Theme from Z-Cars the 1960s. Sunderland A.F.C. were also known to have played the song as their players ran out to the field during their days playing at Roker Park. Theme from Z-Cars "Theme from "Z-Cars"" was the theme tune to the long-running BBC television drama "Z-Cars". Based on the traditional folk song "Johnny Todd", which was in a collection of traditional tunes by Frank Kidson dated 1891 called "Traditional Tunes: A Collection of Ballad Airs". Kidson's notes for this song say: "Johnny Todd is a child's rhyme and game, heard and seen played by Liverpool children. The air is somewhat pleasing, and
Johnny 99 (song) circumstances. Like the rest of the "Nebraska" album, "Johnny 99" was recorded in January 1982 in a no-frills studio set up in Springsteen's home in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Most likely it was recorded on January 3, 1982, when most of the album tracks were recorded. The background of the song is based on a real life incident, the closing in 1980 of a Ford Motor Company plant in Mahwah, which had been open since 1955. The song also has antecedents in two folk songs that appeared on the box set "Anthology of American Folk Music": Julius Daniels' "99 Year