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Lyrics: Through early morning fog, I see
That suicide is painless That game of life is hard to play Suicide is painless The sword of time will pierce our skin Suicide is painless A brave man once requested me Suicide is painless Suicide is painless Suicide is painless 
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This isn’t the first time that Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers have been featured on Dances with Bass. The music curators here are big fans, and in 2016, we featured Autumnsong, an anthemic, stand on your roof as the camera pans around you with your fist in the air track from Send Away the Tigers. This band has been cranking out solid indie rock since forming in 1986, though their mainstream success has been limited almost entirely to the UK and Europe. While not well-known among non-music aficionados in the U.S., the Manic Street Preachers have earned a slew of accolades from critics and have been one of the most successful rock outfits in the UK in a generation. The band has scored 34 top 40 hits in the UK, with two of those hits reaching number 1. The band has earned two platinum records and six gold records in the UK. Strangely, the band has never even sniffed the U.S. charts with a single or a full album; this just proves too many American listeners are impressed with the likes of Justin Bieber and not be actual musicians. Unfortunately, many people know them more for the 1995 disappearance (and assumed death) of founding member Richey Edwards. Richey disappeared without a trace and it’s presumed that he committed suicide. His car was found near the Severn-Wye Bridge in South Gloucestershire, England, which has led many to believe that he jumped from the bridge. For many years, his family resisted having him declared legally dead, but in 2002, changed his status to “presumed dead.”  The original version of this track was written by Johnny Mandel (music) and Mike Altman (lyrics), and it was used as the theme for both the original M*A*SH movie and the M*A*S*H (goodness, that’s hard to type) television series, which ran from 1972 to 1983. Interestingly, Mike Altman is the Robert Altman’s son; Robert Altman directed the original movie. Altman wrote the lyrics when he was just 14 years old. Robert Altman first tried to pen the lyrics himself but was unable to write lyrics “stupid enough” so he tasked his son, Mike, with writing the lyrics (a task Mike is reported to have completed in five minutes). As those who have seen the movie and television show know, the cast for the movie and the show were different, and the track was written specifically for Private Seidman (portrayed by Ken Prymus). Seidman sang the song during the faked suicide of Walter “Painless Pole” Waldowski (portrayed by John Schuck) in the movie’s “Last Supper” scene. While the portion of the song played during the show’s opening credits does not contain lyrics, the full version of the song includes the same lyrics sung in today’s featured version by the Manic Street Preachers. The television and movie version was sung by session singers John Bahler, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin, and Ian Freebairn-Smith who were uncredited; instead, the single was attributed to “The Mash.” The Manic Street Preachers still record as a three-piece and tour today. Video: The official video for Manic Street Preacher’s cover of Suicide is Painless is below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaKpXAeGd4&feature=youtu.be And we feel as though we’d be remiss if we didn’t feature the Theme from M*A*S*H as it appeared on television so that you can compare it to the Manic Street Preachers’ redux: |
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Get It: You can get your copy of the Manic Street Preachers’ cover of Theme from M*A*S*H* (Suicide is Painless) either on the deluxe edition of Generation Terrorists or on the band’s greatest hits collection, National Treasures: DWB YouTube Channel: Be sure to visit us on YouTube to see all the videos we’ve featured.
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Note: This track was released as a single, and it appeared on the 20th-anniversary edition of the Generation Terrorists album, which was released in 2012. The information below applies to single, which featured The Fatima Mansions’ version of Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It for You. The dual-band single was released as a double A-side charity single to help The Spastics Society (now less, uh, insultingly known as Scope). The album art for Generation Terrorists is shown at the left.
