Rainbow (single) by Blake

The magical theme tune to Rainbow was a part of the life of every British kid growing up in the seventies. I may have been born twenty years too late to witness the sixties, but being born in 1971 meant that I at least experienced the best British children's TV ever made with the best music to match it. I am sure my appreciation for folk music comes from hearing the songs of Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner on Bagpuss. Freddie Phillips' guitar pieces made Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley come to life and Mr Benn's existence in Festive Road would have been very drab without Duncan Lamont's marvellous compositions. My fifteen year old daughter recently said to me, "it's only music that's holding you together, isn't it?" She's right, of course, but it started at a very early age.
I don't remember when it was that I first heard the whole of the Rainbow song, but I recall being astounded when it reached the bridge that wasn't featured in the show's opening and closing sequences. I acquired a copy of the original TellTale record, catchily titled 'Songs from the Thames Television Children's Programme Rainbow', this year. It has fourteen songs composed by the group that were featured in the first two series of the programme in 1972 and 1973. It contains an eclectic mix of musical styles from funk to music hall to folk and rock. For reasons unknown to me, the band was replaced for the third series by a singing trio*, as was original presenter David Cook with the lovable Geoffrey Hayes.
Anyway, back to the song. It's a wonderful piece of music, I think; ambitious and lyrically articulate in a way that characterises much of the music of the period. I imagine that upon hearing the opening flute melody it immediately transports anyone of a certain vintage to happier and more innocent days.
Renaissance man Matt Berry recorded a brilliant version of the song for his 2018 album, 'Television Themes', and it was probably this that first put the thought in my head to have a go at covering it myself. I have stuck pretty faithfully to Telltale's original recording, although I did notice that it is not the original album version that was used in the TV programmes, so it was either re-recorded by TellTale or by someone else.

*Rod, Jane and Freddy did not come together until 1981. Before them it was Rod, Jane and Roger and before them Rod, Matt and Jane! [Matt being Matthew Corbett]

Blake was discovered under a pile of records in a Cheltenham bedsit in 2003.

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