What popular movie theme song was co-written by the film director’s 15-year-old son? Here’s a hint. An instrumental version of it hit the #1 spot on the UK singles chart in May of 1980. The answer is… Suicide Is Painless. The theme from MASH. Film director Robert Altman tasked film score composer Johnny Mandel with coming up with the stupidest song that had the the title Suicide Is Painless. After Altman attempted to write the lyrics, he gave the job to his then-15 year-old son Michael, who wrote the lyrics in 5 minutes. The senior Altman would say after the fact that he was paid 70K to direct the film, but his son made millions from the song.