listen to the background)?

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Joe Hepperle
November 15th, 2009
5:17 am

Yep. Edwin Starr, ‘25 miles’. I knew I’d heard that tune before but i just couldn’t place it. Thanks for the memory jog DS.

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David owen
January 7th, 2010
6:09 am

It was ripped off from a Wilson Pickett tune called Mojo Mama (1967) on the album :The Sound of Wilson Pickett”

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