"Suicide Is Painless" is a song written by Johnny Mandel (music) and Mike Altman (lyrics), which is best known for being featured as the theme song for both the movie and TV series M*A*S*H.

Mike Altman is the son of the original film's director, Robert Altman, and was 14 years old when he composed the song's lyrics. On an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1980s, Robert Altman said that his son earned more than a million dollars for co-writing the song while he only made $70,000 for directing the movie. In addition to being sung by Johnny Mandel over the film's opening credits, the movie also features a scene that begins when Walter Koskiusko Waldowski, a dentist nicknamed “Painless Pole”, declares his intention to commit suicide, and the song is sung by Ken Prymus (playing Sergeant Seidman) during the suicide scene. Several instrumental versions of the song were used as the theme for the TV series (in which “Painless Pole” was mentioned, but never appeared).

First released in 1970, it belatedly became a number one hit in the UK in 1980 after being championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ Noel Edmonds. The refrain is well-known: : It brings on many changes,

"Suicide is Painless" was Manic Street Preachers' tenth single. It was also their first top ten hit, reaching #7 in the UK Charts in 1992. The single was a split with The Fatima Mansions and the title track is a cover of the theme from the television series and film M*A*S*H (see Suicide is Painless for details of the original and other versions). The single was originally recorded for an album called Ruby Trax, released in conjunction with the rock magazine New Musical Express. Both the single and album were released to raise funds for The Spastics Society, now known as Scope, which, like the NME itself, was celebrating its 40th anniversary in 1992.

The bonus track on the CD and 12", "Sleeping with the NME", is an extract from a BBC Radio 5 documentary of that name which went behind the scenes at the NME. The extract captures discussion in the NME office the day after Richey James carved the phrase "4 REAL" into his arm to convince then NME journalist Steve Lamacq of his sincerity. The track was recorded and released in stereo, even though it was originally made for Radio 5, a mono station.