Williams performed it several times over several episodes.Īfter the piece had reached the Top 10, Williams asked an experimental filmmaker named Dan McLaughlin to adjust a student video montage that he had created of classical art works using Beethoven's 5th Symphony and edit it in time to 'Classical Gas', using the visual effect now known as kinestasis. 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. Mike Post, later famous for television theme music, was a producer and arranger for the song. The title was later inadvertently shortened by a music copyist. Originally named 'Classical Gasoline', the tune was envisioned to be 'fuel' for the classical guitar repertoire.
One later version served as the title track of a 1987 album by Williams and the band Mannheim Steamroller. Originally released in 1968 on the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, it has been rerecorded and rereleased numerous times since by Williams. ' 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.
