Fritz Spiegl Fritz Spiegl died suddenly during a Sunday lunch in Liverpool with his wife, Ingrid Frances Spiegl, and some friends. As a composer, Spiegl scored a popular success with the original theme from the TV series "Z-Cars", based on "Johnny Todd", a Liverpool sea shanty. He also composed the original theme for the "Z Cars" spin-off series "Softly, Softly"; the song was also released as a single on Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate record label in 1966. His BBC Radio 4 "UK Theme", in which national songs from each of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom are combined, was heard
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