Yakety Sax
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| "Yakety Sax" | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Boots Randolph | |
| B-side | "I Really Don't Want to Know" |
| Released | 1963 |
| Format | 45 rpm |
| Genre | Zydeco |
| Length | 1:59 |
| Label | Monument Records |
| Writer(s) | Spider Rich |
| Producer | Fred Foster |
"Yakety Sax" is a piece of music written by James Q. "Spider" Rich and popularized by saxophonist Boots Randolph.
The composition includes pieces of assorted fiddle tunes such as "Chicken Reel", and was written for a performance at a venue called The Armory in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Two bars of "Entrance of the Gladiators" are also worked into it.
The song is not to be confused with the Leiber and Stoller song "Yakety Yak", recorded in 1958 by The Coasters. The tunes are similar, and both feature the "yakety sax" sound, but have distinct melodies. Randolph first recorded "Yakety Sax" that year for RCA Victor, but the song did not become a hit until his re-recording for Monument Records in 1963, which reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
[edit] Other noteworthy performances
- Guitarist Chet Atkins recorded a variant version of "Yakety Sax" in 1965 called "Yakety Axe". Atkins' version used a similar tempo and showcased his country guitar picking style in place of a saxophone. The title change referred to the colloquial term for an electric guitar as an "axe". In 1990 he collaborated with Mark Knopfler on the album Neck and Neck where he recorded a slower-tempo version, with verses composed by Merle Travis that he recited rhythmically to the music.
- Bill Haley & His Comets recorded "Yakety Sax" on three occasions: for Orfeón of Mexico in 1964, for Guest Star Records of the US in 1964, and for Sonet Records of Sweden in 1968. and it was a staple of their live performances, usually featuring saxophonist Rudy Pompilli.
- An electronic version (titled "Yakety Moog") was recorded on the album Country Moog - Switched on Nashville by Gil Trythall.[1]
- Sax Player Marty Maggio released on BSW Records in Early 2011.[2]
[edit] Television, film and radio
"Yakety Sax" is often used in television and film as a soundtrack for outlandishly humorous situations. It was frequently used to accompany comedic sketches in the comedy programme The Benny Hill Show,[3] where it accompanied otherwise silent, rapidly paced comedy sequences typically involving a farcical chase scene. This use of the piece, and the chase scenes themselves, have been parodied in many other movies and TV shows.
The piece is featured in the 2005 film V for Vendetta, playing during a TV comedy skit which Gordon Dietrich, played by Stephen Fry, writes without censor approval. The piece is also used in the 1987 comedy film Rags to Riches with Joseph Bologna and Douglas Seale. It also appears in the 2006 Dreamworks movie Flushed Away. A variation of the theme was used in an episode of animated TV series Back at the Barnyard and in the episode Quest for Ratings of the cartoon series South Park. The piece was also featured in The Simpsons' episode "A Star Is Born - Again".
Jim Rome, host of the sports talk show The Jim Rome Show, uses "Yakety Sax" to make light of bad situations. When a sports figure makes a bad move or is wronged, he will usually play it preceding a line, trying to illustrate that "Yakety Sax" makes everything better. Jim Rome plays "Yakety Sax" numerous times during a program, making it a big running joke on the show. According to "Jungle" lore, anything is funny as long as "Yakety Sax" is playing at the same time. This has become a moderately common genre of video on YouTube in which disastrous/tragic scenes from films, television shows, and video games are paired with this song. There is also an entire website dedicated to replacing soundtracks from YouTube videos with Yakety Sax called "The Benny Hillifier".
In the Baltimore, Maryland area, "Yakety Sax" was more popularly known as "The Lorenzo Stomp" as it was a regular feature on a local children's television show starring Gerry Wheeler, who portrayed a clown. As a regular feature on the show the television audience was invited to get up to dance "The Lorenzo Stomp" along with Lorenzo.[4]
"Home James...", from the James Bond spoof "Casino Royale" was re-arranged as "Bond Street", appearing on Burt Bacharach's album Reach Out and on a 45. It bears a fair resemblance to the non-Casino Royale-related instrumental, "Yakety Sax" (as frequently heard on The Benny Hill Show).
Remixed by a Russian project "Classic Dance", this track was released in 1999 on the "Dvigai Popoi 6" compilation.
[edit] References
- ^ "Gil Trythall's Yakety Moog". Synthtopia. 27 January 2009. http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2009/01/27/gil-trythall-yakety-moog/. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ^ ""Yes" Country". CD Baby. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/martymaggio.
- ^ "Boots Randolph, 80; versatile musician recorded `Yakety Sax’". Los Angeles Times. 4 July 2007. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/04/local/me-randolph4. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
- ^ "TV's Lorenzo The Tramp". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ87TXPjIiw.
