Talk:Suicide Is Painless

Subject matter controversy
Given the song is about suicide and speaks about it in somewhat positive terms AND was written by a teenager on top of it, I'm surprised the song isn't as controversial than it is. Has there ever been any blowback about it? Two possible signs it was controversial was the fact the original single was reissued with the original title removed and replaced with Song from MASH (see its listing on Discogs) and that a 1973 reissue of the soundtrack album saw the original replaced by a jazz instrumental version by Ahmad Jamal. Is it known if the original version was replaced on the soundtrack album for this reason? 23skidoo (talk) 20:21, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Was the song written specifically for M*A*S*H?
The theme for "Friends" was written & recorded specifically for the show. It was later re-written and re-recoded into a full length song, rather than the 15 second "intro" it started life as. On the other hand the theme for "Charmed" was already a full length track, and was adopted/adapted to become the theme tune. So, was the MASH theme written for the program, or adopted by it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bat Flattery (talk • contribs) 11:31, 18 November 2012 (UTC)
 * The article answers that question. 23skidoo (talk) 20:16, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Song Title
I have a very old 7" of the Johnny Mandel recording of this song, and the single is actually - as far as I remember, I'm not looking at it now - labeled 'Theme from MASH (Suicide is Painless)', so do we have the title wrong in this article? SpaceyHopper (talk) 09:33, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Very late reply to this but the single was released using both titles, initially Suicide is Painless (it's official title) and "Song from MASH" (re-titled probably to make it more acceptable to radio stations than something titled after suicide). 23skidoo (talk) 20:17, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Cover versions as "Trivia"
While I agree that trivia sections are typically poorly integrated and should be discouraged, I think it is appropriate for a song's cover versions to be cataloged if the song in significant to warrant inclusion in the encyclopedia. I don't think this extends to the 'other' references, though -- while it might be amusing that a cartoon character made an allusion to this song, if that fact has no broader significance it should be discarded. A more complete essay on this song that discusses how it is an iconic representation of the changing attitudes towards war, etc., blah blah blah, might be able to incorporate the broader cultural references. But the listings of recorded cover versions should stay. MrRedwood 22:17, 13 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I think that we should at least provide for some, but not all, cover versions. The cover should be, at least to some extent, notable or significant. --Cheeser1 00:09, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * What, because Wikipedia can't afford another 1K bytes? Really a ludicrous argument. WP:NOTPAPER. This is valid research. I am removing the tag, as it demonstrates unreasonable zeal at "trivia cleanup" and other inane deletionist/censorship policies. -Nodekeeper (talk) 08:20, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Copyright info?
Is this copyrighted? Jwrosenzweig 21:40, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * I should certainly think so.Bonalaw 13:25, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Do we know who the original artist/band was? Did it feature before M*A*S*H or was it created for the show? As well as MSP there was a Marilyn Manson cover Kwill 13:39, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)


 * It was created for the film. As far as I know, it was just a group of session musicians performing it. It's possible that there are music credits for the film somewhere which would list the actual individuals involved. Bonalaw 14:17, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * From what I remember on the DVD (I don't have it, at the moment), it was the director's son who wrote the song. He had been initially only wanted a guitar for the song .. --68.147.3.164 12:16, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * It was wrote by Johnny Mandel for the movie afaik. If the Manic Street Preachers did a recording afterward, that would be them doing a cover. Get the credits right here, please. 207.144.230.112 (talk) 21:14, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Do we have a reference or quoted source for the meaning, or is this just a generally held view of the meaning? Thefuguestate 21:40, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
 * It was added by an IP address and is clearly just that guy's opinion, so it's gone. Wahkeenah 23:07, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

???
I thought it was written by Nick Drake. --Reddox 17:59, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Royal Trux did a cover version as well.

I was told that Nick Drake wrote it aswell. Where did that rumour come from?

i thought drake wrote it also. most p2p say it was.

The Spastics Society?
Wasn't this group's name changed to "SCOPE" before the date in question of the Manic Preacher's benefit release? If so, this needs to be changed as "spastic" has come to be seen as a derisive epithet since it is the root of the pejorative "spaz". Rlquall 19:25, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Nick Drake
Doesent Nick Drake have a version of this song?

Yes. He definitely does. In fact, I thought that he wrote it.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.34.216.39 (talk) 05:48, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Mike Altman's earnings
I'm curious about how Mike Altman earned over a million dollars for the song. Did he get royalties from the use of the song in the TV series? Since he wrote the lyrics only, and the TV series always used an instrumental version, you would think that he wouldn't receive royalties for it. --Mathew5000 06:11, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, US copyright law dictates that the lyricist and composer of a work both hold an equal share of both the lyrics and music, hence Mike Altman would have received a 50% share of the music royalties despite not writing any of the musical part of the work.RobLangley (talk) 18:57, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't have a source handy, but I remember an interview once with Robert Altman where he said his son had initially asked for only a new guitar in return for the rights to use the song. Robert Altman insisted they do it the "right way" and pay him royalties. --68.144.42.179 (talk) 01:27, 18 November 2010 (UTC)


 * This claim seems dubious as does the "stupidest song ever written" claim. This smells like an urban legand. It's backed up by a single reference to what appears to be a blog.  There are other mentions of the claim in other blogs and even a published book (The Music of Counterculture Cinema: A Critical Study of 1960s and 1970s Soundtracks by Bartkowiak), but each references that JazzWax blog.  If true, I would think this would have been mentioned in another interview or some other publication.  Answers.com is also used as a source in this section.  This is not a reliable source.--RadioFan (talk) 13:49, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Meaning
Just letting everyone know, I added the meaning of the original song. It is the truth.

K8cpa (talk) 07:45, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Dark
Dark, dark song. 24.69.141.89 (talk) 02:58, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

full song title?
The intro lists it as "Song from M*A*S*H" and the infobox as "Theme from M*A*S*H" ... which is correct? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Willrarmstrong (talk • contribs) 08:23, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

Extra verses
Weren't there several other verses written for the song but not performed in the studio recording? Geeky Randy (talk) 00:29, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

Merge proposal Mike Altman → Suicide Is Painless
There have been some rumblings on Talk:Mike Altman and tags on the associated article that this person that this person is not notable enough for a separate page, but rather should be redirected to the song for which he's known. Per WP:BLP1E that sounds reasonable to me as well. DMacks (talk) 02:50, 6 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Is this the same Mike Altman that works as an animation director at Pixar?108.23.147.17 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:00, 11 September 2011 (UTC).

Lyrics
Why is it that there is a history of the song here, yet no lyrics for it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.43.212.121 (talk) 18:02, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
 * The lyrics are copyrighted, so it is against the law and wikipedia policy to include them. DMacks (talk) 19:23, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

extra info
1) The Manics version was (famously) originally done for The NME's charity covers album Ruby Trax (same for the Fatima Mansion's cover also on the UK single) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Trax

The entry for Scope says they didn't change their name until 1994 - after the album & single came out (don't remember it happening until a lot later but their website backs it up http://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/our-history ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_(charity)

2) No Nick Drake had sod all to do with the song - either an idiot or somebody having a sick joke about the idea of an artist who possibly committed suicide singing about suicide renamed the track/spread a rumour. If Nick Drake HAD written a song that's famous from a movie and being covered he wouldn't've been obscure for so long.109.224.137.121 (talk) 15:37, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Description of song?
I feel like something is missing from this article. The article describes where the song was used, who performed it, and how it did on the charts. But it doesn't actually describe the song itself or what about it made it popular. I think the article would benefit by a short section describing the song itself and its place in culture/history.138.16.21.199 (talk) 03:17, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

Lyrics website Metrolyrics abandoned
In External links the page points to Metrolyrics as the lyrics source. However, Metrolyrics seems to have been abandoned without further explanations as of earlier this year.

Is there another song lyrics source commonly used or approved by Wikipedia? I could then change the reference.

Willy Willyv (talk) 10:00, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

1980 resurgence
If I remember rightly the reason for the song's UK revival in 1980 was that Noel Edmonds started playing it a lot on his Radio 1 show - however it seems to be almost impossible to find a reliable source for this. Mark and inwardly digest (talk) 11:56, 27 January 2023 (UTC)