We are following our trip down nostalgia lane with the classic television-show theme song Maybe by Thom Pace. I mentioned in yesterday’s article about how John Denver’s Country Roads and today’s featured track conjured memories of childhood and nature. To me Maybe captured the theme and naturalistic tone of its series perhaps better than any other. I’m referring to The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, which despite only running for two seasons in the late 1970s, I sure as heck found infectious viewing as a youngster.
Maybe, the theme song, which I assumed I had already written about; came with the chorus at the beginning and a much better sampling at the end of the episodes. It’s a wonderfully conceived song with beautiful lyrics and melody that I have never grown tired of listening to. It’s tailor-made for a show about a recluse’s profound relationship with nature, including his kinship with a gentle grizzly bear named Ben, although ironically it wasn’t the inspiration for the song as you will read below.
Most of the following was extracted from the reference below:
The show (and the feature-film that launched it) starred first-time lead-actor, Dan Haggerty, a former bodybuilder and stuntman, whose unique look and background as an animal-handler won him the title role of Grizzly Adams, a man who fled to the mountain wilderness in the mid 1800s after being accused a murder he didn’t commit. The show was very family-friendly, with heavy emphasis on themes like compassion, kindness, and gratitude. Plus, it was chock-full of cool animals, and amusing exchanges between mountain-man trader “Mad Jack” (Denver Pyle, aka “Uncle Jesse” from The Dukes of Hazzard) and his notoriously stubborn mule, “Number Seven”.
Deep inside the forest
Is a door into another land
Here is our life and home
We are staying, here forever
In the beauty of this place all alone
We keep on hopi-in’
Maybe
There’s a world where we don’t have to run
And maybe
There’s a time we’ll call our own
Livin’ free in harmony and majesty
Take me ho-ome
Take me home
Walkin’ through the land
Where every living thing is beautiful
Why does it have to end
We are calling, oh so sadly
On the whispers of the wind
As we send a dying message
The man behind the tune is Thom Pace, a singer-songwriter from Pocatello, Idaho. Under the Capitol Records label in 1980, he released “Maybe” on a full-length album along with more of his work. As a radio single, the song found international, award-winning success. Thom Pace revealed in an interview from the reference below that he originally wrote the song for a movie called “The Snow Tigers” about two Siberian Tigers who had lost their home due to dwindling forests. He decided to write a song from their point of view about a place where they would be safe and free again. The producer liked the song, but he decided to go full classical instrumental music, so he did not use the song. Chuck Sellier, the producer of Grizzly Adams, heard it a little later and thought that it would be a good song for the ending of the movie.
Later when I was playing in a club in Alaska, my manager called and said that Sun Classic Pictures wanted to use “Maybe” for the new Grizzly Adams television series. After much discussion, they used it and it worked well for the opening each week. What is not generally known is that it has three verses instead of two, and the only recording with all three verses is a live Reggae version on iTunes that Thom recorded in 2010.
From Wikipedia below:
Another version from the theme from an album that Pace recorded and released during the 1970s, was released as a single in Europe. Maybe went to number one in Germany and stayed there for nine weeks. Pace received the “Goldene Europa” Award, Germany’s version of the Grammy Award for Best Song of 1980. The song also reached No. 14 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 23 in the Australian Singles Chart.
References:
1. Interview: Thom Pace, Singer/Writer of the “Grizzly Adams” Theme Song – John A. Daly
2. Thom Pace – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Muy bella canción, me hizo recordar y llorar, cuando en las tardes nos sentamos con mi abuelita a ver la serie, ella siempre decía pongan el burrito número 7, le facinaba y a nosotros también. Gracias, evocaste gratos recuerdos en mi mente.
Si las memorias que evoca esta canción son profundas y repleto de las mejores imágenes de mi juventud y la naturaleza. Me alegro mucho que también esta canción te afecta tanto.
Me dio mucha risa como tu abuela llamo esta show ‘el burrito numero 7’. Tan dulce y inolvidable su adoración de este programa y tu recolección de ella.
While it’s on the lush side, I loved “Maybe” when it came out. We also had the TV series on German television. Thom Pace has always reminded me of Don Fogelberg. I still like that song!
You and ya ‘lush’ description. Haha. I’m the blogger of lush music. I’ll look up Don. I can see your connection with Maybe given the following:
‘Maybe …was released as a single in Europe. It went to number one in Germany and stayed there for nine weeks. Pace received the “Goldene Europa” Award, Germany’s version of the Grammy Award for Best Song of 1980’.
Thanks, Matt. “Maybe’s” chart success in Germany, of which I wasn’t aware, would explain why that song got a decent amount of airtime on my go-to pop radio station. And, hey, there’s nothing inherently wrong with “lush” songs. Even my all-time favorite band The Beatles had some! 🙂