Exploring the history of Coronation Street’s iconic theme tune

The Coronation Street theme tune is almost as famous as the show itself.

Those opening bars as the trumpet plays its solo signify it’s time to drop everything and catch up with life on the cobbles.

The music has barely changed over the 58 years the show has been on screen.

The original was composed by Eric Spear, who was born in Croydon in April 1908 and died in November 1966.

Prior to writing the Corrie theme, Spear was known to Granada as the composer of the Biggles series – which Street creator Tony Warren wrote scripts for.

The original tune was named Lancashire Blues and Spear was asked to write it in 1960, being paid £6 for the commission.

He was sent the scripts for the first five episodes so he could get a feel for what the show was about and he recorded it from where he was living in Guernsey.

The tape he sent in featured him playing it on the piano, but he explained in an accompanying note it was actually written for a brass band.

After the theme was given the green light, Spear travelled to London to oversee recording.

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The lead trumpet role has been the subject of some controversy over the years.

It was reported that Ronnie Hunt was the player at the recording and he apparently became frustrated as Spear insisted on many takes before he was happy with the sound.

But Dave Browning told the Coronation Street Blog in 2009 that he had been asked to re-record the trumpet in 1972 for a one-off fee of £36 as producers were unhappy with Hunt’s original.

Hunt then hit back with a letter from the Musician’s Union confirming his role and that he was receiving the standard royalty payments as such.

Ronnie Hunt passed away in November 2011 in his 90s.

The theme remained unchanged until May 2010 when it was reworked to go along with new HD opening titles.

The original recording was never released as a single until 1995 when it was issued as a B side on a double-A sided single released by the Corrie cast to celebrate forty years of ITV. The single was the entire cast performing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, and Amanda Barrie (Alma Halliwell) and Johnny Briggs (Mike Baldwin) performing Something Stupid.

The single reached number 35 in the UK charts.

In 2017 the show posted a video to its YouTube account with producer Kate Oates stating it was time to rework the opening theme and add some lyrics in.

It featured Shayne Ward (Aidan Connor), Catherine Tyldesley (Eva Price) and Faye Brookes (Kate Connor) singing over the top of the tune and talking about how they felt it was going to be the best version ever.

The video went live on April 1, 2017 – making it, of course, an April Fool’s joke.

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In November 2018 fans were outraged when the theme tune changed again and was replaced with piano music.

They tweeted their disgust, with one person saying: “OK @itv what is going on with this stupid piano music first #emmerdale now #coronationstreet, it’s crap.”

The show retweeted a message from ITV Media saying all would be revealed the next day.

For everyone asking about the new theme music👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/id1LIBBwl2

— Coronation Street (@itvcorrie) November 14, 2018

And it was! The theme of all ITV shows had been replaced with piano music to celebrate the launch of the John Lewis Christmas ad, which was premiered at 9.15pm on Friday November 16 and was based on king of the piano, Elton John.

The moral of the story? Not even Elton warrants messing with the Corrie theme tune!

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