Author’s Note: There are some movie themes you don’t just hear — you remember them. For me, Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther” theme is one of those rare pieces of music that instantly pulls me back to laughter, to family, and to the glorious absurdity of Inspector Clouseau stumbling through chaos with perfect comic dignity.
Those films were part of my own family soundtrack: laughing with my parents and brothers at Clouseau’s antics, marveling at how the music managed to be both sly and sophisticated at the same time.
