Talk:Suicide Is Painless

Song Title

I have a very old 7" of the Johnny Mandel recording of this song, and the single is actually - as far as I remember, I'm not looking at it now - labeled 'Theme from MASH (Suicide is Painless)', so do we have the title wrong in this article? SpaceyHopper (talk) 09:33, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Cover versions as "Trivia"

While I agree that trivia sections are typically poorly integrated and should be discouraged, I think it is appropriate for a song's cover versions to be cataloged if the song in significant to warrant inclusion in the encyclopedia. I don't think this extends to the 'other' references, though -- while it might be amusing that a cartoon character made an allusion to this song, if that fact has no broader significance it should be discarded. A more complete essay on this song that discusses how it is an iconic representation of the changing attitudes towards war, etc., blah blah blah, might be able to incorporate the broader cultural references. But the listings of recorded cover versions should stay. MrRedwood 22:17, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I think that we should at least provide for some, but not all, cover versions. The cover should be, at least to some extent, notable or significant. --Cheeser1 00:09, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

What, because Wikipedia can't afford another 1K bytes? Really a ludicrous argument. WP:NOTPAPER. This is valid research. I am removing the tag, as it demonstrates unreasonable zeal at "trivia cleanup" and other inane deletionist/censorship policies. -Nodekeeper (talk) 08:20, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Copyright info?

Is this copyrighted? Jwrosenzweig 21:40, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I should certainly think so.Bonalaw 13:25, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Do we know who the original artist/band was? Did it feature before M*A*S*H or was it created for the show? As well as MSP there was a Marilyn Manson cover Kwill 13:39, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)

It was created for the film. As far as I know, it was just a group of session musicians performing it. It's possible that there are music credits for the film somewhere which would list the actual individuals involved. Bonalaw 14:17, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

From what I remember on the DVD (I don't have it, at the moment), it was the director's son who wrote the song. He had been initially only wanted a guitar for the song .. --68.147.3.164 12:16, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

It was wrote by Johnny Mandel for the movie afaik. If the Manic Street Preachers did a recording afterward, that would be them doing a cover. Get the credits right here, please. 207.144.230.112 (talk) 21:14, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Do we have a reference or quoted source for the meaning, or is this just a generally held view of the meaning? Thefuguestate 21:40, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

• It was added by an IP address and is clearly just that guy's opinion, so it's gone. Wahkeenah 23:07, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

???

I thought it was written by Nick Drake.
--Reddox 17:59, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Royal Trux did a cover version as well.

I was told that Nick Drake wrote it aswell. Where did that rumour come from?

i thought drake wrote it also. most p2p say it was.

The Spastics Society?

Wasn't this group's name changed to "SCOPE" before the date in question of the Manic Preacher's benefit release? If so, this needs to be changed as "spastic" has come to be seen as a derisive epithet since it is the root of the pejorative "spaz". Rlquall 19:25, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Nick Drake

Doesent Nick Drake have a version of this song?

Mike Altman's earnings

I'm curious about how Mike Altman earned over a million dollars for the song. Did he get royalties from the use of the song in the TV series? Since he wrote the lyrics only, and the TV series always used an instrumental version, you would think that he wouldn't receive royalties for it. --Mathew5000 06:11, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, US copyright law dictates that the lyricist and composer of a work both hold an equal share of both the lyrics and music, hence Mike Altman would have received a 50% share of the music royalties despite not writing any of the musical part of the work.RobLangley (talk) 18:57, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Meaning

Just letting everyone know, I added the meaning of the original song. It is the truth.

K8cpa (talk) 07:45, 28 February 2009 (UTC)