Thursday 13 January 2011

Minneapolis Music Lessons: Classical Gas - An Enigma Of Modern Music

By Geoff McAlister


Classical Gas is among the most requested and most well known instrumental pieces of all time. In an episode of The Simpsons called "Last Exit to Springfield", Homer leads the workers of the nuclear power plant in a strike to recover their lost dental plan. Although they picket the plant, Lisa plays a bleak worker's song. As she finishes, Lenny shouts, "Play Classical Gas". Lisa plays the guitar and everyone watching the episode on TV goes, "Oh, yeah, THAT tune!" Classical Gas is always asked for whenever a bunch of people and a nylon string acoustic guitar are in the same room. It is not truly a fantastic technical showcase for finger style guitarists however it is an excellent vehicle to flaunt the sound of the classical guitar.

Classical Gas was released into the world in 1968. A song by The Doors prevented it from turning into a number 1 hit but it continued to be in the second place for two weeks. 40 years later, it's still among the most familiar tunes of all time and, along with The Anonymous Romance and Leucona's Malaguena considered to be an essential element of the classical guitar repertoire. And nobody can say why.

The impact of Classical Gas is way more than the sum of its parts. You will find very few musical ideas in the tune. It's mainly repetition of a theme made up of a few notes. There are a couple of parts which are unforgettable "surprises" making use of syncopation, scales, strums, and abrupt time signature changes. In some way all of the bits link together just like pearls on a necklace, and the final note contributes a sublime resolution.

The composer, Mason Williams, states on his web site, "I did not truly have any big plans for it, except for perhaps 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." Mason Williams' day job was as a comedy writer and stand-up comedian who had lots of other projects besides writing a classical guitar instrumental.

It was Mason Williams' work on the Smothers Brothers' "Comedy Hour" which gave him the opportunity to have his pet composition heard by the American public. The original score of the piece shows just chords and a few notes. Mason Williams had a twenty three year old composer called Mike Post finish off the arrangement.

At the Grammys, it won Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Performance for Mason Williams and Best Instrumental Arrangement for Mike Post who has had a career full of triumphs in the field of TV theme music. His latest victory is the theme(s) for the "Law And Order" series.

Classical Gas has been used as the theme music for several news programs, the background music for the Apollo 4 movie, and presented in numerous other movies and TV shows. Many individuals have mistakenly attributed Mason Williams' solo version of the tune for a cover by Eric Clapton.

Classical Gas is quite an easy piece to play, the challenge is to play it with passion and dynamics simply because it appears to non-guitarists, more challenging to play than it truly is. Perhaps this is the reason it is among the most requested guitar pieces of all time.






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