The Villagers Theme – Mick Jade (A gold nugget this one)

Those of us old enough to remember the early days of television in South Africa will well remember the locally produced drama, The Villagers. Names like Ted Dixon, Hilton McCrae, Buller Wilmot and Chesa Labuschange were part of our lives back then. As was the theme song with its distinctive harmonica intro followed swiftly by Mick’s gruff vocals telling us that ‘The Village Reef is their home, built on a pile of gold, and for the young and the old life and work just carry on.’

The TV show followed the lives and fortunes of a mining community which was quite close to the hearts of many in the country. The interesting thing is that Jade’s theme sounds almost like it could be the theme tune for an American gold rush show. It has that sort of honky tonk…