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Post by Bara on Jun 10, 2013 13:48:01 GMT -5
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Post by Bara on Jun 10, 2013 14:09:30 GMT -5
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Post by jbrooks on Jun 10, 2013 14:30:46 GMT -5
"Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by Mason Williams. Originally released in 1968 on the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, it has been re-recorded and re-released numerous times since by Williams. One later version served as the title track of a 1987 album by Williams and the band Mannheim Steamroller.
Williams was the head writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the time of the piece's release and premiered the composition on the show. Williams performed it several times over several episodes. After the piece had reached the Top Ten, Williams asked an experimental filmmaker named Dan McLaughlin to create a video montage of classical art works edited in time to the music, using the visual effect now known as kinestasis. The pioneering work, 3000 Years of Art, premiered in 1968 and may have helped push the song high on the charts; it peaked at number 2 for two weeks in August that year.[1] On the US Easy Listening chart it went to number one for three weeks.[2]
Williams re-recorded "Classical Gas" as a solo guitar piece on his 1970 album Handmade. This version was re-released by Sony in 2003, after being featured in the film Cheaper by the Dozen[3] (which starred Williams's Smothers Brothers protégé, Steve Martin).
During the 1970s and early 1980s, many television stations (such as [KIRO-TV, Seattle], WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, WBAL-TV in Baltimore, KNTV in San Jose, and WNEP-TV in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) used the composition - or a version of it re-recorded by Telesound - as their theme song.
There is a common misconception that "Classical Gas" was composed and performed by Eric Clapton.[4] Clapton has never recorded a cover of the song. This misconception may possibly be attributed to the fact that Clapton was musical director of, and played much of the guitar music for, the feature film The Story of Us. The version of the song on the film's soundtrack is actually Williams's own solo-guitar re-recording of it, from his 1970 album Handmade.[5]
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Post by Bara on Jun 10, 2013 16:05:35 GMT -5
Was he really? I loved the Smothers Brothers when I was a young girl in Canada. At about the same time I remember Carol Burnett. Anyone remember her?
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Post by Bara on Jun 10, 2013 16:16:38 GMT -5
Was he really? I loved the Smothers Brothers when I was a young girl in Canada. At about the same time I remember Carol Burnett. Anyone remember her?
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Post by Bara on Jun 11, 2013 2:14:42 GMT -5
How about Tubular Bells? Anyone remember that?
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Post by Bara on Jun 11, 2013 2:20:14 GMT -5
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Post by Big Tee© on Jun 12, 2013 10:29:16 GMT -5
I remember Classical Gas, and still like it. I don't recall Glen Campbell recording it but he did a song called Bonaparte's Retreat that was heavy on the instrumentals. Mason Williams TV resume and it's long and very impressive - writer, soundtracks, acting: www.imdb.com/name/nm0931281/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 |
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Post by Goalie on Jun 12, 2013 10:30:54 GMT -5
I love carol Burnett.
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Post by Bara on Jun 13, 2013 6:12:19 GMT -5
Terrie, daughter mine, you're too young to remember Carol Burnett.
Tee, I think Classical Gas IS a classic. I didn't know about all his other credits. Impressive!
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Post by Bara on Jun 13, 2013 6:43:16 GMT -5
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