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"The Third Man Theme" is an instrumental written and performed by Anton Karas for the soundtrack to the film The Third Man (1949).

Karas was working as a zither player when director Carol Reed, during location scouting for the film, heard him playing in a beer garden. Reed wanted music that wasn't waltz but would be appropriate to the city of Vienna, in which the film was set, so he asked Karas if he would write and record the film's score. Karas agreed, and he wrote the theme based on a melody in a practice book. The zither had not previously been widely used in English or American music, but the theme became popular with audiences of the film soon after its premiere.

This song was originally released in the U.K. in 1949, where it was 'The Harry Lime Theme.' Following its release in the U.S. in 1950 (see 1950 in music), "The Third Man Theme" spent eleven weeks at number one on Billboard's U.S. Best Sellers in Stores chart, from April 23 to July 8. Its success led to a trend in releasing film theme music as singles. A guitar version by Guy Lombardo (recorded December 9, 1949, released by Decca under catalog number 24839) also sold strongly, and four other versions charted in the U.S. during 1950.^[1] According to Faber and Faber, the different versions of the theme have collectively sold an estimated forty million copies.

Other versions

• The Beatles recorded an impromptu version during 1969, but it has never appeared on any of their "official" albums.
• Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass recorded a go-go version of the song.
• The Band played it on Moondog Matinee, an album of covers.
• The Shadows released their version in 1981.
• Guy Lombardo covered the song in 1950. His version was arguably as popular (in the US) as Anton Karas' version.
• Russ Conway recorded a piano version

Other utilization

"The Third Man Theme" was used in a 1982 TV mail-order record collection, Aerobic Dancing, with Sharon Barbano.

"The Third Man Theme" is also used as a theme for Japan Rail's Yamanote line train station at Ebisu Station (Tokyo) in Tokyo Japan. When a train arrives at the platform the initial portion of this theme will play. It is known in Japan as the "Ebisu Theme" which was used in early Ebisu beer commercials. Ebisu train station was located at the site of the former Yebisu#Brands beer factory which is were the station takes its name and why the theme is used at this train station to this day.

See also

• Number-one hits of 1950 (United States)

Notes

1. ^ "The Third Man Theme". ntl.matrix.com.br. Retrieved August 25, 2006.

References

• "The Foreign Film Theme - "The Third Man Theme" 1949". Space Age Pop Music. Retrieved August 25, 2006.

External links

• Songfacts