Classical Gas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Classical Gas" is an instrumental piece written by Mason Williams. The title of the song was originally "Classical Gasoline" but was changed to "Classical Gas" by the music copyist. On the original recording, Williams plays guitar and is accompanied by an orchestral backing. It was released in February 1968 from the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record. In August 1968 it reached Number 2 on the American charts and went on to sell over a million copies (the song also topped the Billboard Easy Listening survey). Williams re-recorded the tune as a solo guitar piece on his 1970 album Hand Made. He also recorded a version with Mannheim Steamroller in 1987.
The composer, Mason Williams, was the head writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the time of the song's release. The song saw its television premiere on the show and Williams performed it several times over several editions. After the song 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 a visual effect now known as kinestasis. The pioneering work, "3000 Years of Art", premiered in the summer of 1968 and may have helped push the song high on the charts.[1][2]
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[edit] Awards
- In 1969 the piece won three Grammy awards: Best Instrumental Composition, Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental, and Best Instrumental Arrangement.
- In 1998 Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) awarded Williams a special Citation of Achievement. The piece has logged over five million broadcast performances to become BMI's all-time number-one instrumental composition for radio air play.
[edit] Miscellanea
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- There is a common misconception that Eric Clapton covered Classical Gas; a misconception so strong that Mason Williams released a statement on his www.classicalgas.com website, "Did Eric Clapton Ever record 'Classical Gas?'[3]
- Used as the theme music for Granada Television's watchdog broadcast "This is your right" running from 1972 to 1986.
- In the 1970s and 1980s, several local area television news programs in the United States and Canada used it as their theme song.[4] The song also forms the basis for an identically titled television news theme, published by a now-defunct company called Telesound.[5]
- NASA used it as the background music for the Apollo 4 mission film.
- This song is played in the 2003 movie Cheaper By The Dozen, in a series of scenes when the family are looking for their son Mark, who ran away.
- The complete list of artists to release a copy of Classical Gas can be found on the Classical Gas Website.
- In The Simpsons episode "Last Exit to Springfield", Lenny asks Lisa, who is playing a guitar, to play Classical Gas, which she does.
- Used in TV show Frasier in episode titled "The Great Crane Robbery."
- Features in scenes of 2000 Australian film, The Dish.
- Classical Gas is used as the title of a season five episode of the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas.
- The song Classical Gas is played by Phillip in the Lifetime Original Movie Miracle Run.
