Neal Hefti‘s soundtrack to the Batman TV series is top-flight 60s instrumental music — playful and imaginatively-produced. “Sewer Lady,” from the 1966 album, Batman Theme and 11 Hefti Bat Songs, was inexplicably overlooked by RCA Victor for single release:
“Sewer Lady”
Neal Hefti (1966)
Note the fuzz bass that pushes the song along — possesses that “Good Vibrations” Carol Kaye sound, does it not?
RCA Victor would release the “Batman Theme” 45 in late 1965 in the US and in Europe the following year — here’s the 45 picture sleeve for the Netherlands market:
1966 also saw the release of Dickie Goodman‘s affectionate sample-laden tribute, “Batman and His Grandmother” (who, at story’s end, gets drafted – reverse spoiler alert).
RCA would later issue “Batman Theme” as a single in the UK and Australia with “Holy Diploma, Batman – Straight A’s!” as the B-side in 1988.
*
Did You Know?
Neal Hefti’s early career involved a short stint at King Records –
King Records Jazz Legacy Tweet #5
Composer/arranger Neal (‘Batman’) Hefti played trumpet for The Chubby Jackson Sextet on an early King session recorded in Chicago on July 1, 1944 that yielded four songs (including “Bass Face”) released as a pair of 78s on King subsidiary label Queen and later sold as a King EP. Hefti would later arrange Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra’s version of “Sixty Minute Man” on which Zoot Sims played tenor sax.
King EP – 1954
*
LINK to Fuzz Bass on Zero to 180
*
