"Chicken Man" is a tune composed in 1975 by

Alan Hawkshaw William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company ...

used in two popular British

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

since the 1970s.

Background

It was recorded in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

as part of the Themes International music library. Hawkshaw composed the tune in less than an hour, claiming he "didn't really know what ewas doing" and that "he just wanted to do something quirky".

TV theme tune

It became known as the theme to the long-running children's series ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

''. In its original version it was used as the main title music from 1978 to 1987, and was replaced by a re-recorded version from 1988 to 1989. After being replaced by a completely different theme tune, it made a reappearance in the final series of ''Grange Hill'' in 2008. An entirely different arrangement of "Chicken Man" was also used as the theme to early series of the British quiz show ''

Give Us a Clue ''Give Us a Clue'' is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two t ...

'', despite the fact that it was already being used on ''Grange Hill''. It lasted as the theme tune from 1979 until 1981, when a new producer/director commissioned an entirely new theme tune.

Other uses

Since then, the tune has been used as a

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

for the El Árbol

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

chain in Spain throughout 2010, on UK adverts for

Paddy Power Paddy Power is an Irish gambling company founded in 1988. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK Ireland (UKI) and International. UKI operations ...

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

s in 2013 and

McVitie's McVitie's () is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name derives from the original Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company moved to various sites ...

DeliChoc in 2015 and as the musical

bed A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many b ...

for the feature "Homework Sucks" on

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

show in the UK. It was also

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

by Welsh hip hop group

Goldie Lookin Chain Goldie Lookin Chain are a Welsh comedy hip hop group from Newport, south-east Wales. The group produces humorous, controversial and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop, today's consumer society, the "chav" culture and life in Newpor ...

on the song "Charmschool" from their 2005 album, ''

Safe as Fuck ''Safe as Fuck'' is the second studio album by Goldie Lookin Chain, released in 2005. The first single from it was "Your Missus Is a Nutter", reached number 14 in the UK charts, and the second single, "R'n'B", got to number 26. The phrase "Safe ...

''. The full piece of music is 2 minutes 2 seconds in duration. It was featured in episode 2 of season 3 of the TV series ''The League of Gentlemen''.

References

External links

Children's television theme songs Television game show theme songs 1975 compositions Grange Hill {{1970s-song-stub