First time hearing of Mason Williams - Classical Gas (Reaction!)
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- Опубліковано 12 січ 2025
- Beautiful, beautiful song. Makes me want a nylon string guitar so bad.
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I met Mason back in 1976. He married my aunt Kandi, so he was my uncle for a while. (Sadly, the marriage didn't last.) He was also the head writer for the Smothers Brothers television show way back when and gave Steve Martin his first big break in show business.
Steve Martin took banjo lessons from my great uncle Walt in Torrance Cali. He and his wife gave music lessons back in the day.
Interesting.
He played everyone of those instruments in that musical
"nothing too complex".... ehhhh, you might want to give the song another listen. Classical Gas by Mason Williams has 17 time signature changes throughout the two and a half minute song. It switches between 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, and 6/4.
I recall it was just about the only instrumental to become a big hit on radio in that era, and it caught fire with guitarists for sure.
@@MissLibertarian That is not true. LOTS of cool instrumentals from all genres playing on TOP 40 radio back then! Just do a search for "Popular Instrumentals from 1960s"!
One of my faves from around the same time as this song, was "Grazin' In the Grass" - the OG version by Hugh Masekela!! Both of those songs were at the top of the charts at almost the same time!
High school band director was bouncing around, emphasizing the time signatures. I think the changes are my favorite part of this piece.
@@MissLibertarian This assertion completely ignores Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass and their instrumentals. Take a listen to the album "Whipped Cream and Other Delights".
Very complex ❗️
Especially the Acoustic version.
What amazes me is so many of you kids haven’t heard this stuff before. For me it’s just what I know. I love your interest.
Seems like one of those songs that most people have heard but don't know the name. Also huge in the gymnast world lol.
The Smothers Brothers’ Show was my introduction to CLASSICAL GAS!!!
I was watching that night.
Me too, 12yo
He played all of those instruments and if you notice, all of the pictures of people playing instruments in the background are him!
Please, people. Nobody loves Mason as much as I do. He did not play the orchestral version. That was orchestrated by Mike Post. Listen to "Handmade", the album that has a version of "Classical Gas" that is a solo on guitar. Let's not get carried away here.
@ beg pardon, I see your point. I did not mean to imply that he did all of the orchestral work, I just wanted to point out that he was playing the instruments in each of the pictures behind him. I wrote that in too much of a rush.
@@debbiewashabaugh9891 My bad, Debbie. I thought later that you might have been speaking tongue in cheek. So glad to see Mason finally getting his due as the great artist that he is.
We who were in existence in the late 50's to the late 70's received the incredible gift of many different music genres that we could hear on the radio and TV. And, depending on our pocketbook, we could buy the single 45, the album, tickets to live shows, the cassette tape, reel to reel tape, the CD.
Those songs became the soundtrack of our lives. They evoke memories. They stay with us. They make us smile. They make us melancholy. And sometimes they make us cry.
1956 👍
So very well said..!
I think if you were around for this time you should ne interested in modern music, not American that is all crap now, but check out the East Asia scene Korea, China and Japan have the best music now.
@gerardcote8391 Gerard, I HAVE listened to today's music from around the world. My parents (born in 1916) and grandparents (born in 1875) grew to love some of of the music of the 50's, 60's, and 70's. But their favorite music was the music of their youth when they were in school, working in the jobs they had dreamed of, falling in love, travelling, making new friends, being involved in activities, looking their best, buying their first homes, etc.
Permit people to enjoy the music that is meaningful to them. And don't worry that people my age never listen to current music. They had to listen to the music of their children and now the music of their grandchildren.
I promise you that I will respect your musical choices and I won't try to convince you that the music I like the most should be your favorite.
This was a runaway hit record in the summer of 1968. You heard it on all of the rock and pop radio stations. Everybody loved this recording.
This is one of those song a lot of guitarists have difficulty getting the time signatures right with. However there are 2 other versions you need to view.
1 is a cover by Tommy Emmanuel. He is a guitarist of well know regard, from Austraila. His take on the tune is legendary. He employs a lot of guitar body slaps and knocks for rythym. He tours frequently and if you see he is in your town, you would be well served to attend. The 2nd video is probably the most unique. A 10 year old in Vietnam playing Tommys version of Masons song pracrically note for note...on a ukulele. No joke.
Tommy E. is amazing.
@@sourisvoleur4854 I get motion sickness watch him. Unbelievably fast.
That's one of those that you will never forget. Ole Guy
I saw this on the Smothers Brothers show back in 1968
I was 12 years old when this came out. Fell in love with it immediately- I still have my 45 record of this.
Back in the 70s, before it was trendy, as it has been recently, I named my only child Mason, after Mason Williams, just because of this song. I could never hear it enough.
I was 7, mom and I were driving to Dairy Queen in her 1964 Chevy Malibu SS convertible. The top was down and the AM radio was playing.
I heard this song. Fell in love with it immediately.
It is still in my top 5 all time favorites to this day.
So glad others are discovering this beautiful fantastic piece.
📻🙂
Tommy Emmanuel has my favorite version of "Classical Gas"
He plays the orchestra part also. Amazing guitarist.
Man, this song and songs like it, is what made the late 60s early 70’s such a great time to be young. It came out of nowhere, competing with the British invasion and the beginnings of hard rock. And we LOVED it! Our Minds were OPEN!!!!
And a lot of the better guitarists of the day did their own version of this. Steve Howe of Yes comes to mind.
For me it recalls hits like Love Is Blue, Popcorn, ….for starters.
I loved Popcorn!
This song is the ultimate in creativity!
Williams wrote this. There are good covers, including one by Glen Campbell. But it's his song.
Williams was actually involved in all kinds of artistic endeavor. He was the head showwriter for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which is where he first performed this song. I saw its original broadcast in 1968.
Jim Stafford did it too. I remember seeing him do it on tv
He first performed this on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour behind a montage of 2000 years of art pictures. The combination of the montage and Williams guitar solo was mesmerizing. I've never seen the video of the art being flashed on the screen with the song behind it. I think it may have been lost.
@@isinlarsa5996 Yup, I remember that.
Mason lived in my hometown. Early 80s he brought his bike tire in for repair at the gas station I worked for. Super down to earth person. We had that album with the greyhound bus on it. Great songwriter.
That big bus that was behind him at the beginning was actually his book"Bus" that was a fold out of a full size bus. He has a great sense of humor.
Back in the day there were a lot of instrumental songs. Because rock was new, everyone was out to prove how good they were. Love this! Thank you
For me, one of the best instrumentals of all time❤️
My sister had this 45,and I would listen to it as often as she would let me! First time seeing it and I LOVE IT! Definitely going in my playlist!
In the late 60s there were a few instrumentals that got to # 1j the charts. This, Love is Blue and the Love theme from Romeo and Juliet comre to mind
This is one of my all-time favorite instrumentals. I remember watching this on television in the late 1960's. This music was often used to accompany videos about the outdoors and sporting events, it had that kind of dynamic quality to it.
The first time I heard this instrumental was on TV around 1968. I fell in love with this piece immediately. It put me in a euphoric state of mind. The flip side to the 45 RPM single of this piece is another Mason Williams composition called Baroque-A-Nova, an instrumental as fascinating as Classical Gas.
This song really came to national prominence on the Smothers Brothers show in the late 60's.
I got married in 1968. Mason Williams was one of our favorite musicians.
I was born in '64, the 6th (and last) member of a family of music lovers. This is one of my earliest music memories. Still love this song.
Mason also recorded this in guitar only, no accompaniment. He, along with Steve Martin and Rob Reiner were some of the comedy writers for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS. You need to watch those for a few belly laughs. "Lonesome" George Gobel sang "You Done Stomped On My Heart (and mashed that sucker flat). Tommy Smothers had fun telling stories about some folk songs, and was also The Yo-Yo Man who often was in a state of YO. Look up Smothers Brothers and Hippie Chick, and then Hippie Chick giving the national climate report. Poor Dicky Smothers had to try to hold them all together--he earned his pay!
This still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!
There is also a smoking hot version of this by Glen Campbell with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert for PBS. Just BTW - did you notice that Mason was ALL the cardboard cutouts playing all the orchestral instruments?
It brings back great memories of the Smothers Brothers and the incredible talent on that show. It's where I first saw Mason Williams and heard Classical Gas.
It is because of this song that I have a guitar. My parents and I were walking through a Sam's-Club-type store that had a "sample" guitar out on display. I picked it up and plucked out a few notes just to get my bearings, and then began to play a slow, tentative, but still recognizable semblance of the melody line to "Classical Gas". My father was so impressed that he bought me one of those guitars right on the spot. I don't know why he was so surprised that I could do that -- all those school years I hauled bass fiddles and cellos around. I wasn't just doing it to build up shoulder muscles, you know. But all these years later, that guitar is right in my living room, leaning on the sofa, ready for me to make time for an occasional workout.
Everyone in the 60’s wanted to learn guitar. So,so many great guitarists of all types of music during that period! I was a teen but remember it well.
Every guy in the 60s wanted to learn guitar to pick up chicks and get laid. At any party, whoever pulled out a guitar was the center of attention and had his pick. That's just the facts.
The smart ones learned songs girls liked to sing to. Praise their voice, and you're in.
Mason was multi-talented: Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Comedian, and Career Launcher. He wrote comedy for The Smothers Brothers and started the Pat Paulson for President gag. More importantly, he is credited with hiring a young banjo player named Steve Martin, and helped get him started on his long career.
I owned a copy of "The Mason Williams Reading Matter", published in 1969.
It was similar to John Lenon's "In His Own Write" (1964) in that it was like a journal, recording thoughts, poems, and sight gags.
My favorite from Mason Williams was enormous handwriting in thick lines scrawled from lefthand page to right that said:
Today I bought
[you then turn the page]
a 40-pound
[again, you turn the page]
fountain pen.
There was a lovely line in the book, I forget the beginning but after the word 'pool' my memory of it is solid:
As she dove into the pool I envied the water's ability to touch her totally.
@@chris...9497 Wow, sounds like a cool book! He was enormously talented.
THANK YOU for reacting to this awesome song!
Thank you for playing one I learned on.
Annalisa Ewald taught me years ago,
First time as Volga Boatman.
So relaxing to play and of course thanks to Mason Williams!
I want to hear Volga Boatman. Any suggestions who to listen to?
@@sharonpeterson5415
I was only giving
Sheet music.
I tried to find it myself and find it being sang.
The Volga is a river in Russia but I’m sure you know that.
I grew up in the same town as Williams. In 1968 he came back to town for a community festival and gave a concert in the elementary school gym. I was 12. It was my first concert ever.
Williams played the guitar and banjo when he recorded this instrumental hit. The Wrecking Crew provided instrumental backing.
Always loved this song from the first time I heard it on TV, a long time ago. An interesting version on TV that had pre-audio, the guitar was see-through, and had water with a goldfish swimming around in it.
It became my favorite song when it came out, and I still love it. (And I can play it...mostly...on my guitar.) Mason is a legend, in many ways.
If my memory is correct, I believe that he played every instrument in this performance. Incredible. One of my favorites.
A major contributor to the radio play and tv variety shows from the 50s through the 70s were the amount of instrumental music that was produced and then released for us. There is such a wide selection. From Dick Dale and Duane Eddy, The Ventures and The Safaris, Henri Manchini and Herb Albert,Bela Fleck and Nashville Brass just to name a few:
Forty Miles Of Bad Road, Wipeout, Pipeline, Sinister Minister ,Rebel Rouser, Rumble, Theme from The Pink Panther, and Miserlou!
This was constantly on the radio back in the day, such a great instrumental song
Instrumental songs were so rare on Top 40 radio. Classical Gas captured the imaginations of every young guitar player. Including me. ❤❤❤
If you are saying that instrumentals were rare on the radio back then, then I would have to respectfully but strongly disagree!! Oh! the many wonders of Radio back in the 50s & 60s !!! But, IMO, one of the COOLEST THINGS about it was all the MANY amazing instrumentals, from all kinds of genres, all played right along with the current rock music! We got exposed to ALL kinds of music! Wasn't it wonderful?!!
@@MissAstorDancer It was really great to be exposted to music from so many different genres all played back to back on the radio. I don't think my tastes would be so far-reaching without it.
Love is Blue is a great instrumental
@@MissAstorDancerI couldn't agree more. Two instrumental rockers: Frankenstein by The Edgar Winter Group and Hocus Pocus by Focus (the studio version, not live)
Mason Williams was a writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-69) which is where this clip is from.
I did just post a comment about why the CBS network cancelled the show, but I guess my comment was cancelled! Plus ca change...
The Smother Brothers were trashing Nixon and the war too much. They got taken off the air one night and were replaced by Hee Haw. I remember that day. Me, my baby brother and mom were visiting my grandparents in Kentucky. Dad had to go back for work. Then grandma's phone rang and he said turn on CBS, showing the first episode of Hee Haw. Smothers Brothers were nowhere to be found. June 15, 1969!
There's more complexity than you realize. That it sounds simple is a tribute to the composer, Mason Williams. I'm remembering that for the first recording he played all of the instruments, laid in all of the tracks
I was 16 when this came out. Of course, I loved it because it was so different, but then music was changing so quickly at that time. This song has always stuck with me. ❤
I have to tell a short story about this song. I first fell in love with this song back in the 60's. In the late 70's my younger brother had some friends who played in a band. They were very GOOD. They were sitting on the floor one day passing an acoustic guitar around. Each one would play something. When the guitar was handed to the band's drummer, I made a joke, I "said play Classical gas". AND, HE DID! Later on my brother told me their drummer is their beat acoustic player. I asked the drummer later, and he told me the drums are his instrument. I still wonder why it occurred to me to make that ask? I get nudges sometimes. This had to be one, and I'm glad I listened to it, but I often wish this voice would be louder, and louder, so I couldn't ignore it.
Back in the day. CBS LA knew how to present a guitar piece, with dramatic curtain opens, orchestral instrumental cutouts (playing with a guidetrack), awesome lighting, brilliant camera work, etc. Learned it from CBS NY and staging the Ed Sullivan show. Back when people cared to stage something wonderful.
1968……I graduated from high school and this song was it!!!!!
I got to see him perform live in the early 70s!! He really does sound is good at his live performances!! That’s a beautiful composition! Nice reaction tell
This piece was the outro for the 6pm news on WNEP in NE Pennsylvania when I was a kid. I always ran to listen to it when I knew it was going to come on (it ran through the credits).
I have heard this hundreds of times by multiple people. Still gives me chills. 😊
The Smothers Brothers Show!! I bought the album as soon as I could find it after he played this on their show! I STILL HAVE IT‼️‼️‼️
Since I was a junior in high school, lots o memories. Including that my bro was becoming a lead guitar player. They all were learning this song. The time changes were a bit challenging, but really everybody was being school in classical music in those days.
THIS is an Amazing instrumental performance!!!
When I hear this song, I think of Houston (my home town). In the early 70's, our local CBS affiliate made a video from a plane showing our city, to this song. Back then, it was amazing. I image I am not alone. Beautiful song AND city. Thank you for reacting to it. Space City!
One of my fav pieces. Visited my family in England and once I knew my cousin could play this, I bugged him to play it every day we were visiting.
This is one of my all time favourite songs, takes me back to my summers at the cottage on Lake of the Woods!!!
Library of Congress offering, Earl Scruggs and friends play Foggie Mountain Breakdown. Many greats on one 4.4 minute musical track. ENGOY!!!!
Such a fantastic performance from the one man band. Loved this song back in the day. A complete change of pace from the singer/songwriters and bands. Just another great option in a generation of musical diversity that never gets old. Glad you covered it.
im pretty sure this isn't " live", but the studio album version. it was pretty rare to have a truly live tv performance in the 60's. Ed Sullivan was an exception
When I graduated high school and got my first real job, I decided to teach myself to play the guitar. I went to K-mart and picked up a cheap guitar and a Mel Bay guitar course. The first piece of sheet music I purchased was Classical Gas. I was nothing if not ambitious - not to mention supremely optimistic. Years later, I studied classical guitar with an actual teacher and went on to play folk music as a costumed character in a renaissance festival. Classical Gas by Mason Williams was one of the reasons I picked up the guitar in the first place.
This sure takes me back to my childhood. Such a great song.
This is one my favorite songs of the 60s. Is that video of his performance from The Smother Brothers show? I remember hearing the song first on their show. Don't remember the cardboard cut-outs for the set, but hey, they didn't matter. Just the song. It has POWER for me.
My parents and I saw him on the Smothers Brothers, so my parents went out and bought the album. I was 10, so I couldn't afford he album. I still have it tucked away in my collection.
This was one of my dad's favorite songs. He's been gone for 26 years, so this brings back some fond memories. I still have my dad's nylon string guitar that I carried back and forth to high school for 4 years. Wish I could still play well--LOL!
I used to play this back in my teenage days. ❤
Although you praised this song tremendously, you way underestimated the greatness and significance of Classical Gas. Classical Gas was the gold standard for great acoustic guitar. In a stratosphere of its own. No song compared to it in its era. When I tell people now that I used to be able to play Classical Gas, even experienced guitarists look at me in a new light. How many songs have you ever heard of that won 3 grammy awards? I doubt there were any others. Despite your missing the greatness of this song, I enjoy your channel. Keep up the good work.
The first time I heard this (around the time this came out) my jaw dropped. And I was just a little kid. Jaw still drops listening to it today.
Spectacular guitarist...Charo 'Caliente'
I has been rerecorded and rereleased numerous times since by Williams. One later version served as the title track of a 1987 album by Williams and the band Mannheim Steamroller.
I'm 74, and I can't remember the last time I heard this. It gave me goosebumps all over my body. Seriously. No talent like this these days for sure.
Many of us old timers first heard this song on the Smothers Brothers show in the late 1960's. A guy named Dan McLaughlin created a 3 minute movie showing hundreds of great pieces of art, flashing by at several pictures per second, and the show ran that movie with Classical Gas as the soundtrack. It was unbelievable. Mason Williams' UA-cam channel has the presentation here: ua-cam.com/video/viyufRQKlto/v-deo.html&ab_channel=MasonWilliams
The complexities of this one, the power, the feeling it gives me are still, every time I hear it, so inspiring! I still have it on my i-pod 🙂Pure elegance.
This was played on pop radio stations which had so much musical diversity at the time
lordy havent heard this in a good while...what a treat..thankyou...
Love this.There was a joke going around back then. "Classical Gas...what you get from eating classical beans." This was a major theme of 1968. First time I ever heard classical guitar playing with an orchestra on what was really a rock tune. It was amzing and still is. Oh, and just because there a "lack of today's" technological wizardry back then, did NOT limit anything, that's BS. I lived in that time, it's all about coming from that time's perspective, not yours. Uh, by the way, we DID put a man on the moon in 1969.
Hi Sebs! I remember this song with fondness from my youth. Thank you for tthis reaction and for the shout-out to Polyphia; I will definitely check them out!
For us high school music students in 1968 Classical Gas was radical. An inspiration. Mannheim Steamroller credits this as their inspiration. Look them up, you have heard them, especially around Christmas, but worth checking out
Mason Williams played at my church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (the Christmas City), one Christmas Eve in the 1990s. He played "Silent Night," by Franz Gruber, which was originally composed for guitar. The song was written in 1818, only 12 years after hour church sanctuary was built.
I often saw Mason Williams preforming at the Oklahoma City coffee houses in the early 60’s before he was well known.
Listened to this the year is came out; bought the 45 record, played it until I wore it out. Bought his first (...and last?) album, and wore
THAT out. Such a fun tine, energizing but also relaxing. Good reaction Sir.
I have heard portions of this composition used as an intro for NEWS programs, Documentaries, and other media for years
So many memories
I remeber playing bumper pool in biloxi at keesler AFB listening to this song over and over there was nothing else to do on the base we are just 18 years old out of high school waiting to die in viet nam this son g nad suzie Q by CCr are the deja vu markers for 1968 my graduation from high school time markers these songs are the 60 's that I am proud to be from and survived
I was born in the 70s, my Mum played a nylon strung classical guitar and she loves this track. Every time I meet a new guitarist I ask them if they can play it. ❤🔥
Mason Williams was first a comedy writer, but it's this song, which back in the '60's was played on every radio station every ten minutes, that made him famous. He wrote for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show. Tom and Dick Smothers were serious musicians in their own right with a wonderful talent for making people laugh. Check them out playing "Quando Caliente El Sol" with the Bostom Pops Orchestra conducted by John Williams who wrote the score for "Star Wars", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Jurassic Park", and on and on. ua-cam.com/video/FrU_C7toDJk/v-deo.html
I haven't heard that for years, thanks, it's still a beauty
Classical Gas by Mason WIlliams became a number one hit in the United perhaps the world I cannot remember.
You must must MUST must hear the version of "classical gas" played by Tommy Emmanuel !!
Please trust me on this your jaw will drop! As a younger man I could play the Mason WIlliams version pretty well. I cannot even come close to Tommy Emmanuel's version.
Glen Campbell and Jim Stafford do a fantastic cover of this song. Remember when this came out. Try to learn it by ear on my piano as a kid. It was all over the radio.
I was either 7 or 8 years old & still enjoy the music 🎵🎶
Great song!! I see you appreciate guitar players. One of the most prolific acoustic guitarists I have ever heard is Michael Hedges (RIP). It is the very first person I have ever seen play a guitar that sounded if there were two guitars playing at the same time, this was back in the 80's. He is the first musician I a saw pluck the strings and tap at the same time. His signature song "Aerial Boundaries" has been used in airline commercials, believe or not is how I came discover this masterful artist. I was fortunate enough to see him live in Chicago in the 90's. Sadly, he died in a car accident in 1997. I see you appreciate guitar players and I ask you to watch the video of him playing the above mentioned tune (also an instrumental) on your own when you get a moment. I know your very busy but I think you'll enjoy it. It may not be "popular music" per se but his technique is amazing. I am not a musician but certainly appreciate those who are.
And much credit needs to go to Mike Post, a very young member of the Wrecking Crew session players out of LA who wanted to be a producer. CBS threw him a bone with this song just to keep Williams happy, and Post turned it into the hit that it became. Post later went on to write the theme songs for many TV shows, including The White Shadow; Law & Order; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; The A-Team; The Byrds of Paradise; NYPD Blue; Renegade; The Rockford Files; L.A. Law; Quantum Leap; Magnum, P.I.; and Hill Street Blues,
One of my favorite road trip songs.
I have loved this piece ever since I first heard it. Mason Williams also wrote some really delightfully silly songs. One contains only four lines:
"Isn't life beautiful?
Isn't life gay?
Isn't life the perfect thing
To pass the time away?"
Then there was the one called "The Prince's Panties." ("And the prince was eaten by his panties.") Worth a listen. We can always use a good laugh.
Check out Glen Campbell at the Boston Pops doing his friend Mason's Classical Gas
Sebs, love watching your reaction videos. I remember watching this video when it first aired. (I can't remember if it was the Smothers Brothers Show.) You said that you like to listen to live versions of songs when you hear them for the first time. Two things about that. When you watch videos like this of "live" performances on TV, you're usually watching the artists lip-sync to the radio-play version of the song (or whatever the "lip-sync" version of an instrumental would be called.) I watched your reaction to Three Dog Night's "Eli's Coming." You can tell they weren't singing it live because they started goofing around during the song, yet it sounded the same as the studio version. Same with the Mamas and the Papas doing "Monday, Monday"; they're lip-syncing to the record version that the fans know. Same with Mason Williams in this video. (The cardboard cutouts of him playing the other instruments - which, like you, I loved - were obviously recorded.) More importantly, when you watch a live concert performance, you're missing the baseline for comparison to the version the fans in the audience came to the concert expecting to hear. For example, if you already know the Tom Petty song "Breakdown," then you can appreciate the live version where he sings the first line then lets the audience sing the rest of the song. But you can't really appreciate it if you don't know the original that the audience is singing. (And if you do know the original, it's great to sing along with the audience.) Keep up the great work and do it whichever way pleases you. Thanks.
With that hook, and the horns, who needs complexity?
Just beautiful from a musical genius 🎸