Josette's Lost Music

Over the years, several readers have written in asking about the original theme used for Josette's music box during the early Barnabas episodes in 1967. This track was taken from a library record published by Warner/Chappell, and so is one of the few music cues on Dark Shadows not written by regular composer Robert Cobert.

By 1968, when the show had moved onto its 1795 flashback, to save paying for an additional music source, the melody was replaced by a new piece by Cobert, which remained in use for the rest of the series, bar a couple of accidental appearances of the original track during the dream curse storyline.

So, the burning question, where does the original piece come from? Well, it's a composition by prolific Canadian composer Robert Farnon, whose long career included collaborations with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, along with hundreds of pieces for light entertainment and television. The 'Josette' track can be located thanks to its prominent appearance in an early episode of The Prisoner, Dance of the Dead; The actual cue is a single stanza which lasts for less than 30 seconds, so for Dark Shadows, a repeated edit was created to bring up the running time.

If you want to complete your Dark Shadows music collection, there's good news – this elusive track can be purchased from the UK iTunes store under its original title, Drumdramatics No. 2 (1-4), which is available here. Enjoy!