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.
"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 Brothersprotégé,[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]
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.
Midnight String Quartet covered the song on their 1968 album The Look of Love and Other Rhapsodies for Young Lovers. In Canada, this version was co-charted with the Mason Williams version and they reached number two on the RPM magazine charts.[22]
A college marching band plays the song at a basketball game in the 1971 film Drive, He Said.
The progressive rock band Beggars Opera (band) recorded a cover which was released on their "Get Your Dog Off Me!" album in 1973
Under the name Synergy, Larry Fast recorded an electronic version for the album Sequencer in 1976.[25] This version has served as the theme song for the WUSB (FM) radio program, Destinies-The Voice of Science Fiction since 1983.
Argentine virtuoso guitarist Cacho Tirao (member of the Astor Piazzolla quintet) recorded the song along with Jorge Padín and Manolo Juárez for their 1980 album Encuentro.[26]
Dutch violinist Judy Schomper and flautist Berdien Stenberg (then still performing under her real name of Steunenberg) recorded a version for their 1980 LP Secret Gardens, performed on violin and concert flute.
In 1983, Hong Kong Cantopop singer/music producer George Lam put Chinese lyrics to the music and turned it into a Cantopop song, entitled “Love Story” in Chinese. It can be found on the album bearing the same title.
Chet Atkins recorded the song for his 1986 album "Street Dreams".
Australian actor and musician Daniel Amalm released a cover of "Classical Gas" in 1996 that peaked at number 31 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart that May.[28]
^ abWilliams, Mason. "Writing "Classical Gas"". ClassicalGas.com. I envisioned it as simply repertoire or "fuel" for the classical guitar, so I called it Classical Gasoline.
