Secret Agent Man
Secret Agent Man 7" single
As I said on Friday, I’ve got a project that’s taking up most of my time this week, and so today’s tablature is nowhere near what I’d planned for today.
e|----0----0----0----0----0----0----| B|----------------------------------| G|-/4---/5----5---/6---\5----5------| D|----------------------------------| A|----------------------------------| E|----------------------------------|
For one, I’d hoped to tab out both the Johnny Rivers (vocal) and Ventures (instrumental) versions of “Secret Agent Man”, the former of which was used as the theme song for the U.S. version of Danger Man, called Secret Agent. Well, I haven’t yet finished the Ventures version, and the tab for the Rivers song is not my own. Rather, it’s the work of Ron “R.A.” Martorella, and is posted all over the internet. I’ve given it a look through, and, aside from correcting the opening riff (Transcribed on the wrong string. I do this myself all the time), it seems to be the most correct tablature for the song that I’ve seen. I tried to contact Ron, but his email no longer works. Ron, if you’re out there: I hope you don’t mind!
The song was written by the team of Phillip “P.F.” Sloan and Steve Barri specifically for the show, though Barri relates in Jon Burlingame’s 1996 book TV’s Biggest Hits, that they hadn’t actually seen the show at the time:
Basically, we were thinking that we were writing a James Bond theme. We just wanted to come up with a guitar hook for the beginning since the Bond theme had a guitar hook.
On his website, Sloan describes his memories of the composition process:
A hit T.V. show from England by the name of Dangerman was coming to America the following year (1966). CBS asked a number of publishers probably to come up with a 15-second theme to replace the British theme song. I wrote the guitar lick and the first few lines. My writing partner Steve Barri helped here and there on the chorus. Went to the demo studios. And I thought that was that. No, it wasn’t. Somebody thought I should do a full length instrumental of the song. So I did. Meanwhile the song was picked by CBS and Johnny Rivers recorded the quick 15-second song for the TV show. The Ventures, the genius guitar instrumental group, heard the demo and recorded and released the song way before Rivers even had a finished song. The Publishers asked me to finish the song, Rivers recorded it, not one of his favorite songs back then, but he’s happier with it now. I was honored when Hank Williams Jr. recorded it, and blown away when Devo did it at a time when I really needed it. I really wish to thank all the artists who have recorded it, including Blues Traveler. It’s a wonderful feeling to meet a younger person who knows and likes that song of mine. God Bless.
And Rivers himself completes the account in a 1998 interview with Vintage Guitar Magazine:
There was a television show called Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan. We were in London and my producer, Lou Adler, met the producers of that show. At that time it was a big show in Europe and they were getting ready to bring it over to the States, but they only had an instrumental theme to it.
One thing led to another and they asked if we would consider trying to come up with a theme song. I was really hot at the time. I was working with P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, a writing team that worked with Trousdale Music. So we came back and we told them the concept. You know, it’s a spy kind of thing; Danger Man. They came up with this song, “Secret Agent Man.” We worked out that guitar riff, which is a play off the James Bond theme, submitted it, and they really liked it. We only had one verse and one chorus. They wanted to use it to open the television show and so we worked out that deal. The show was an instant success here and people started calling radio stations to see if it was a record. Then the radio stations started calling the record company. We said, “It’s not a song, it’s only a verse and a chorus.” They said, “You ought to finish it and make it longer.”
We decided to record it because everybody was calling. Everybody thought it was a hit. So I went back to Sloan and Barri and said, “You’ve got to write some more verses.” They did and we went in and recorded it. I think I cut it live at the Whisky. After that initial success, every chance we got we’d hire that remote recording truck and just record stuff at the Whisky because it was so inexpensive. It was cheaper than going into a recording studio. We cut it at the Whisky and then we took it into the studio and added stuff to it. We redid my lead guitar part, doubled the riff and added hand clapping and all that stuff. And that became the record. We released it and it was a smash.
The song, once it was a full song, went to number 3 on the Billboard charts! Here’s a 1966 performance by Johnny Rivers, which might be familiar if you’re a reader of Permission to Kill. And if you’re not a reader of Permission to Kill, you’d better have a damned good excuse.
Hi Mr.8
Someone recently brought this particular blog to my attention. Sloan’s account is a little off-date because the hour-long episodes of Danger Man appeared in April/May of 1965 and the “Secret Agent Man” song was heading them up then, so it must have been composed through late ‘64/early ‘65.
I guess it only became a hit record in 1966 because CBS carried the show over from being a summer filler to being part of their Fall Line-up in 1965 and then networked a further 20-plus episodes. Once part og their main season however It did not get good Nielsen numbers and by February of 1966 was being noted as going to be droppped again by CBS. This seems to have been what prompted Patrick McGoohan to suggest to Grade that they try a new show for sale to the Americans – and that of course became The Prisoner. Ironic that the Nielsen numbers, which were then still quite a new innovation, led to the mantra, “I Am Not A Number!”
Thankx for the kind blog elsewhere, btw …. Be seeing you.