"Suicide Is Painless"
European picture sleeve
Single by The Mash
from the album M*A*S*H (Original Soundtrack Recording)
B-side	"The M*A*S*H March"
Released	1970
Recorded	1969
Length	2:53
Label	Columbia/CBS
Composer(s)	Johnny Mandel
Lyricist(s)	Mike Altman
Producer(s)	Thomas Z. Shepard
Music video
"Suicide Is Painless" (audio) on YouTube

"Suicide Is Painless" (or "Song from M*A*S*H") is a song written by Johnny Mandel (music) and Michael Altman (lyrics) for the 1970 film M*A*S*H. In addition to being performed by characters in the film, it plays during the title sequence as sung by The Ron Hicklin Singers. An instrumental version was used as the theme music for the TV series based on the film, playing over the opening and closing credits.

Background

The song was written for Ken Prymus, the actor playing Private Seidman, to sing during the faux-suicide of Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski (John Schuck) in the film's "Last Supper" scene.^[1] Director Robert Altman had two stipulations about the song for composer Johnny Mandel: it had to be called "Suicide Is Painless" and it had to be the "stupidest song ever written".^[2] Altman attempted to write the lyric himself, but, upon finding it too difficult for his "45-year-old brain" to write something "stupid" enough,^[3] he gave the task to his 15-year-old-son Michael, who reportedly wrote the lyrics in five minutes.^[4][5]

Altman later decided that the song worked so well he would use it as the film's main theme. This more choral version was sung by uncredited session singers John Bahler, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin, and Ian Freebairn-Smith, and was released as a single attributed to "The Mash". Altman said that, while he only made $70,000 for directing the movie, his son had earned more than $1 million for co-writing the song.^[6]

Several instrumental versions of the song were used as the theme for the TV series, but the lyrics were never used in the show.^[7] It became a number-one hit in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980.^[8] The song was ranked No. 66 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.

Track listing

7″ vinyl

• West Germany: CBS / 5009
• UK: CBS / S CBS 8536
• US: Columbia / 4M-45130 [mono promo only]
• US: Columbia / 4S-45130 [original stereo stock release]

Chart performance

Manic Street Preachers version

"Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)"
Single by Manic Street Preachers
from the album Ruby Trax
A-side	"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (by the Fatima Mansions)
B-side	"Sleeping with the NME" "Spectators of Suicide" "Star Lover" "Never Want Again" "Dead Yankee Drawl" "Ain't Goin' Down"
Released	September 7, 1992 (1992-09-07)[13]
Genre	Alternative rock, soft rock[14]
Length	3:43
Label	Columbia
Composer(s)	Johnny Mandel
Lyricist(s)	Mike Altman
Producer(s)	Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers singles chronology
"Motorcycle Emptiness" (1992) "Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)" (1992) "Little Baby Nothing" (1992)

Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers released a cover version of "Suicide Is Painless" on September 7, 1992, as "Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)". In the UK, it was a double A-side charity single to help The Spastics Society, with the Fatima Mansions' take on Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" as the other A-side. The 12-inch and CD versions of the UK single included "Sleeping with the NME" – an excerpt from a radio documentary recorded in the offices of the NME capturing staff's reaction to photographs of guitarist Richey Edwards' infamous self-mutilation. The single peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart^[15] spending three weeks in the top 10.

Cover recorded versions

• Ahmad Jamal recorded a new version of the song that replaced the version by The MASH on pressings of the soundtrack album beginning in 1973; the film retained the original version.
• Bill Evans included an instrumental jazz cover on his posthumous 1980 album You Must Believe in Spring.
• Al De Lory recorded "Song from M*A*S*H", an instrumental jazz piano version for his 1970 album Al De Lory Plays Song from M*A*S*H. This version peaked at No. 7 on the adult contemporary chart during the summer of 1970.^[21]
• Swedish group Small Town Singers released a version under the title "Song from M*A*S*H" in 1975.^[22] The single peaked at 17th position in Sweden,^[23] Top 100 chart in Australia.
• Marilyn Manson recorded a cover version which was released on the soundtrack to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 in 2000
• In the tenth episode of the fifth season of The West Wing, titled "The Stormy Present", Toby Ziegler sings the song while drunkenly writing a eulogy for a former President aboard Air Force One.

References