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Song of the Day #5,782: ‘Cross Over The Bridge’ – Patti Page

Throwing back to the week of May 1, 1954, we find two repeats topping Billboard’s singles chart: Perry Como’s ‘Wanted’ and Jo Stafford’s ‘Make Love to Me.’ This was the fifth straight week that those songs occupied the top two spots, with Como in #1 for four of them.

At #3 is ‘Cross Over the Bridge,’ a song originally written in 1945 by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss. The recording that received the most success was this one, by singer Patti Page. Page was the top-selling female performer of the 50s, having already scored four #1 hits before this one made it to #2.

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Song of the Day #5,781: ‘How Do You Talk to an Angel’ – The Heights

So far, all of the TV themes that reached #1 have come courtesy of one-hit wonders. Our final example comes from a one-song wonder.

Fictional band The Heights appeared on a TV show of the same name, a musical drama that had a four-month run on Fox in 1992. ‘How Do You Talk to an Angel,’ performed by cast member Jamie Walters, became the show’s theme song and landed in Billboard’s top spot for a couple of weeks in November of that year.

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Song of the Day #5,780: ‘Miami Vice Theme’ – Jan Hammer

Nearly a decade passed before another TV theme song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was 1985, when my 13 year-old self was living in South Florida and basking in the coolness of Miami Vice.

Composer/producer Jan Hammer’s electronic theme epitomizes the sizzling style of the Michael Mann-produced cop show. I can’t hear this song without picturing the terrific opening credits sequence, with its flock of flamingoes, fast cars and boats, and the bikini-clad windsurfer dipping her head in the ocean.

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Song of the Day #5,779: ‘Welcome Back’ – John Sebastian

The mid-70s were a rich time for TV theme songs, with 1976 giving us our third straight year with such a tune reaching #1.

John Sebastian’s ‘Welcome Back’ was the first non-instrumental theme to accomplish the feat. Sebastian, former leader of the Lovin’ Spoonful, wrote the song for the sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, which starred Gabe Kaplan as the titular Gabe Kotter, who returns to his Brroklyn high school as a teacher.

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Song of the Day #5,778: ‘Theme from S.W.A.T.‘ – Rhythm Heritage

A year after the Soul Train theme became the first TV theme song to reach #1, another instrumental track repeated the feat. Funk group Rhythm Heritage’s ‘Theme from S.W.A.T.‘ peaked at #1 for a single week in February of 1976.

Though Rhythm Heritage’s version of this track enjoyed the sales success, the cop show used a different recording for its opening titles, one performed by an orchestra led by Barry De Vorzon, who wrote the song. That version sounds more like a TV theme and less like a funk jam, to its detriment.

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