The Melody Spin Song Encyclopedia

“Classical Gas is one of those selections you hear once and never forget. We had such a great time rearranging and recording this classical guitar piece. Classical Gas is also a song that inspired me to play classical guitar. Mason, you should have done a few more like this!” - Darren Curtis Skanson

Classical Gas 2000 (1968 Irving Music, Inc. (BMI)) This “Classical Gas” still uses the classical guitar as its central instrument but has a chamber orchestra to fill out the sound. Even without the percusion, Darren’s nimble classical guitar licks and driving style will have your foot tapping. The original classical guitar recording of Classical Gas by Mason Williams was released in February 1968 from the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record. In August 1968 Classical Gas reached the top 5 in the American charts and went on to sell over a million copies and won three Grammy awards.

Classical Gas has appeared in many pop culture settings. Lisa Simpson played it in the 1993 Simpsons episode Last Exit to Springfield and Frasier Crane played Classical Gas on his CD player while testing his new furniture in the 2000 episode The Great Crane Robbery. Also, Mannheim Steamroller re-recorded Classical Gas, along with other compositions by Williams, in their album of the same name. On internet file sharing programs, the song is sometimes credited (incorrectly) to Eric Clapton or The Shadows. The version often credited to Clapton on various tabbing websites is actually performed by Mark Knopfler; this was recorded but never released on any of his albums.

Mason Williams emerged in the late 1960’s as a strong force in television and music circles. He is most widely known as composer and recording artist of mega hit Classical Gas, which won three Grammy Awards for: “Best Instrumental Composition”, “Best Instrumental Performance”, and “Best Instrumental Orchestra Arrangement” (Mike Post, arranger).

In 1998, Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI), presented Mason with a Special Citation of Achievement in recognition of the great national and international popularity of Classical Gas. It has logged over three million broadcast performances to become the number one all time instrumental composition for air play in BMI’s repertoire, replacing the previous #1 tune, The Theme From Moulin Rouge, by Michel Legrande, released in 1953.

The Story of Classical Gas by Mason Williams
I had just finished my first season as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS, and was taking the summer off to work on a couple of art projects; a life-sized photographic poster of a Greyhound Bus, and the world’s largest Sunflower (see Art Projects by Mason Williams). I hadn’t been playing the guitar very much during the past few months, having had to concentrate on writing comedy for the show. After a wild two week gig with Tom and Dick in Las Vegas (… I don’t think we slept at all…. I remember virtually living in my sunglasses), I came back to L.A., slept for a couple of days, got up and spent an entire weekend alone with the guitar. It felt so good to get back to my old friend that I decided to compose something. I didn’t really have any big plans for it, other than maybe to have a piece to play at parties when they passed the guitar around. I envisioned it as simply repertoire or “fuel” for the classical guitar, so I called it Classical Gasoline.

During the second season of The Comedy Hour, which began in the fall of 1968, I worked on the piece off and on for a couple of months in between writing comedy bits. There was a lot going on in those days. As well as the show, I was also writing my own songs, poems, and books.

 The influences the Comedy Hour exerted on me were enormous. I was like a chameleon, constantly changing with the ebb and flow of the cultural revolution. The show featured a wide variety of musical guests, including many of the big names of pop music and rock and roll, each with a unique artistic style and creative philosophy. It was one hell of an education! In addition to being a regular variety show, The Comedy Hour endeavored to provide a platform for the artistic expressions of counterculture. They engaged in a censorship battle with CBS and in doing so developed a reputation for being “controversial”. As a consequence, the show became so popular that America plugged into our weekly battles with the network censors. One of the major battles we won early in the game was the right to present new groups and their music on prime-time variety TV. The network’s position up until this time had been that music presented on variety shows should be established Americana, pop hits, or songs from Broadway shows.

Because the show had succeeded in creating a place for artists to present new songs to a large audience before they might become hits, instead of after, the show attracted the attention of some of the major record companies. Warner Bros. Records told Tom Smothers that the wanted to add ten new artists to the label. Since my music and ideas had been an integral part of the Comedy Hour’s success, Tom suggested, “Why not give Mason a shot.” Warner Bros. agreed, so I became one of the ten, along with Jimi Hendrix, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks and others. So, in addition to its impact on me and my work, The Comedy Hour was also directly responsible for my getting the chance to become a recording artist on the Warner Bros. label.

I began to record The Mason Williams Phonograph Record (my first album for Warner Bros.) that fall and Classical Gasoline was one of the tunes to be included. On the parts for the session the music copyist inadvertently abbreviated Gasoline to Gas and so that’s how it actually got its title. It truly wasn’t until sometime later that I realized most people were thinking that Gas meant to be hip, as in “Hey man, it’s a gas!” The single was released from the album in February of ‘68 and it hit the top of the charts in August. It won three Grammy awards: two for me, Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Performance; and one for Mike Post, Best Instrumental Arrangement.

It still receives a fair amount of air play and I am delighted that it has become a utilitarian piece of music that people have embraced for use in their own creative endeavors. It has been used as music for videos and films, routines for dancers, ice skaters, gymnasts, body builders, etc. It was also used as the music theme for local TV news shows and sports programs. It was also played by a lot of school bands on football and basketball halftime shows.