On March 3rd, 1974 the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, squared off against Lieutenant Columbo in one of the better episodes of the entire run: Swan Song.
Cash plays Tommy Brown, a resentful folk singer on tour to raise money for his evangelical wife's god project - building a tabernacle. He's got a checkered past though, and she's blackmailing him to keep him on board. Finally fed up with being told he can't have any money (or any teenaged groupies in his room) he hatches a daring plan to kill her in a plane crash.
Meet Tommy
The opening sequences are pretty standard stuff. We meet Tommy, and his brother-in-law Luke as the arrive for his show in Bakersfield. Cash doesn't seem particularly happy or warm.
We all see the light
Quickly it transitions into Tommy performing his signature song "I Saw the Light". In Columbo lore it's probably second only to "Volare" as the most memorable musical number and you'll hear it (or parts of it) at least 3 more times in the episode.
Interestingly the Columbo footage of Tommy and the choir singing is intercut with actual footage of Johnny Cash performing one of his concerts.
One of the side benefits of casting an actual music star as your murderer is that you can pull some legit concert footage if you need to. It probably helps that Cash seems to be wearing his own wardrobe (all black) in the episode too.
Crowd control
I realize it's necessary for establishing that Tommy is a "lustful sinner" by letting that young girl proposition him outside his dressing room, but how bad is Tommy's security detail that they just let that many screaming groupies backstage?
Speaking of lustful sinning
In the following scene we establish that Edna (Played well by Ida Lupino) is a bit of an iron maiden. First she shuts down Harry Harvey for blasphemy, then she lays out for the audience's benefit what she has on Tommy that keeps him in line.
"16"
That's Bonnie Van Dyke's only line as Maryann in the entire episode.
Aunt Dorie
This is actually Ida Lupino's second go-round in a Columbo. She had an unmemorable appearance in Season 1's Short Fuse as Aunt Dorie.
What was his crime?
I'd always sort of assumed that Tommy was in that Arkansas prison camp for his misadventures with young Maryann but on reflection that can't be it. If so Edna couldn't be using Maryann to blackmail him, he was already convicted on that crime and served time for it.
So he must have been convicted of something else, and his dallience with underage Maryann he never got caught for (except by Edna).
Speaking of Maryann
Lest we think Edna is a kindly, godly, woman...it appears she only keeps Maryann around as blackmail leverage on Tommy. Edna is not a sympathetic victim.
The legendary Michael Lally
In the scene in the concert office where they're counting the money, that's the legendary Michael Lally in the back who tells Edna what the night's profits were.
Leav-ing on a prop plane
After the Bakersfield concert the crew boards the ill-fated flight back to Los Angeles.
The plane
Tommy's plane is actually fairly new, even though he dismisses it as an "old crate". It's a 1971 Cesna 172L. It's also probably still airworthy, as of this writing it last flew November 22nd, 2020 as far as we can tell.
Tommy travels light?
The ladies have a couple of suitcases, but doesn't Tommy have any clothes or luggage? I suppose his luggage could be on the bus, but in that case why not put the ladies' bags on the bus too?
Not I Saw the Light
Jeff, the airport guy, has a Tommy Brown song coming from his pocket when they pull up. But it's not "I Saw the Light", in fact it's another song that we hear a few times in this episode "Sunday Morning Coming Down". It was written by Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash took it all the way to #1 on the Billboard Country charts in 1970.
Daring deed
Out of all the Columbo murders this one might be the bravest - jumping out of a plane in flight, at night, with a sub-sized parachute and a home-made harness. Tommy was risking a lot.
The second luckiest thing, though, is that he landed anywhere near the crash site. Once he jumped out the plane could have gone anywhere. It could have flown on for 20 miles before crashing. It could have veered left or right. And that homemade chute of his didn't give him any control, he couldn't "follow" the plane.
So not only is it a miracle he survived the jump it might be a BIGGER miracle that he landed within 50 yards or so of the crash site.
Scene of the crash
This is one of the better scenes of the entire series in my opinion. It's well-written and both Falk and John Dehner (who plays Mr. Pangborn) are on their game.
Another Lally?
This scene features a small role for the legendary Michael Lally's son, whose name is also Michael Lally. He plays the camera man for the news crew.
Last Salute to the FAA?
If you like John Dehner as Mr. Pangborn stick around, you'll see him again in Season 5's Last Salute to the Commodore. He plays the titular murder victim, Commodore Otis Swanson.
One more...
If newsman Hal Fisher looks familiar that's because he's Larry Burrell and he also plays a newsman earlier in Season 3 in Candidate for Crime.
Mrs. Columbo makes an "appearance"
In this scene we have another example of Columbo talking about his wife when there are no suspects on the scene - in fact he doesn't even know if a crime has definitely been committed yet. He mentions to Pangborn, who is clearly not a suspect himself, that Mrs. Columbo is a big fan of Tommy Brown.
"My ears pop in an elevator. As a matter of fact, I don't even like being this tall." -Columbo
Paying repects and Columbo meets Tommy
After the crash scene we get to see an old friend, and Columbo enjoys some special chili.
Mr. Grindell tries to make the sale
One of our favorite Columbo occasionals, Vito Scotti, makes yet another memorable appearance as Mr. Grindell, the funeral home director. He looks a bit like a Marx Brother, but does his usual great job.
Unfortunately his primary role seems to be to help stretch this episode from 90 minutes to 2 hours. There are a couple of scenes in this episode that seem a bit unnecessary, enjoyable though they may be.
Once again Columbo mentions Mrs. Columbo, when there aren't any suspects around, but he might be just trying to get out of the sales pitch so probably shouldn't put too much weight on it.
We'll be back
By the way, if you like that funeral home just stay tuned. The same building is the Cabaret of Magic in Season 5's Now You See Him where the Great Santini kills another blackmailer, Jessie Jerome.
How would Luke know?
Minor story problem. Columbo is asking Luke about Tommy's navigation kit. Luke says he's seen it before, that it had maps and charts in it, and that he handled it on the way to Bakersfield and it wasn't particularly heavy or light. Columbo then asks him if he carried it to the plane when they left Bakersfield and Luke says "No, Tommy did."
But Luke wasn't there, he rode the bus at Tommy's insistence. So how would Luke know that Tommy carried the kit to the plane?
Neck pain for the pianist
At Tommy's house he's doing a little concert for the folks. For some reason the pianist is sitting with his back to Tommy so he spends the whole song looking back over his shoulder every few seconds. Seems like they could have turned him around.
"HAWMICIDE!?!" - Tommy Brown
Interesting little pool house
Tommy and Columbo go into a pool house to have their chat after Luke decks Tommy. The first thing I noticed is that it seems to have a fire pit in the middle of the room...INSIDE the house. Not sure I've ever seen that before.
It wasn't until a few viewings later that I noticed it also has a cat, grooming itself on the couch.
I wonder if the cat is included in the rental or if Tommy just brought his cat with him.
The interview with Tommy is a nice scene, and Cash plays it well. He seems very natural, and his answer about the guitar in an unpressurized airplane would have satisfied a lot of lesser detectives.
About that guitar
It really is a special guitar. It's a Martin D-35 and it was custom made for Johnny Cash by the Martin company. It was Martin's first guitar with a polished black finish and became one of Cash's most treasured instruments. He played it for nearly 20 years.
Into the investigation
Columbo flies back to Bakersfield (sort of) in a weirdly painted LAPD plane. It just says "Police" on the side of it and the yellow/green color scheme doesn't really match LAPD's blue and white colors.
That plane is a 1947 North American Navion and it last flew, as far as I can tell, December 23rd, 2020.
The pilot's uniform doesn't really seem like an LAPD uniform either.
It's not Bakersfield
It's supposed to be Bakersfield in the story, but all the airport scenes were actually filmed at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Jeff is a big help
Jeff is still listening to Sunday Morning Coming Down, when Columbo arrives to chat with him. Crucially Jeff tells Columbo about the Thermos bottle, which becomes a key part of the story later.
Once again Columbo mentions Mrs. Columbo, this time to Jeff, who is not really a suspect.
Putting the moves on Tina
The writers missed a chance to make Tommy a little more sympathetic, perhaps intentionally. We already know he has a background of chasing around young (too young) women. In this scene we see him trying to seduce young Tina.
If they'd change the script a bit to have Tina coming on to him and Tommy declining he might have seemed more like a guy who has matured and changed his ways, so to speak, but clearly he's not that.
Probably a deliberate move - they don't want the murderer to be TOO sympathetic I guess.
Tommy served, and so did Johnny
Johnny Cash actually did serve in the Air Force, but he wasn't a pilot or a parachute rigger. He was a radio operator.
Columbo gives him a peek
Every now and then Columbo gives the suspect a glimpse that they may be dealing with a smarter adversary than they think. In this scene Columbo tells Tommy that he already knew he was cancelling the project because he spoke to the architects that morning.
The look on Tommy's face confirms that he just realized that Columbo is digging deeper into the case than he'd like.
The Colonel
The next scene has Columbo checking into Tommy's war record. Frankly I'm a bit mixed on the scene. The terrific John Randolph (who played Clark Griswald's father in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) plays Colonel Mayehoff and he does a pretty good job playing the slightly confused Air Force man. But the whole scene felt a little long/awkward.
On the one hand it was probably filler to get the episode to the required 2 hours, but on the other hand the fact that he was a parachute rigger is a key piece of evidence in the case and probably breaks it open for Columbo.
Boss Hogg enters the chat
The next scene isn't a very interesting scene generally, Columbo visits Tommy at the studio and there's a minor plot point about changing the arrangement of "I Saw the Light" and the women having some drugs in their system. But the interesting part is that Sorrell Booke makes the smallest of appearances (this is his only scene) as "JJ Stringer" who is apparently Tommy's manager.
Sorrell Booke is better known to Columbo fans as Bertie, the murder victim in The Bye Bye Sky High Murder Case and to TV fans in general as Boss Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard.
Lucille Meredith makes an appearance
The next scene features another quick appearance from another actress with some Columbo connections. We saw Lucille Meredith 4 episodes back when she had a modest role as a family friend of the Haywards in Candidate for Crime.
She gets a more substantial role as the seamstress in this episode. You can tell she and Falk had fun making this, once or twice in the scene it looks like Falk is going to bust out laughing.
Fun fact about Lucille Meredith, her husband was Roland Kibbee who was the credited writer on two episodes of Columbo, including Candidate for Crime.
Columbo sets the trap
Columbo realizes he needs to get Tommy to lead him to the parachute so he tells him that the Sherrif's and the Boy Scouts and others are going to search the mountain the next day looking for the missing Thermos bottle. He knows Tommy will worry that they'll find the parachute and need to go up there to retrieve it.
Sure enough, Tommy goes for the chute and Columbo nabs him with the evidence in his hands.
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