“Theme from Mission: Impossible“ is the theme tune of the TV series Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)….. which was written and composed by Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin….who has since gone on to appear in several other works of the Mission: Impossible franchise….which included the 1988 TV series, the film series and the video game series. The theme is written in a 5/4 time signature….which Schifrin has jokingly explained as being “for people who have five legs”…..as Schifrin started from the Morse Code for M.I. which is “_ _ ..”….so, if a dot is one beat and a dash is one and a half beats….then this gives a bar of five beats….thus, exactly matching the underlying rhythm….while the first notes of the theme are played by a bassoon utilizing a trill.
The original single release peaked at # 41 on the Billboard Hot 100…..and # 19 on the magazine’s Adult Contemporary chart in 1967….plus, Leonard Nimoy, before playing Paris in Mission Impossible in 1969, also covered the theme two years earlier. In 2010, a fictionalized account of Lalo Schifrin’s creation of the Mission: Impossible tune was featured in a Lipton TV commercial aired in a number of countries around the world. As seen in this video herewith…..the “Theme from Mission: Impossible” is put to a made for tv video film with CBS Billy Packer on a Mission: Impossible as an agent for the NCAAM Basketball Tournament “Big Dance” Selection Committee…..which is another “nuggett of gold” in our treasure chest of vintage memories here at ImaSportsphile.
