That makes it as old as my friends Kate and Sarah - one born in March, the other in May. I am older than them both, as I was three back then and now 53!
@@JohnSmith-it6hjThe IRA bombing campaign, 23% inflation, strikes, the three-day week, the Yorkshire ripper, IMF bailouts, the collapse of British industry, football hooliganism, pollution…
They were studio musicians working for the BBC. I read that when the tune became a hit they had to find a band to play it. Don’t think they ever did a real live performance.
Hats off to whoever organised the filming and editing of this number. The film focused on each of the instruments in turn, even showing a creative shot through the harp strings at one point. Beautiful rendition of a timeless classic.
In 1973 I was just three, so four years younger than you and watching Play School. Too young to understand or remember at that stage. It was a decade before I encountered Eye Level, at senior school, and I remember the tune well, because my musical memory is very good. Key of Eb major.
Putting music to memories. “EYE LEVEL” by The Simon Park Orchestra. One late afternoon in September, 1973, I left my home at 7, Trevor Drive, Caverswall, and, walking down Trevor Drive, turned right into School Lane and strolled towards the Auctioneer's Arms at Cookshill. A dark blue Beresford's double decker bus, on contract to Blythe Bridge High School, drove past me going in the same direction. In the late afternoon sunlight, the bus stopped opposite the Auctioneer's Arms. There was a warm, blue haze about the whole setting. It unloaded its contingent of school children, one of whom was our paper boy, 12 years old Bryan Garner, who crossed the road carrying his school satchel and headed up The Green to Roughcote Lane. If that scene had been filmed and music put to the images, then this would have been it. As long as this music is played, Bryan will always be getting off that school bus at Cookshill and it will forever be a late sunlit afternoon in September, 1973.
David! You CAN'T just introduce someone and not say exactly who-the-hell they were/ are to you!!! Who the flipping hell is/ was Bryan Garner?!! Put me out of my misery. Or...put me out of my misery.
Fab Theme featured in Van Der Valk ❤️Gives whole new meaning to beautiful 🥺🎼🎶Miss Reruns of this so much ,R I P Barry Foster 1927-2002 who passed away at 74 ,He was great in this as Commisaris Piet Van Der Valk ❤️
A great tune for a great series!! Such a shame those days are gone!! These days it's all reality TV and game shows!!, nothing like the themes ie persuaders/the avengers that you could watch, listen too, and enjoy!!!.
I would have been just three and Play School age then, too young to understand or remember that period. The Van Der Valk tune I encountered a decade later, at senior school. My musical memory is very good and I have perfect pitch (tune is in Eb major).
I love that a bunch of beige turtleneck wearing 40 something classic musicians made it to number on Top of the Pops in an era of Bowie, Elton John et al...
I'm Dutch even for me this theme from Van der Valk brings back memory from old times. I remember this because in my early years I felt proud to have British actors acting in Amsterdam on locations I visited myself, but using Dutch names... I think it was on Sky Channel which in early 80's was also broadcasting as satellite channel in the Netherlands.
+Mike Hudson "Mouldy old dough" was the second biggest selling single in 1972 with the Royal band of the Scots Dragoon guards doing a bagpipe very of "Amazing grace" at number one of that year - always tread carefully when handling nostalgia.
@@revol148 Quite right sir, I remember buying Mouldy old dough for 50p. I remember correctly did the lead singers mom play with them ..Kind regards Glynn n greetings from Stourbridge West Midlands UK 🤝
This piece of music remains my all-time favourite. I can listen to it over and over again. It brings back many happy memories of my childhood and never fails to cheer me up.
@@davidsherman1206 A "real musician," you say. A conductor doesn't have to be a "real" musician, nor know how to play any instrument. His main functions are to unify the various performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble, and control the interpretation and pacing of the music. I can think of many "real" well-known musicians that didn't ever pull mentally retarded faces, never needed to turn up a guitar amp to a really loud volume to make a hit record. The problem is, this ridiculous face-contorting behavior has become accepted by a small niche market of followers who too pull ridiculous faces either while listening to this noise or as normal daily routine. In the past, this behavior would have gotten you beaten or stoned to death in public as it still should.
I would have been just three and Play School age at the time of this footage, so too young to understand or remember that period. This theme tune to Van Der Valk is in Eb major, and I encountered it at senior school a decade later!
@@clarkedav1 I'm not sure about that, as I was just three and Play School age at the time of this footage, but could only go on second hand observations of the period. Too young to understand or remember directly in 1973!
I'm also 61 Andrea and was born in March 1963. I remember my mum bought this record for me for my birthday. We as a family my mum gran and brother used to settle down on a Wednesday Evening to watch Van Der Valk.
Thanks a lot for posting this !!!!!! When I was a child ages ago, this tune was played in a KLM airlines TV commercial whose images of Amsterdam made me fall in love with the Netherlands. Much later, when I first visited the country, the tune kept sounding in my ears! It is still in my heart, full of bitter sweet memories of vanished times.
Wow! Just watched this. I played this tune on my recorder for our cub scout evening when the commissioner came to visit. I would have been 10 years old!! He immediately awarded me my Entertainer Badge. My parents were very proud and stunned as they had no idea I was going to play! I don't recall knowing either! I remember practising so must have heard this - or it turns out seen this show, but I don't recall using a memory of that - just the tune itself! Great to see this and thanks for sharing it!
Wonderful memories and Van de Valk was a good programme with a great setting in Amsterdam! Good to see the program being re run on Talking Pictures UK channel
I was 9 when this charted. I remember being at Ipswich when it was in the charts watching football against Lazio from Italy. They played this over the PA and a couple of Italian guys near us loved it. So weird the things that I remember after half a century...
Dam , I was a 5 year old back then, born May 23rd 1968, from northern Ireland UK ♥️🇬🇧🤝 , remember this from back then,! Where has the years gone , just wish we could go back to then,! 😔
One of My favorites, Was played in the US on easy listening stations during the 70s and 80s and I never knew the title till now.....thank God for YT!!!!
I heard a lovely old Guy, (JOHN) whistling this in Icelands today and I said I knew that tune and we got into a conversation. Music is a great thing to do this.
This tune is a complex piece .. quite "gentle" to start...then up to "really forceful", then ... suddenly...gentle...only to "erupt" again at the end!! FABULOUS!!!!
@@markfindlay8636 Hi Mark .Me too and reminds me of the time n Fab to be young and luvly memories of my parents too. Fab programme and track. Kind regards Glynn n greetings from Stourbridge West Midlands UK 🕊🤝
I was only three - too young to understand or remember that period first time round. The tune I learned at senior school a decade later (now in my early fifties!)
Van Der Valk great show in its day. Everything stopped in our house when it was on back in 70s remember dad buying 45 of Eye Level. Still a great tune to this day :)
I remember my reaction to this when I was a child. I stared, and stared at the tv screen; hoping and wishing for the tune to come back!!!! ( It appears that some things never change! ). Why do I keep mourning for the Seventies sooo much these days??!!!
Oh god this brings back so many memories when I was at Berkeley Vale Public School. Our School Song is sung in tune to this musical piece. It brings a tear to my eye.
Wonderful! Back in the late70s or early-1980s this breathtakingly upbeat tune was used in New York State tourism commercials. Ive spent decades trying to locate a copy, but at least I had the tune dancing in my head. Tonight, just by accident, I clicked on this link in "Related Links." My night is made! :)
This tune has stuck with me all my life, while in infant School we would all file out of assembly in the morning with this tune playing on an old record player as we made our way to our classrooms.
2023 = 50 years on and still sounds as good 💓
Hear, hear!
Yes, I was 5 year old back then,! Now a 55 year old, I still remember this song, tune ,! From northern Ireland UK 🤝
Love it@ 1:03
That makes it as old as my friends Kate and Sarah - one born in March, the other in May. I am older than them both, as I was three back then and now 53!
watching it moment on tv, grew up with it in 70's
A grandad now and very happy, but I cannot help thinking the simple 70's were a very happy time.
mate, you're not wrong...
Ah yes, Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall...halcyon days
@@321bytor Those 3 tossers didn't make much difference, 70's were the bomb.
@@JohnSmith-it6hjThe IRA bombing campaign, 23% inflation, strikes, the three-day week, the Yorkshire ripper, IMF bailouts, the collapse of British industry, football hooliganism, pollution…
As Alan Freeman would say " Not half:
Still sounds amazing in 2024
Love this,brings back so many good memories of 1974
Everybody over the age of about 50 knows and can hum this tune, it always brings a smile. The most memorable tv tune ever.
Yes remember this as a five year old!
Yes you're right it does bring a smile
Absolutely 🍺👍😁
phill davies I'm under 50 years of age and know this tune 😀😀 New TV show now.
i'm 18 lol
One of the greatest tv theme tunes of all time.
Amen 🙏😀
Absolutely
Totally agree
Without a doubt!
N importe quoi @@thereverendjones6110
Music is a time machine hearing a song you haven’t heard in years can bring back memories.
Definitely!!
How nicely said!
Has been my ring tone for a number of years ,sometimes, I don't even answer the phone just so that I can listen to this fabulous tune 😅
That really is Class. Good luck to you.
I’ve just bought and made it my ringtone thanks to your comment! 🙂
Ha !! The same reason I have Jim Reeves as my ring tone. You can call me but whether I answer or not is something else entirely... !! 🙂
Real musicians, playing real music.
Exactly what I thought
They were studio musicians working for the BBC. I read that when the tune became a hit they had to find a band to play it. Don’t think they ever did a real live performance.
@Isaac Newton oh give over lol there not even in the same league let alone the same planet HAHAHAHA
Shame there's not a drum machine, someone talking in incomprehensible rhymes and a noise like a burglar alarm once every seven seconds.
Very Rare this day and age I’m afraid!!!!
haven't been able to listen to this for 36 years, since my son died, always associate this with him, too painful, love you Jason
+mark summersgill a beautiful song to remember someone by.
@@revol148 not sure that's what he was saying tbh
:(
@@folkkraft8906 hmm you're probably right.Well I personally think it's a great song !
you will see your son again xx
Born early 70's remind's me of my childhood sorry for your loss and totally see your point stay strong my friend hope you're doing well ✌☘💚
How does this still sound so great after all these years and still evoke so many happy memories
Gurss what... some still like Mozart...
Hats off to whoever organised the filming and editing of this number. The film focused on each of the instruments in turn, even showing a creative shot through the harp strings at one point. Beautiful rendition of a timeless classic.
😊yes indeed
I have never seen anyone so happy playing a tambourine and it just makes me smile
I love the conductor too. He just looks so damned happy to be doing his job.
I wonder who he was?
@@philbethell2425 I would love to know.
Simon park
@@RichieBedfellows she meant the other player.
1973:- I was about 7 and in infants school, saw the prettiest girl in my class playing this on the recorder. I still love her even today😁😁
The recorder book to find it in is Abracadabra Book 2. I have it in front of me right now!
In 1973 I was just three, so four years younger than you and watching Play School. Too young to understand or remember at that stage. It was a decade before I encountered Eye Level, at senior school, and I remember the tune well, because my musical memory is very good. Key of Eb major.
Propose, bro, don't let her slip away again
It’s never too late mate
If you were 7 and still in infant's school you were a retard! I think you mean prep school?
Simon Park a genius for pulling this together and the happiest conductor in history.
Putting music to memories. “EYE LEVEL” by The Simon Park Orchestra. One late afternoon in September, 1973, I left my home at 7, Trevor Drive, Caverswall, and, walking down Trevor Drive, turned right into School Lane and strolled towards the Auctioneer's Arms at Cookshill. A dark blue Beresford's double decker bus, on contract to Blythe Bridge High School, drove past me going in the same direction. In the late afternoon sunlight, the bus stopped opposite the Auctioneer's Arms. There was a warm, blue haze about the whole setting. It unloaded its contingent of school children, one of whom was our paper boy, 12 years old Bryan Garner, who crossed the road carrying his school satchel and headed up The Green to Roughcote Lane. If that scene had been filmed and music put to the images, then this would have been it. As long as this music is played, Bryan will always be getting off that school bus at Cookshill and it will forever be a late sunlit afternoon in September, 1973.
Nice memories.
People who know what music would perfectly match a particular scene... make wonderful videos or movies. You must be one of them.
I live near there 👍👍
Tales of Old North Staffordshire. Include me in
David! You CAN'T just introduce someone and not say exactly who-the-hell they were/ are to you!!! Who the flipping hell is/ was Bryan Garner?!! Put me out of my misery. Or...put me out of my misery.
Fab Theme featured in Van Der Valk ❤️Gives whole new meaning to beautiful 🥺🎼🎶Miss Reruns of this so much ,R I P Barry Foster 1927-2002 who passed away at 74 ,He was great in this as Commisaris Piet Van Der Valk ❤️
A great tune for a great series!! Such a shame those days are gone!! These days it's all reality TV and game shows!!, nothing like the themes ie persuaders/the avengers that you could watch, listen too, and enjoy!!!.
My sentiments exactly.Quality shows like this put today's drivel to shame
I would have been just three and Play School age then, too young to understand or remember that period. The Van Der Valk tune I encountered a decade later, at senior school. My musical memory is very good and I have perfect pitch (tune is in Eb major).
So very true and regrettable
The whole orchestra in orange and beige, how 70s can you get! Wonderful.
I love that a bunch of beige turtleneck wearing 40 something classic musicians made it to number on Top of the Pops in an era of Bowie, Elton John et al...
And one of them had a 'TV hat', and another one enjoyed himself way too much playing the tambourine
Hey, a bop is a bop
I'm Dutch even for me this theme from Van der Valk brings back memory from old times. I remember this because in my early years I felt proud to have British actors acting in Amsterdam on locations I visited myself, but using Dutch names...
I think it was on Sky Channel which in early 80's was also broadcasting as satellite channel in the Netherlands.
Yes me to Vander valk
Takes me back to watching Van der Valk with Barry Foster as a kid.
Did you go round to his house to watch it or did he come round to yours?
Ross Gowland hahaha
Marc Law good isn’t he
Yeah me to.Happy times.
Barry Foster was hot 😍
@@stephenstrange529 Nice one centurion
How diverse were those wonderful 1970's
+Mike Hudson "Mouldy old dough" was the second biggest selling single in 1972 with the Royal band of the Scots Dragoon guards doing a bagpipe very of "Amazing grace" at number one of that year - always tread carefully when handling nostalgia.
@@revol148 Quite right sir, I remember buying Mouldy old dough for 50p. I remember correctly did the lead singers mom play with them ..Kind regards Glynn n greetings from Stourbridge West Midlands UK 🤝
The 70s was a safer more friendlier worldto live in than this shit century and shit decade no political correctness crap
@@Eltonlaleham
Before forced, unnatural, unwanted "diversity" destroyed Britain!
Life was so different back then
This piece of music remains my all-time favourite. I can listen to it over and over again.
It brings back many happy memories of my childhood and never fails to cheer me up.
I remember this great tune topping the UK charts in September 1973. I'm now 75 and I still love the tune as much now as I did then.
Amazing that I somehow remembered the tv series it was from! Van de Valk!! ♥️
What a lovely conductor. Such a lovely man, smiles all round for all. How people have changed since then.........
Yes very much so and sadly people have not changed for the better
He can conduct, but can he turn a guitar amp up really loud and make ridiculous contorted faces while bending high notes, like a real musician?
@@davidsherman1206 A "real musician," you say. A conductor doesn't have to be a "real" musician, nor know how to play any instrument. His main functions are to unify the various performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble, and control the interpretation and pacing of the music.
I can think of many "real" well-known musicians that didn't ever pull mentally retarded faces, never needed to turn up a guitar amp to a really loud volume to make a hit record.
The problem is, this ridiculous face-contorting behavior has become accepted by a small niche market of followers who too pull ridiculous faces either while listening to this noise or as normal daily routine. In the past, this behavior would have gotten you beaten or stoned to death in public as it still should.
I would have been just three and Play School age at the time of this footage, so too young to understand or remember that period. This theme tune to Van Der Valk is in Eb major, and I encountered it at senior school a decade later!
@@clarkedav1 I'm not sure about that, as I was just three and Play School age at the time of this footage, but could only go on second hand observations of the period. Too young to understand or remember directly in 1973!
A great theam tune
Wonderful. I love this song since I was a little kid.
I'm 59 and still love this tune 🎉 its in my youtube music library 😃
I'm 61 and love this piece of music.
Ich bin 61 und hatte die Single
I'm also 61 Andrea and was born in March 1963. I remember my mum bought this record for me for my birthday. We as a family my mum gran and brother used to settle down on a Wednesday Evening to watch Van Der Valk.
Thanks a lot for posting this !!!!!! When I was a child ages ago, this tune was played in a KLM airlines TV commercial whose images of Amsterdam made me fall in love with the Netherlands. Much later, when I first visited the country, the tune kept sounding in my ears! It is still in my heart, full of bitter sweet memories of vanished times.
Same! Loved that commercial!
Born 1970 but this tune was one that floated around in my head almost everyday. It was an absolute classic in every way. Van der Valk
Noel Edmonds , the best of the bunch !
I loved Van Der Valk - me an my dad - like everything else from my childhood he is gone
Wonderful Brings back great memories
All my childhood rolled into one magical song. Love you mom xx
Wow! Just watched this. I played this tune on my recorder for our cub scout evening when the commissioner came to visit. I would have been 10 years old!! He immediately awarded me my Entertainer Badge. My parents were very proud and stunned as they had no idea I was going to play! I don't recall knowing either! I remember practising so must have heard this - or it turns out seen this show, but I don't recall using a memory of that - just the tune itself! Great to see this and thanks for sharing it!
Wonderful memories and Van de Valk was a good programme with a great setting in Amsterdam! Good to see the program being re run on Talking Pictures UK channel
I know i can't stop watching them...i was only 4 at the time!
Don’t forget the new series on itv from tomorrow
It would never be the same though. Reruns never work because they miss the vital ingredient. The original actors.
And credit to a very enthusiastic conductor!
Ikr, he's so jolly! Makes me smile to see him :)
I was 9 when this charted. I remember being at Ipswich when it was in the charts watching football against Lazio from Italy. They played this over the PA and a couple of Italian guys near us loved it. So weird the things that I remember after half a century...
Dam , I was a 5 year old back then, born May 23rd 1968, from northern Ireland UK ♥️🇬🇧🤝 , remember this from back then,! Where has the years gone , just wish we could go back to then,! 😔
One of My favorites, Was played in the US on easy listening stations during the 70s and 80s and I never knew the title till now.....thank God for YT!!!!
Me: "Why is this in my recommended?"
Me: Watches video.
Me: "You win this time, UA-cam."
Commisaris! Loved this n the series
I heard a lovely old Guy, (JOHN) whistling this in Icelands today and I said I knew that tune and we got into a conversation. Music is a great thing to do this.
Taken a 49 year old back to his childhood - my dad loved this. Thanks most muchly!
Barry Foster. What an actor.
Always enjoy an orchestra featuring electric bass, particularly in the 70's, what a beautiful sound.
precisely...Fender Precisely!
Beautiful music. A timeless classic.
This has been in my head since I was 4. I just didn't know until now
Yeah I know what you mean .
great show great music
Fact of The Day: This the last ever instrumental to get to Number 1 in the UK
Not The Floral Dance?
I thought Mozart’s 40th made it. I guess not 🤔
The floral dance got to number two Mozart forty got to number 5
that's a great fact
@@deanwalker870 No, The Floral Dance was number 2 for six consecutive weeks behind Mull Of Kintyre.
That conductor knows how to CONDUCT.......! Propa ♥️
One of the catchiest and one of the best instrumentals.
This tune is a complex piece .. quite "gentle" to start...then up to "really forceful", then ... suddenly...gentle...only to "erupt" again at the end!!
FABULOUS!!!!
Great memories for me, I had just given birth to my son! I still love it!
How are you both doing? M.
From a time when Great Britain's Charts were Eclectic.
Oh how i wish i could travel back to the 1970's. The best years of my life.
my mum used to love this wish she was still here i miss her so much she was a big van der valk fan
👍
@@markfindlay8636 Hi Mark .Me too and reminds me of the time n Fab to be young and luvly memories of my parents too. Fab programme and track. Kind regards Glynn n greetings from Stourbridge West Midlands UK 🕊🤝
My Dad bought the single back in 73. Life seemed fun & easy. Miss those days...Miss my Dad
I was only three - too young to understand or remember that period first time round. The tune I learned at senior school a decade later (now in my early fifties!)
One of my earliest memories was of this song being used in a KLM TV ad, loved it then, love it now
For the 750th anniversary of the foundation of Amsterdam! The tune and the ad made me fall in love with the Netherlands ever since.
My mum bought this. Brings back memories of her ❤❤
love this since I heard it that year, great performance of this magic tune.Thank you for posting
Legendary and still beautiful song.
Van Der Valk great show in its day. Everything stopped in our house when it was on back in 70s remember dad buying 45 of Eye Level. Still a great tune to this day :)
I’d go back there in a heartbeat.
So would I… so would I. 👍👍
Love love love,especially live..goosebumps
Love the strings part,wish they had a longer part
AWESOME! It brings back so many fond memories from that period.
My late mother bought this! Bless her ❤
Yes my friend bless your late mother ❤ You listen to this beautiful piece of music and think of your mother x
What a great piece of TV-Music. The Van der Valk Album from Simon Park is one of the best!!!
Wunderschön! Schon so lange her und ich habe „Van der Valk” gerne gesehen und wegen der Musik das Fernsehen laut gestellt. Danke für's Hochladen! ❤️
The only theme tune from a television series to top the U.K. in the 1970’s ….absolutely loved it
Always in our hearts the 96 never forgotten ❤❤🙏🙏
je me rappelle très bien de ce feuilleton et de son générique, que j ai chercheé pendant des années
It brings back wonderful memories. For me the king of all catchy tunes.
Proper music.
Forever beautiful. Lively and entertaining. Never get tired of listening.
Brings back wonderful memories of my teenage life (76 this month)
I remember my reaction to this when I was a child. I stared, and stared at the tv screen; hoping and wishing for the tune to come back!!!! ( It appears that some things never change! ). Why do I keep mourning for the Seventies sooo much these days??!!!
No worries, double digit inflation and industrial action are coming back into fashion ...
@@davidsherman1206 You sentimental old thing, you!
So beautiful. Thank you.
This gives me SO much JOY everytime I hear it! Better times...!
Oh god this brings back so many memories when I was at Berkeley Vale Public School. Our School Song is sung in tune to this musical piece. It brings a tear to my eye.
I played this on a playground xylophone in a park in Minneapolis and it felt sooooo good. I am 56.
How can anyone dislike this???
@Dark Light l like you're logic!
I was one of those people who bought that single. My dad called it Eye Level Grill!
I went to a jazz concert tonight with Simon, such a humble man. I'm.sure he sends his regards to the comment section here
Wonderful! Back in the late70s or early-1980s this breathtakingly upbeat tune was used in New York State tourism commercials. Ive spent decades trying to locate a copy, but at least I had the tune dancing in my head. Tonight, just by accident, I clicked on this link in "Related Links." My night is made! :)
This tune has stuck with me all my life, while in infant School we would all file out of assembly in the morning with this tune playing on an old record player as we made our way to our classrooms.
Forever associated with the equally brilliant original Van Der Valk (Barry Foster) from 1972-ish for a good many series!
I was Nine it brings back some special memorys
That tune make me dream to travel to Netherlands since I was 17 , and I am 62 and still haven't gone there 😢
Don't give up. The Netherlands is always a great country to visit!
Real musicians ❤
Absolutely.
Wonderful Bobby Lamb playing the trombone.
Van der Valk, I remembered the series that "Eye Level" by the Simon Park Orchestra was from and it didnt take very long👍🌹
This tune "Eye Level" brings back such wonderful memories!
Great great great tune!!!!......loved it from the first moment I saw Vander Valk....
Just downloaded it from Apple Music, brings back so many happy memories
That shows how diverse it was in those days real musicians playing real music!
TAKE A BOW SIMON PARK AND CO YOU CREATED A Classic JUST BRILLANT🎻
As earworms go, this tune has to be up there.
Brilliant