View source for Classical Gas

{{Short description|1968 instrumental musical piece}}
{{other uses}}
{{In popular culture|date=July 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2010}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = Classical Gas
| cover      = Classical_Gas_-_Mason_Williams.jpeg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Mason Williams]]
| album      = [[The Mason Williams Phonograph Record]]
| B-side     = Long Time Blues
| released   = April 1968<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/7190|title=Classical Gas / Long Time Blues - Mason Williams|publisher=45cat|access-date=2019-10-25}}</ref>
| recorded   =
| studio     =
| genre      = *[[Baroque pop]]
*[[easy listening]]
*[[classical music]]
*[[instrumental]]
*[[classical crossover]]
| length     = 3:00
| label      = [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]]
| writer     = Mason Williams
| producer   = [[Mike Post]]
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
| misc       = {{Audio sample
 | type = single
 | file = Classical Gas.ogg
}}
}}
"'''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 (music)|the Wrecking Crew]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Kent |last=Hartman |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312619749/page/261 261–263] |year=2012 |title=The Wrecking Crew |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312619749 |url-access=registration |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press|St. Martin’s Griffin]] |isbn=978-1-250-03046-7}}</ref>  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 [[Classical Gas (Mason Williams and Mannheim Steamroller album)|1987 album]] by Williams and the band [[Mannheim Steamroller]].

==History==
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]].<ref name=story/> [[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 film]]maker named [[Dan McLaughlin (filmmaker)|Dan McLaughlin]] to adjust a student video [[Montage (filmmaking)|montage]] that he had created of classical art works using [[Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|5th Symphony]] and edit it in time to "Classical Gas", using the visual effect now known as [[wikt:kinestasis|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,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicalgas.com/gasvideo.html |title= Classical Gas Original Video |website=Classicalgas.com |date=2013-04-08 |access-date= 2016-10-01}}</ref> behind "[[Hello, I Love You]]" by [[The Doors]]. On the US [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Easy Listening]] chart, it went to number one for three weeks.<ref>{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001|last=Whitburn |first= Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year= 2002 |publisher=Record Research |page=259}}</ref>

"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 (1999 film)|The Story of Us]]'', in which Williams' own recording of it from his album ''Handmade'' appeared.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.classicalgas.com/gasfaq.html |title=Classical Gas FAQ |website=Classicalgas.com |date=2013-04-08 |access-date= 2016-10-01}}</ref>

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 (2003 film)|Cheaper by the Dozen]]'', which starred Williams' ''Smothers Brothers'' protégé,<ref>{{Cite book|title= Dangerously Funny|last=Bianculli|first=David|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4391-0117-9|pages= 193–194}}</ref> 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]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/soundtrack/ | title=The Dish (2000) - Soundtracks - IMDb | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

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 [[Television news music|opening news themes]].  News music company Telesound followed with an identically-named and quicker-tempo version of the song for television stations to use.<ref name="NMSACG1">{{cite web|url=http://www.newsmusicsearcharchive.com/#3,1,604|title=News Music Search Archive - Classical Gas (Telesound)|accessdate=February 8, 2020|work=News Music Search Archive}}</ref><ref name="NMSACG2">{{cite web|url=http://www.newsmusicsearcharchive.com/#3,1,222|title=News Music Search Archive - Classical Gas (Mason Williams)|accessdate=February 8, 2020|work=News Music Search Archive}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* In 1969, the piece won three [[Grammy Award]]s: [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition|Best Instrumental Composition]], [[Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance|Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental]], and [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement|Best Instrumental Arrangement]].<ref name=story>{{cite web|last=Williams |first=Mason |title=Writing "Classical Gas"|url=http://www.classicalgas.com/gasstory.html|website=ClassicalGas.com | quote = I envisioned it as simply repertoire or "fuel" for the classical guitar, so I called it ''Classical Gasoline''. }}</ref>
* 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 [[musical composition|composition]] for radio air play.

==Chart history==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Weekly charts===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+Mason Williams
|-
!Chart (1968)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Australia (''[[Go-Set]]'')<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1968/19681002.html|title=Go-Set Australian charts - 2 October 1968|website=Poparchives.com.au|access-date=August 16, 2019|archive-date=6 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306195048/http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1968/19681002.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5838&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5838.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5838|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1968-08-19 |access-date=2019-03-08}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|{{singlechart|Ireland2|18|song=Classical Gas|access-date=March 18, 2019}}
|-
|New Zealand (''[[New Zealand Listener|Listener]]'')<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search+listener&qartistid=706#n_view_location|title=flavour of new zealand - search listener|website=Flavourofnz.co.nz|access-date=August 16, 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
|[[UK Singles Chart|UK]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/classical-gas/ |title=Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |date=1968-09-03 |access-date=2019-03-08}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
|U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|U.S. ''Billboard'' [[Easy Listening]]
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|U.S. [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19680810.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 Singles, August 10, 1968|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812081429/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19680810.html|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|align="center"|1
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+Vanessa-Mae
|-
!Chart (1995)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|[[UK Singles Chart|UK]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/classical-gas/ |title=Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |date=1995-11-18 |access-date=2019-03-18}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|41
|-
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1968)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|Canada<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.5867&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada|website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca|access-date=August 16, 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|54
|-
|U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1968.htm|title=Top 100 Hits of 1968/Top 100 Songs of 1968|website=Musicoutfitters.com|access-date=August 16, 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|43
|-
|U.S. ''Cash Box''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1968YESP.html|title=Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1968|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009061908/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1968YESP.html|archive-date=October 9, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|58
|-
|}
{{col-end}}

==Cover versions and later versions==
* As Williams was a writer for ''[[The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour]]'', star [[Glen Campbell]] covered the song multiple times on the show.
* [[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)|RPM]]'' magazine charts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.5838.pdf |title=The RPM 100 |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |access-date=October 1, 2016}}</ref>
*In 1968, the [[Alan Copeland]] singers recorded a song that combined "Classical Gas" with [[Scarborough Fair (ballad)|"Scarborough Fair"]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/1503006-The-Alan-Copeland-Singers-Classical-Gas-Scarborough-Fair| title=Discogs entry for he-Alan-Copeland-Singers-Classical-Gas-Scarborough-Fair| website=[[Discogs]]| year=1968}}</ref>
* [[The Ventures]] recorded a cover for the album ''More Golden Greats'', released in 1969.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ventures – More Golden Greats |url=https://www.discogs.com/The-Ventures-More-Golden-Greats/master/188099 |website=Discogs.com|year=1970 |access-date=August 16, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Paul Mauriat]] and his Orchestra recorded a cover for the album ''[[Gone Is Love]]'', released in 1970.
* [[Hugo Montenegro]] and his Orchestra recorded a cover for the album ''The Best Of Hugo Montenegro'', released in 1970.
*Deep Feeling, UK prog-rock band, recorded the song on their 1971 album, ''Deep Feeling''.
* [[Rick Wakeman]], the British [[progressive rock]] [[keyboardist]], performed a version for piano on the 1971 album ''[[Piano Vibrations]]''.
*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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Synergy-Sequencer/release/2737844 |title=Synergy (3) - Sequencer (Vinyl, LP, Album) |website=Discogs.com |year=1976 |access-date=October 1, 2016}}</ref> This version has served as the theme song for the [[WUSB (FM)]] radio program, ''Destinies-The Voice of Science Fiction'' since 1983.
*[[The Shadows]] recorded a version for their 1979 album ''[[String of Hits|String Of Hits]]''.
*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''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5lve_nTCos |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/G5lve_nTCos |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Cacho tirao - Encuentro (Inédito)|date=26 May 2014 |publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=August 16, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* 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 [[Western concert flute|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".
*[[Vanessa-Mae]] recorded the song for her 1994 album ''[[The Violin Player]]''.
* [[Zlatko Manojlović]], Serbian guitarist, included the song on his 1995 album ''Zlatko''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Zlatko-Zlatko-1995/release/2030797 |title=Zlatko - To One Woman (CD, Album) |website=Discogs.com |year=1995 |access-date=October 1, 2016}}</ref>
* [[Tommy Emmanuel]] recorded the song with the [[Australian Philharmonic Orchestra]] on his 1996 album, ''[[Classical Gas (Tommy Emmanuel album)|Classical Gas]]''.
* 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Daniel+Amalm&titel=Classical+Gas&cat=s|title=Australian-charts.com – Daniel Amalm – Classical Gas|publisher=[[ARIA Charts|ARIA Top 50 Singles]]|access-date=January 30, 2021}}</ref>
* [[California Guitar Trio]] released a cover version on their 1998 album ''Pathways''. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1050424-California-Guitar-Trio-Pathways |title=California Guitar Trio - Pathways|publisher=[[Discogs]]|website=Discogs.com|date=1998 |access-date=April 17, 2024}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1968 (U.S.)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.classicalgas.com/}}
* {{Official website|http://www.masonwilliams-online.com/|Official Mason Williams website}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1960s instrumentals]]
[[Category:1968 singles]]
[[Category:1968 songs]]
[[Category:Cashbox number-one singles]]
[[Category:Glen Campbell songs]]
[[Category:Rock instrumentals]]
[[Category:Songs written by Mason Williams]]
[[Category:Television news music packages]]
[[Category:Warner Records singles]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Post]]