Neal Hefti's Fun and Swingin' Faux Rock Title Theme Song

Not too far behind Henry Mancini, Neal Hefti was the next best thing in "1960's smooth jazz movie music."

Like Mancini's music, it was sort of "ear candy" that either soothed or amused us.

The theme to The Odd Couple.
The theme to Barefoot in the Park.
The theme to....Batman (just that name, over and over and over again.)

A sleeper: the lovely, sad theme to Harlow(Carroll Baker version)

A rockin' Western: Duel at Diablo

"How to Murder Your Wife": Luscious Virna Lisi rises out of a giant cake in a whipped cream bikini, the music soars -- sexy AND romantic -- and bachelor Jack Lemmon is a goner.

In 1965, the same year as "How to Murder Your Wife," Neal Hefti scored the difficult-to-describe "Los Angeles culture satire," "Lord Love a Duck" (in which high schoolers, beach parties, and martini-drinking adults are rampant) and gave the film a wild faux rock title tune.

The song is a lot of fun...for..teenagers? The song largely accompanies "beach blanket bingo" dancing sequence in which BOTH the boys and the girls are wearing very little, very tightly but the credit sequence also brings in "wacky" scenes from the movie itself, a bit like a music video. "Lord Love a Duck" is a song of its time.

Lord Love a Duck shows up on cable and streaming from time to time...and I'll often just watch/listen to the opening song and beach party shots. Its good enough that way!