♪♫ ♪ ♪♫

Love Is All Around
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Greatest Hits
2010
(originally composed and performed by Sonny Curtis)

I can't believe that I actually had to think about this.
For even, like, a millisecond.

Because

OBVIOUSLY

"Love Is All Around"

is THE TV-theme I HAD to post.

I think I first saw an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show when CFCF-12 celebrated a milestone anniversary.  For a week, they aired episodes of classic television shows my 9 or 10-year-old-self fell in love with; shows like The Munsters, Bewitched, Get Smart and, of course, TMTMS.

Mary Richards is definitely one of my early feminist role-models (something I started to explore more concretely here).  She was single.  She worked.  She lived alone in a small apartment in a big city.  She was a good friend.  She spoke up for herself (her boss, Mr. Grant, famously tells her that she's "got spunk" in the pilot and, when she thanks him, growls that he doesn't like spunk, haha).

Most importantly, there was a kind of confident pleasure she took in the everyday aspects of living.  This was the framework I began to envision for myself.  It differed from that espoused by my many of friends at the time (and, even now).  Despite the fact that she developed out of a half-hour situational comedy, Mary was not a static character.  She did long for things--a partner (this was a prominent feature of many plotlines, but this longing did not necessarily impact her happiness or sense of self-worth.  I think it says something that, at series end, Mary was still single), a pay raise, more responsibility and autonomy.  In watching her change, the viewer was made aware of her flaws; she made mistakes and not only learned from them, but kept at it.  I think by "it" I mean living; striving in spite of.  

The theme song, like the show itself, is uplifting; a bit like a one-minute pep-talk.  Lines like:

How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big
And, girl, this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving

make me want to throw my hat up into the air (haha, sometimes I just can't help myself) and...just try.  Try is such a small word for all that it can encompass.  

I decided to post Joan Jett's cover of "Love Is All Around" rather than the original because I like its brashness.  The need for, and interest in, volume and noise and aggressive-sounding, female-voiced music at the moment is something I am excited about and am continuing to explore (a new-favourite band may have stemmed from all of this).  In any event, this cover of "Love Is All Around" lends the lyrics a certain toughness...as if they were tousled a bit or rubbed with grainy sandpaper.