I'm transported back in time. Its 1973 and I'm 11 and its the summer holidays. Followed by Banna Splits,On White Horses, Double Deckers. Beautiful haunting soundtrack to this great series. Never forgotten
This was and remains, one of the most emotive and cherished memories from my childhood. I'm 51 years old now....and i'm taken back to my parent's living room, sat on a threadbare carpet, in front of a cosy coal fire...watching, dreaming and amazed at such a beautiful programme. Life was so basic and simple then, I want to go back on occasion, just to watch myself as a boy, happy, uncaring and full of imagination. Thank you so much for sharing this, my heart soars at this.
@@petermackay1929 I often look back. Yes, sometimes with regret and sadness but usually with joy and happiness. There are people I miss but I still remember us being all together and happy. They're still with me I hope. Take care of yourself. 🤓
So great to read you’re comments about this magical tv show .. I thought I was alone reminiscing about watching it on a Saturday morning during the seventy’s , I’m 55 now and it takes me straight back to long summer holidays sat in front of the tv if it was raining outside with my mom and sister. Dads would always be at work and and as you say we didn’t have a lot of toys and possessions but we had fantastic imaginations and childhoods … we we’re blessed I think ❤
Very well put Bumble, you could have been writing for myself. This music is evocative of all that you say and it is, in my opinion, the most beautifully written and performed piece of all. Gosh! I get so emotional listening to it everytime.
Yes, it's perfect. I heard it as background music to the snooker montages on BBC in the mid 1990's and always wanted to know what it was. It was only about 4 years ago I found it!
***** Fray Bentos pie we were never that rich. Like you said it's so different now, my grand kids are not allowed to playout without being watched. We were never in unless we were watching Robinson Crusoe.
It is just so sad building dens, playing on the railway that Dr Beeching closed and watching this when it was on as there were no videos or skyplus. Tell me are these kids today happier. healthier and safer than we were from 1970s kid
steve1053able I know how you feel Steve. I was 9 years old when I used to watch this with my mum and dad every week. My mum loved this piece of music Now they are both gone and I'm sitting here with the memories flooding back and tears rolling down my cheeks. Life was so much simpler (and better) then. In the holidays I was out every day ( the sun always seemed to be shining) and often wouldn't be back 'til dark! Nobody worried 'cos we were safe then.
After watching and listening to this video, 3 years ago, I went on to Amazon and got the DVD of it. It’s long enough now since I watched it so it’s going on again. I’ll ask my wife to “be mother” and bring me a piece ‘n’ Jam through from the kitchen like old happy times. I haven’t had a piece’n’Jam for ages 😁.
I'm a few years younger than you Tubby mate but I still remember this theme tune with so much love. When we were ten all our year at junior school had a field trip to the South coast and we were all mucking about at the water's edge pretending to be Robinson Crusoe struggling ashore while we all hummed this music! Awh 😀
The theme tune gives me goosebumps,school summer holidays and they'd show it then,I've started watching all the old TV series and movies,a lot of TV programmes now I've lost interest in to much identity politics,box ticking and preaching..... Seems like times were simple then,you'd go out during the summer hols and be back by dawn and just be,now everything seems to be fear based...
Great memories of running home from school to watch this. Should be shown now to hopefully beguile todays youngsters from the absolute dross and drivel they are fed now. But you won't get the Iphone out of their plugged-in hands......
I'm 70 but the memories are very similar, probably because this series was repeatedly shown on UK TV over the decades. Daniel Defoe would be astonished that his rather wordy book, even in this highly edited version, could still be so popular 302 years after it was first published in 1719.
wonderful tearful memories of a magical childhood time, and that haunting music makes it oh so memorable, Austrian actor Robert Hoffman is alive and well at 80 years old, Robinson Crusoe was his first acting role after leaving drama school in Paris. In other countries the series was released as four 90 minute films with a different music soundtrack, in Britain the BBC agreed to buy the series on the condition that the producers convert the format to 13 episodes, and to completely replace the existing music soundtrack with a newly composed musical suite by Robert Mellin which is what we are hearing here, and of course the dubbing into English, so the music here was in effect commissioned by the BBC, if you were a child watching this in other parts of Europe or the USA the music score was completely different, .....I think most people would agree that it is the music by Robert Mellin that makes it extra special, hard to imagine it being something else.
Gosh I can't imagine another soundtrack to this classic. It is what made it. Beautifully written . So haunting and you really feel the sense of isolation.
This was one of my favourite programmes when I was a teenager back in the 60s. I swooned over Robert Hoffman (well, I was only 14!). I loved this theme music.
RU-vid has achieved two things. It has given us access to music that some of us thought we would never hear again - some of us are very old!!!! Secondly, it seems to me, it has allowed people to release their emotions. Many posts drive me to tears.
and it gives a way to find what we are really interested in, not just whats being spoonfed on the tv. just found some great music, that is not msm, yet? ...otta orchestra, moscow!... ionna lee, chasing kites,..sweden! ,...bliss from the past,...de singing ringing tree#..
I'm 70, stunned, and, like many here, taken back instantly to my childhood. This really was a wonderful, beautifully made television series. Skilfully underplayed, compelling, fearful, uplifting. The music.........
A symphony for a children’s programme? Wouldn’t happen today. Beautiful music, and wonderful and happy memories of times gone by. Than you so much for making an old man very happy today.
I have just seen a comment saying it moves them to tears and I feel just the same I am 62 driver parked up where did all them years go this was at the start of my life and I am listening to it 55 years later .
It's the only TV theme music that makes me cry, I'm 55, grew up in England in the 1970s. Hearing this gives me an almost physical ache to go back there. Best days of my life, and accepting that those days are gone forever gets harder the older i become.
This is without doubt one of the key strengths of social media. I too am a man in his 60's, reminiscing of halcyon days, watching programs like this and getting theme tunes like this locked away in my head for ever. Combined with reading many of the comments left, I feel no longer alone with my thoughts, but included among a generation of others who experienced the same feelings and emotions as I. Thank you for sharing Rumpoleful and thank you too +Captain Snort.
Transports me back to a time when life was simple, gentle, fun and exciting. Nothing lasts forever of course and while this song has turned into a lament for me, I'm also happy that I have my treasured memories. We grew up in a magical decade.
+Captain Snort Well said Captain. Its almost like the land of lost innocence isn't it ? A dull ache for a time irretrievable. ' Poooooooooor Rooooobin'.
Think you will find this music used on Robbie Williams Christmas song “Rudolph”... heard it and new instantly is was from one of the programs I watched in the mid to late 60s
I'm so glad I was a 1970s kid it was a wonderful time to be a child . This piece of music brings back so many brilliant memories of those days more perhaps than any other tv theme..
Keldor D'Antrell It's even better if you can get the full orchestral version in stereo. I heard it played on a classic music station before xmas and it was fantastic. Especially when the beat gets faster at the arrival of the pirates scene. Great in full orchestra and full track music suite.
We were so lucky to have programmes like this back then. I look at some of the dross churned out today in the name of children's entertainment, and just shake my head in disbelief. This was gem, from a golden age of television.
Believe it or not I have this on a flash drive for my car. Along with rock tracks lol. I also have the themes from White Horses, The Persuaders, Danger Man, Belle and Sebastien on that particular flash drive. One programme I can not find or even others that remember it. I'm not sure of the name of the show, but the theme song started with... ''If you were me, see the things I see. If I were you, do the things you do.'' It was about school kids that get to go to other countries meet kids, possibly their pen-pals there and spend time (a week?) in each other's homes and schools, and they in turn would come to England for the same experience
@daviddragonetti5025 Time, money and care was spent on children's TV in the 1960's. For whatever reasons--cost etc--it certainly isn't today,but then most TV is cheap drivel today.
@daviddragonetti5025 You have to be kidding! Children's TV today is dumbed down and talks down to kids --you sound like a younger person who knows no better, I feel sorry for you if you think mainstream TV today is good, you've missed out.
Reached that long dreaded time of life just before Christmas, when your own generation starts to pass away. Lost my younger brother. We used to sit on the living room floor and watch this in the long lazy summers. Now he's gone. Died a horrible scary fucking death. I found him on the floor caked in sweat, racked in pain and barely able to breath. He had to crawl to his phone to call me, blood clots took his legs from under him. I sat on the living room floor with him waiting for the ambulance. All he cared about was if his dog was going to be okay. He had to be sedated and being his power of attorney I had to make the decision to let him go. Worst day of my life so far. Wish I could just have one more day in front of the telly with him. RIP big man!
Laura Pace You will see your beloved brother again. I have researched altered states of consciousness (without drugs ). All life lives on to a finer state of vibration, it's not the end, only a temporary parting, it is called the etheric world, and is off most,but not all, peoples radar of five senses, you will have a wonderful reunion with your brother, I promise.
Laura, what a horrible experience for you and your Brother. What a kindly man he sounded, caring about his dog... If there is any justice, then there will be an afterlife where our beloved family and friends will be waiting for us..Laura Pace
My youngest daughter found a genuine copy dvd of this amazing series. I had been looking for one for a very long time and when she handed me my Christmas gift a few years ago the excitement in her face was just priceless. Got to say I was extremely choked when I opened it. I spent two whole days just captured by it's music and watching the story unfold. I cried at the end
Close your eyes, home from school, Mum getting tea ready, Dad home soon from work. After tea out with pals. Open your eyes, theme tune nearly finished, Mum and Dad gone, children of my own, something missing though. What times they were. Must look forward but always remember......
It's inconceivable to me that there's any other TV theme that could not only take me back to being an eleven year old again, but bring out such strong emotions that were unimaginable at that age. Seven minutes of happysadness. I need a moment...
This has got to be one of the most gorgeous theme tunes EVER! Brings tears to the eyes. I love the way the Robinson Crusoe Main theme merges into Adrift and then Catching Dinner.
Agree with you 100%, Super atmospheric music. It never bothered me that it was in b/w, it adds to its charm and quality, it's the story and acting I like not visual effects. Robert Hoffman who played Robinson Crusoe is an Austrian actor, and is still alive at 82. 👍
Im 63 now and first watched this when I was 10 or 11 and it hits the spot everytime i hear this majestic 🎶 music Wish i coukd hear the incidental 🎶 music that ran throughout the series ❤
This music stayed in my head all through my childhood, teens, 20s, 30s and 40s, my only having heard it as a little boy in the 1960s on TV. Then, in my 50s, it was released on CD, and i was able to buy it. It was used for my mother's funeral, in memory of us watching it on TV together when i was a tiny tot.
I humm this song nearly every single day , 40 years on and im still doing it . I'd love to listen to this score when im in my care home drawing my last breath , stick some headphones and pass away listening to it .
im near that time now and have been looking, everything else sorted, so, it was a toss up between this or belle and sebastion, now I think I will put both on a loop.
Belle and Sebastion........ wow. What a blast from the past. I'm a child of the 70's and they reran all these programmes (Robinson Crusoe, Belle & Sebastion, Champion the Wonder Horse, etc) in daytime TV during the summer holidays and all the theme tunes send a shiver down the spine. Belle and Sebastion was the best though.....
I agree with you, I feel our generation has seen the best of this country and now is going to see the worst. I feel for out Children and grandchildren, god help them
999LDS im there and waiting, diseased for 6 years and the last 2 bed bound im ready for those waves and that song now. If i was a dog they would be prosecuted for keeping me alive because its "inhumane", why then do it to a human being?
This show was on Every morning for the school summer holidays in England, when I was a kid. Circa 1974. What a fantastic programme. I can't help but think it expanded our minds. Shame there's nothing like this today. OK , preceeded by Banana splits and possibly Double Deckers. Also Vision On. Groundbreaking stuff. Thanks for posting.
Oh my days I'm 51 and blubbering used to watch this as a lad with my mum and dad both not here any more wish I had a Delorean and could travel back to those great days
I remember it well, and many a Summer holiday I spent watching this wonderful series with its beautiful and haunting music.I phoned in today to a New Zealand radio talkback show about it this afternoon when they were discussing old TV shows, and I mentioned the music. Ever since, just about every caller has said how much they loved the music and the series.
Peter Wareham . i feel the same . 56 and going through these wonderfull tv series of my youth , the pain on my heart is too much . want to go back so much it hurts 😢
There is something so profoundly beautiful and uplifting about this piece of music. I find it difficult to put into words. I was a young boy when this was on TV and the music affected me then as it does now
I couldn't agree more Maurice. I was 8 years old when this was first aired on British TV. Very evocative and beautifully arranged. I'm a musician myself, and I loved this music from the 'get-go'.
Ah the Scottish school summer holidays of 1976 have started i see, The sunshine is breaking through the curtains and Mums outside hanging the washing out, giving the washing line a wee swipe down before she hangs out the flannelette bed sheets, sorts her peg bag and is having a wee blether over the fence with the wifey next door about the price of Fray Bentos pies at Willy Lows. Then She's Screaming to us "YOU SHOULD BE OUTSIDE PLAYING THE SUNS OUT"!!! Meanwhile dads at work painting, trying to make enough to take us to Blackpool for a whole week in a self catering flat! Hope he comes home soon to fix the puncture on my Raleigh Chopper and help me build my Airfix Lancaster Bomber. "Mum !!!!! WHATS FOR DINNER" ?!!!!!!!!!!!! "Birds eye crispy pancakes and spaghetti hoops", "Och no again", ever mind...tonight is Wednesday we have a Vesta curry and rice followed by Birds dream topping and mandarin segments OR even better, a choc ice!!!. Life aint to bad really...Outside to play on the bike (Thanks for fixing it dad!) a game of footie with my pals, The future Kenny Dalglish ,thats me!!! then Mum spoils it as she shouts me in "Michael!!!! BATH TIME"!!! "Och ! MUM " ...Time for bed ... but only after i watch The Six million dollar man. Thanks Mum for a fantastic childhood and RIP
Thank you, your words also summarise beautifully my Scottish childhood through the late 60's and 70's, what warm and wonderful days they were, if only to return for a short while, bless you.
You have also just described my chilhood in Dundee! Games of 40 a side footy in the park, summer hols that seemed to last for ever. Great times indeed! Thank you
elportogrande yes jumpers for goalposts , 10 goals half time 20 the winner !! I do miss my fantastic childhood in the 1970s , it was simple times , and according to my late mum, not always easy ! but we got by, but it was just the best ... seemed like that anyway ! Today life is too complicated for me , especially lately .
This brings back so many memories. i feel sorry for kids today. playing playstations with games about killing people. they are robbed of there innocence.
Watched this as a kid from the mid sixties onward to the mid seventies a timeless beautiful rendition of the classic story. The music is stunning, emotional and melancholic,portrays the reflective nature of isolation. Robert Hoffman is brilliantly cast and along with the cinematography in black and white doubt if this will ever be bettered. It’s impact on a young receptive mind was huge. Glad I was privileged to be around, if I had to list my top ten influential tv shows this would be up there! Could still watch it today, timeless great upload 👍
Watched this as a 10.year old growing up In kings cross london . Blue peter airfix kits . Corams fields. London association of boys clubs . Scouts . Camping .bob a job penny for the guy .the list is endless. As someone said on here a day back in time with sadly gone parents . Thankyou RU-vid for this journey back to happy innocent days
I watched this as a teenager, whilst sitting with my seriously ill mother, who died shortly after. I felt alone, so empathised with Robin. Poor poor Robin, as the parrot used to say. Brings tears to my eyes when I hear this tune. I stll miss you mom, even after 50 odd years.
The Robinson Crusoe series in 1964 take me back when I was 10 I waited all day for it to come on the beautiful and haunting music still sound great tday gave me happy tears for a while I was 10 again good TImes
This was one of my favourite televisions series I watched as a child and I still rate the music of the series as the most beautifully haunting of any children's tv shows ever produced.
we ome from Glasgow but holidayed in Emgland and seen the kids programmes we never seen much in Scotland, like these and Hong Komg Phooey which was launched in England and we return to Scotland and no one heard of it?
Sometimes you forget music you haven’t heard since you were a small boy or girl, but this music is something I’ve never forgotten since I was 9 in 1965 when it came on British tv. And my goodness, isn’t music such a powerful trigger of memories and emotions?
Remember watching this after school on BBC tv in the sixties. Never forgotten the haunting music, and hearing it again takes me back to those days. Where have all those intervening years gone?
I managed to find the album and bought it. It still brings tears to my eyes, partly from the amazing score, but also the huge wave of nostalgic memories of long, hot summer holidays as a kid of the 70's.
This very powerful,moving piece of music i remembered one early morning. when i used to watch these episodes in the 70's it brought me such a sense of sadness,loneliness ,adventure,danger & hope!
I only know an excerpt of this tune from a tv advert. This is the first time I've herald it in full. Totally agree though. This is one of those tune you have to sit back and listen to, with the best sound system you've got
I fell in love with the TV series - particularly the musical score - when I was a kid and have since discovered the beautiful beach where it was filmed (Playa del Inglés, Gran Canaria) and whenever I'm there on holiday, I walk along that beach and it all floods back as if it was yesterday....
@@iandonachie9549 hi Ian, yes, really, the beach scenes were filmed in Playa del Ingles in 1964 before the arrival of mass tourism to Gran Canaria. The key shots are from 1:05 as he walks along the beach and the iconic shot is at 3:24 which shows the unmistakable curve of the beach and which was filmed from the top of cliffs which now form part of the promenade above the beach and dunes.
It's so, so successful in delivering what is needed. All it took was a bit of luck and talent, and a lot of hard work on this composer's part. I honestly thought I was alone in loving it...
Reading all the comments, those wonderful summer days in the 70’s Saturday morning TV and out to play until the street lights were on, Bulldogs, Catch 45, hide and seek not in the street but the neighbourhood, not with several children but dozens... I often return to long-gone days. The world has changed.
Wonderful, remember this when it was first shown by the beeb in 1965, and like most people fell in love with the series, the music the haunting voice over, Saw it many times as a youngster in the school holidays and have loved the series ever since.
This is my second post. When this was aired I and my ypunger Sister watched it avidly and a huge part of its power over us was the absolutely fantastic music. In those days the internet was not even science fiction and I mourned for the loss of this music not knowing that sixty years into the future, the magical soundtrack can be summoned up on your mobile phone (again, not even science fiction in the sixties). I am so happy to be in the company of my kindred spirits who loved the programme and its haunting, evocative and 'bang on' theme! I salute you fellow sixties dreamers!
We had the best days on TV and life .. we were riding our bikes for fun not like some kids today dealing drugs, played outside innocently not fearful of our lives.. and a phone was a phone not a piece of equipment that if you lose.. you seem to lose your life.. sad days now. I treasure our childhood.
Like most people on here, it brings back great memories. I used to love this on sat mornings with other programs. Remember the flashing blade anyone. Another great tune. The good old days.
will never forget this program,music never fails to make me cry!!! seems along time ago now.flashing Blade was also great,remember the theme tune like it was yesterday
Robinson Crusoe and The Flashing Blade bring back so many beautiful memories,two programmes that show how tv has now turned into worthless S**t. Why can’t they be repeated instead of wasting money on drivel?
This brings back wonderful memories of the long school holidays. A simpler time when the sun always seemed to shine and there were fantastic television programmes like this.
That haunting opening section is like a time machine for my generation. But I have never before heard the whole piece. Listening all these years later I notice stylistic elements reminiscent of other TV themes of the time. Back then it was just the music at the start of our favourite programmes. Only now do I realise how good some of that music actually was.
I watched this series as a child and was enthralled by it. I can still remember the different parts of the musical arrangement. The sudden realization where he compares the footprints in the sand, that he is alone, simple but effective. So I think this was a well made series. Great cinematography for the time and a fantastic musical score. A real Gem that brings back memories.
Yes I remember the programme from 1964 when I was 8, I think it was broadcast on Tuesdays, the weeks highlight for me. The music has haunted me all my life, tonight is the 1st time I have heard it again in 57 years, so wonderful and every note just as I remembered it.
The Adventures of William Tell, Robin Hood (riding through the glen), The Double Deckers, Ace of Wands, the Flashing Blade, Arthur of the Britons, the Freewheelers and The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. So many brilliant programmes!
I always used to look forward to getting home from school when I was about 10 and watching The Double Deckers or The Monkees. And then savoury rissoles for tea. Ah..... 😀
I HAD Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer and made a mp3 list of all my favourite TV themes from being a kid, this being my favourite. I would listen to them and tune in to that "Good to being alive feeling of being a kid, climbing trees, making bows and arrows, catching tadpoles and summer holidays off school with no rain ever!! Haha! Great cell building stuff! I had no side effects to all the chemo and drugs I had a bone marrow transplant and had no immunity and was expected to be in hospital 6 to 7 weeks, I was out in 13 days! Lucky you think? No I just tuned into the joy of being a kid and the cells and God did the rest! Be a kid again! Cheers to all!
Watch this growing up in sixties Times were so much better then you could play in the street not many cars about could spend all day in the park and patents never worried. Feel sorry for kids now no freedom Never had nothing but grew up with a great childhood and great childrens tv shows.
Gorgeous!!. when I look at what the modern world has become, to hear this music is to reflect on a paradise lost..great upload from a great series...thankyou!!
Yes I read his story - by all accounts he was a bit cantankerous but it saved his life. I was shocked to learn he did the business with some of his goats!
Odd how old themes like this, WhiteHorses, Family at war Bell & Sebastian etc just make us all feel sad. Written in minor keys help, and the longing for simpler times. The end theme from TheSweeney always does it for me too! (Bed time!).
if you need cheering up check out the odd couple , the double deckers and banana split themes same era as this but will put a smile on your face rather than a tear in your eye
And Marine Boy, too, I'd sit waiting with my little tape recorder, microphone in front of Tele speaker and record the 30 second beginning and end as much as possible to fill a side of a tape with this beautiful music, but always had a static buzz on the recording due to screen magnetic field etc, but was better than nothing
Loved this series as a kid. This is without doubt the most evocative theme tune of any movie or TV series ever. RIP Robert Hoffman and thank you for your work.
Robert Hoffmann (now 80) and the producers of this show probably never imagined the effect it would have on those of us who viewed so intently. In a time before most of us were able to travel and media was not what it is today it planted a seed of an idea that such places even exited and that life at this level even possible. Like all who experienced this program the haunting melody has stayed with me all these years. Once difficult to find, thanks to the internet it is now easy to locate and has been reproduced by several artists and I never get tired of it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Robinson_Crusoe_(TV_series)
Raleigh chopper mk1, orange with testacle removing gear knob, and a notice that it was only for one person at a time, so we,d ride around with at least three kids on it
Gosh, yes, that wonderful haunting theme - virtually compulsory viewing for children's summer holidays throughout the 1970's, the BBC ran it multiple times. You knew the summer school holiday was here when the BBC started showing it. Other firm favourites being The Double Deckers, Banana Splits, Wacky Races, The Flashing Blade and the incredibly weird Singing Ringing Tree. And of course, the 1930's Flash Gordon serials at Christmas! How strange to think that it was still just two hours or so in the morning on BBC One; then nothing until around 4pm!
Summer holidays in 1970's London for me always meant Robinson Crusoe, Double Deckers, Banana Splits, Casey Jones, The Monkees etc etc. I'd also go to Franks Park Play Scheme. It was a must-go to thing for all us junior school kids at the local (empty cos of summer) secondary school. Free movies, organised games, huge inflatables. Fun times 😀
this takes me back to a time of simple living, its funny how a 50 year old tune stands the test of time in today's throwaway TV , thank you for posting..
This was a great series in the school holidays along with' The Flashing Blade', 'The Double Deckers', 'Belle and Sebastian', 'The White Horses' - a time gone, but still fondly remembered by many on here - and most of us have sadly lost out parents by now as we are in out very late 50's or 60's by now...
Never left those childhood memories in that “ locker” at the back of my brain ! I’m 58yrs gone now - love the strings and the whole build up to the last crescendo! Superb!
Every school summer holiday my mum would sit me down in front of this and watch it with me, on the grounds that it was educational. I was too young to follow the story much but I was crazy about the music. It wasn't until I was about 20 and we were reminiscing about it that Mum admitted the real reason she had insisted on our watching it every summer was that she really, really fancied the guy who played Crusoe!
Yes, I also remember watching this in the 1960s. I just heard the theme tune on Paul O'Grady's Sunday Show. Fantastic programmes back then for children. Today's kids wouldn't have the patience to sit and watch drama unfolding. Happy days indeed.
+Lorna Gilmour (LadySkyFlake) That sounds like my mother -- although in her case, it was Crackerjack (Michael Aspel), Blue Peter (Peter Purves) and Play School (Lionel Morton, Don Spencer) which she made us watch!
