Quentin's Theme/DS Music

[dom]

I listen to the Easy Listening (instrumentals) music channel on TV when I go to sleep and I few nights ago Quentin'sTheme came on. It made me smile and think back on watching the show as a kid and all the memories that come with it as I drifted off to sleep.

I was wondering if anyone still listens to DS music today? I have the music library and sometimes play my DS playlist when I go to bed and I always get a kick out of hearing  those old familiar tunes/cues. I can't say I really think of particular moments from the show when I hear them but I always marvel at how wonderfully atmospheric they are and how perfectly they are played. Sometimes you can even hear the musician taking breaths.

I remember how exciting it was when Quentin's Theme made it to radio and my buying the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde version. And my Dad liking it was 'cool' too. I never listen to Selby's version - I can't bear it, lol. I preferred the flip side #1 At The Blue Whale more and still do. I love that song (both versions).

I still remember finding and buying the DS LP in New York City as a 11 or 12-year-old. What an awesome LP that was for a fan. I cherished it. And I flipped when I found it on CD, what a re-treat. This summer marked the 44th anniversary of the release. Goodness, 44 years...

I still love hearing this music and was practically brought to tears of joy hearing The Secret Room at the start of Dark Shadows 2012. What a lovely tribute to the original series and Robert Cobert and the fans, I thought to myself.

[Darren Gross]

In the late 80s, Quentin's theme turned up on the funeral home's mix-tape where my grandmother's wake was held.  It really through me for a loop, as you can imagine!

[Gerard]

I still have the original 45 (for some of you might wonder what that is, it was a small record containing only one popular song for a record players and required a special "fat" spindle attached to the "skinny" spindle; it spun at 45 rpm's as opposed to the faster 33 1/3 that full albums needed - you had to set the speed on your record player).  The "flip-side" was the theme from the juke box at the Blue Whale.  I've been told to sell it on ebay.  I won't.  Like many of my collectibles for DS or other passions, it will be buried with me.  Some things are more precious than paying your heating bill.

Gerard

[Gothick]

I do listen to DS music from time to time. I often enjoy it particularly around the current season of Autumn and Halloween.  I would find the insanity of "the Holidaze" in Nov.-Dec. easier to bear if we could have DS music selections playing over PA systems instead of those tacky "carols."  I realize this may seem odd to some.

From what I have read of some particular dates on the calendar of the "Holiday" season, particularly 12:01 a.m. on Black Friday when they open the doors at Walmart and polite people get trampled by the crazed mobs of soccer moms desperate to own the latest shiny electronic toy, some of the DS tracks, particularly the werewolf attack music, would make the perfect backdrop to the mayhem on hand...

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

From what I have read of some particular dates on the calendar of the "Holiday" season, particularly 12:01 a.m. on Black Friday when they open the doors at Walmart and polite people get trampled by the crazed mobs of soccer moms desperate to own the latest shiny electronic toy, some of the DS tracks, particularly the werewolf attack music, would make the perfect backdrop to the mayhem on hand...

As someone who has indeed gone out shopping in the wee hours of Black Friday (though more like 4am than 12:01 - and never in Walmart), I can attest that Night of the Pentagram would be the perfect music to play in certain stores. 

[Aristia]

I have Quentin's Theme set as my husband's ringtone on my cell phone    

[Bob_the_Bartender]

I remember when my parents took my brothers and I to the annual air show at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey way back in 1969.  Seeing those USAF Phantom fighter jets flying low and buzzing everyone along the airstrip was great.

Anyway, on the way home, my father tuned the car radio onto WOR 710 AM and the disc jockey played "Quentin's Theme" over the air.  After the song was over, this d.j. remarked that "Quentin's Theme" sounded like the music they played at the skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Ever since, whenever I hear "Quentin's Theme," I have this picture in my mind of David Selby and Nancy Barrett skating together at Rockefeller Center, like that comely blonde skater that Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel are seen eyeing out in the film, "Carnal Knowledge."  

[dom]

Great anecdote, thanks for sharing. One of the greatest joys of my present life is remembering little incidents from my childhood. Funny how you never forget some things that were of little or no consequence.

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Great anecdote, thanks for sharing. One of the greatest joys of my present life is remembering little incidents from my childhood. Funny how you never forget some things that were of little or no consequence.

Dom,

You know, "Quentin's Theme" really does  sound like the kind of music people would skate to at an ice skating rink.  I can envision couples skating together and rounding the rink at a slow and elegant pace to the sound of Robert Cobert's lilting and haunting music.

Come to think of it, perhaps many of the residents of the mythical village of Collinsport, Maine were avid ice skaters?  Certainly, in a cold weather state like Maine, ice skating must be a popular recreational pasttime. 

One of my friends in college was from Minnesota and I remember him telling me that ice skating was extremely popular in his home state.  (I'll bet that Kathryn Leigh Scott must have been a keen skater, when she was growing up out there in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.)   

Anyway, wouldn't it have been cool to have seen some of the Dark Shadows regulars, hitting the ice at the local ice rink, or, perhaps, at a nearby frozen-over lake?

No doubt, Maggie, Joe, Sam, Chris, Tom and Amy Jennings, Sheriff Patterson, Tony Peterson, Bill Malloy and Bob Rooney were all accomplished skaters.

Do you think that the eminent Prof. T. Elliot Stokes might have laced on a pair of ice skates for a late afternoon's skate to unwind after delivering a two-hour lecture at his university?  (And, would the good professor be wearing his trademark monocle as he glided along the ice?)   

And, what about the patrician Collinses, would they be avid ice skaters as well?  I can certainly see Carolyn and David enjoying a spirited skate on a brisk and cold Maine winter's day.  However, I just can't envision the top-lofty Roger Collins, deigning to be seen skating with the "common folk" of Collinsport .

As to Carolyn's former boyfriend, Buzz Hackett, I see the "Buzz-man" as more of a roller skating fan, where he could shake his "groove thing" to the sounds of a disco version of "Meet Me at the Blue Whale" at the town's local roller skating rink.

And, what about the man himself, Mr. Barnabas Collins, do you think he also hit the ice (at night) , dressed in his trademark Inverness coat and brandishing his wolf's head cane?  (Perhaps Dr. Hoffman was chasing right after him on the ice, with hypodermic in hand, intent on giving her patient his latest injection?)  

Bob, who hasn't hit the ice since high school , many, many years ago!