Classical Gas

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"Classical Gas"
Single by Mason Williams
from the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record
B-side"Long Time Blues"
ReleasedApril 1968[1]
Genre
Length3:00
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Mason Williams
Producer(s)Mike Post
Audio sample

"Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by American guitarist Mason Williams with instrumental backing by members of the Wrecking Crew.[2] Originally released in 1968 on the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, it has been rerecorded and rereleased numerous times since by Williams. One later version served as the title track of a 1987 album by Williams and the band Mannheim Steamroller.

History[edit]

Originally named "Classical Gasoline", the tune was envisioned to be "fuel" for the classical guitar repertoire. The title was later inadvertently shortened by a music copyist.[3] Mike Post, later famous for television theme music, was a producer and arranger for the song.

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 10, Williams asked an experimental filmmaker named Dan McLaughlin to adjust a student video montage that he had created of classical art works using Beethoven's 5th Symphony and edit it in time to "Classical Gas", using the visual effect now known as kinestasis. The work, 3000 Years of Art, premiered in 1968 on an episode of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The song peaked at number two for two weeks in August that year,[4] behind "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors. On the US Easy Listening chart, it went to number one for three weeks.[5]

"Classical Gas" is sometimes erroneously thought to have been performed, or even composed, by Eric Clapton, because Clapton was the musical director of, and played much of the guitar music for, the feature film The Story of Us, in which Williams' own recording of it from his album Handmade appeared.[6]

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, which starred Williams' Smothers Brothers protégé,[7] actor/comedian/musician Steve Martin.

Williams’ original version of “Classical Gas” was also used on the soundtrack of the popular 2000 Australian movie The Dish.[8]

In the mid-to-late 1970s and early 1980s Williams' version of "Classical Gas" was used by television stations across the United States as their opening news themes. News music company Telesound followed with an identically-named and quicker-tempo version of the song for television stations to use.[9][10]

Awards and honors[edit]

Chart history[edit]

Cover versions and later versions[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Classical Gas / Long Time Blues - Mason Williams". 45cat. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  2. ^ Hartman, Kent (2012). The Wrecking Crew. St. Martin’s Griffin. pp. 261–263. ISBN 978-1-250-03046-7.
  3. ^ a b Williams, Mason. "Writing "Classical Gas"". ClassicalGas.com. I envisioned it as simply repertoire or "fuel" for the classical guitar, so I called it Classical Gasoline.
  4. ^ "Classical Gas Original Video". Classicalgas.com. 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 259.
  6. ^ "Classical Gas FAQ". Classicalgas.com. 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  7. ^ Bianculli, David (2010). Dangerously Funny. Simon & Schuster. pp. 193–194. ISBN 978-1-4391-0117-9.
  8. ^ "The Dish (2000) - Soundtracks - IMDb". IMDb.
  9. ^ "News Music Search Archive - Classical Gas (Telesound)". News Music Search Archive. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  10. ^ "News Music Search Archive - Classical Gas (Mason Williams)". News Music Search Archive. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  11. ^ "Go-Set Australian charts - 2 October 1968". Poparchives.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  12. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1968-08-19. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  13. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Classical Gas". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  14. ^ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  15. ^ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. 1968-09-03. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  16. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  17. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, August 10, 1968". Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  18. ^ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. 1995-11-18. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  19. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  20. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1968/Top 100 Songs of 1968". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  21. ^ "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1968". Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  22. ^ "The RPM 100" (PDF). Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  23. ^ "Discogs entry for he-Alan-Copeland-Singers-Classical-Gas-Scarborough-Fair". Discogs. 1968.
  24. ^ "The Ventures – More Golden Greats". Discogs.com. 1970. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  25. ^ "Synergy (3) - Sequencer (Vinyl, LP, Album)". Discogs.com. 1976. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  26. ^ "Cacho tirao - Encuentro (Inédito)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  27. ^ "Zlatko - To One Woman (CD, Album)". Discogs.com. 1995. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  28. ^ "Australian-charts.com – Daniel Amalm – Classical Gas". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  29. ^ "Weird Al Yankovic - Classical Gas". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved March 25, 2020.

External links[edit]