Playlist: M*A*S*H* (for Loretta)

M*A*S*H* is undoubtedly one of the greatest television shows ever made - a wonderful blend of great scriptwriting, empathetic acting, a carefully crafted mix of comedy and pathos, against a backdrop of reasonable historic accuracy. It is well known, that at eleven years long, the show went on much longer than the Korean War it portrayed (only lasted around three years).

Since its conclusion in 1983, we have slowly lost many of the key cast members - Larry Linville (Frank Burns), McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake), Harry Morgan (Sherman Potter), Wayne Rogers (Trapper John), Allan Arbus (Sidney Freedman) - and in more recent years, William Christopher (Father Mulcahy), David Ogden Stiers (Charles Winchester), and then sadly, last week - we also lost Loretta Switt, one of only four cast members to appear in all eleven seasons, as Major Margaret Houlihan, the units Chief Nurse and part-time lover of the ferret-faced Frank Burns.

That just leaves a few hardy souls - Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce), Mike Farrell (BJ Hunnicutt), Jamie Farr (Maxwell Klinger) and Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly).

So, to honour this great television show and also to mark Loretta Switt's sad passing - here is your M*A*S*H* playlist!

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1. Manic Street Preachers: Theme From M*A*S*H* (Suicide Is Painless)

Photo: NME

Suicide Is Painless, also known as the Theme From M*A*S*H* and had music composed by Johnny Mandel for the original 1970 film. The instrumental version was then used over the opening and closing credits of the television version. It was written for a scene in the movie with the faux suicide of Walter Waldowski, with director Robert Altman instructing Mandel that it had to be called Suicide Is Painless and it had to be the "stupidest song ever written". In the end, the lyrics were written by Altman's 15 year old son Michael. The Manic Street Preachers version came along in 1992, as part of a charity double A-side for the Spastics Society, along with Fatima Mansions version of Bryan Adams Everything I Do (I Do It For You).

Manic Street Preachers: Theme From M*A*S*H* (Official music video)

2. Lana Del Rey: Margaret

The link here is of course Margaret - with Margaret Houlihan being the character that Loretta Switt played in M*A*S*H*. This Margaret was a track on Lana Del Rey's wonderfelly titled ninth album, Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. This tender tune includes a collaboration with Bleachers, the band of one of her main collaborator's, Jack Antonoff. The Margaret this song is based on though, was Margaret Qualley, Antonoff's fiancée at the time.

Lana Del Rey: Margaret (Audio only)

3. Golden Earring: Radar Love

While I'm sure this classic 70's Dutch band may have enjoyed watching M*A*S*H*, I don't suppose that this classic rock track is all about their admiration for the loveable Corporal Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly! Although there is, funnily enough, a connection of sorts, as this is a song about a man who has some sort of psychic connection with his lover - and Radar in the show, has some sort of extra-sensory perception, being able to hear incoming helicopters and the like, before anyone else can.

Golden Earring: Radar Love (Official video - the hair, the outfits!)

4. Mark Knopfler: Trapper Man

This is the opening track to Mark Knopfler's ninth solo album, 2018's Down The Road Wherever. While it might appear to be a song about the nomadic art of trapping animals for food and clothing (rather than Trapper John McIntyre from M*A*S*H*), Knopfler said it was actually about the music industry and "how the old dog reacts when someone comes along and tries to tell them what to do." The album also includes keyboards by his old Dire Straits colleague, Guy Fletcher.

Mark Knopfler: Trapper Man (Audio only)

5. The Deftones: Korea

M*A*S*H* is set in Korea during the war of the early 1950's, between the communist North and the vaguely democratic South. This primeval, raw song is fairly typical of their heavy hitting numbers and is here on the merits of its name. The lyrics on all of this, The Deftones third album White Pony, are generally quite abstract and it seems that singer, Chino Moreno, was basically picking song titles at random.

The Deftones: Korea (Live at Rock in Rio, 2001)

6. Drive By Truckers: Uncle Frank

Major Frank Burns is the somewhat idiotic love interest of Major Margaret Houlihan. While it is possible that Frank Burns may have been an uncle, and is generally known for his weaselly qualities, even he is not as pitiful as the character in this great country-rock song, written by one of the Drive By Truckers three-pronged guitar attack, Mike Cooley, for their 1999 record, Pizza Deliverance. "Uncle Frank couldn't read or write. Never held down a job or needed one in his life." It doesn't end well for poor Frank...

Drive-By Truckers: Uncle Frank (Live Nashville, 2012)

7. Nada Surf: Friend Hospital

M*A*S*H* is set in an army field hospital rather than a Friend Hospital, but there you go, I needed the link. The song is all about the value of platonic friendships (and we could possibly argue, at a stretch, that this is also a key theme of the tv show) and is included on Nada Surf's excellent eighth album, You Know Who You Are. This is from a particularly interesting period in their career, as the band at that time included two musicians from other bands I admire - Doug Gillard of GBV and Martin Wenk from Calexico.

Nada Surf: Friend Hospital (Live on KEXP, 2016)

8. Neil Diamond: Cracklin' Rosie

Now, no trip to the 4077th in Korea was compete without a trip to Rosie's Bar - a seemingly never-ending hotbed of drunken debauchery! And for some, there is a hint of intrigue in this Neil Diamond classic from 1970 - is it about a woman of the night, as some suspect - or is it, as others suggest, based on the Crackling Rose cheap wine brand apparently favoured by some indigenous Canadians at the time, and especially one tribe where there were more men than women, meaning the men would sit around the fire drinking this wine and lament? Diamond's backing for this song came from the legendary Wrecking Crew of session musicians; Hal Blaine (drums), Joe Osborn (bass), Larry Knechtel (keyboards), Al Casey (guitar) and Gene Estes (percussion).

Neil Diamond: Cracklin' Rosie (Live at Madison Square Garden, 2008)

9. Biffy Clyro: The Captain

Well, where will our tenuous links take us this time? There are several Captain's at the heart of the M*A*S*H* story - Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John, and his later replacement, BJ Hunnicutt, are three of the main ones. Biffy Clyro's song about The Captain though, seems to be more about a pirate captain, if the video is to be believed. It is a bright almost poppy alt-rock ditty, with brassy keyboards to go with the standard grunge riff, and was the third single to come from their fifth record, Only Revolutions.

Biffy Clyro: The Captain (Official music video)

10. Frankie Laine: Hawk-Eye

Captain Benjamin 'Hawkeye' Pierce in the show, gets his nickname from one of the main characters in James Fenimore Cooper's Last Of The Mohicans. The hyphon-ised tune Hawk-Eye however, was a fairly typical big-band sounding, 1955 pop single from US crooner Frankie Laine, recorded with Ray Conniff and his Orchestra. While this particular song doesn't appear to have set the world on fire, Frankie Laine's career was quite something. Born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio in 1913 Chicago, he would go on to have an almost 75 year career, covering genres from pop and rock, to gospel, jazz and blues. His notable performances included singing the theme tunes to several legendary westerns, including 3:10 To Yuma, Gunfight At The O.K. Corral and not to forget, Blazing Saddles.

Frankie Laine: Hawk-Eye (Audio only)