Met and talked and sat with Mason Williams at a dinner in Eugene, Oregon; we were all attending a Nokie Edwards festival. Mason is a great guy just an ordinary person but an excellent guitarist too.
This is my cousin and I love listening to his music. I have listened to him all my life. I loved his parents, they were the greatest people. Remember never go to the ocean with a notion of what you will find. I if you want to hear Classical Gas Utube has a lot of Masons music on there.
Awesome vid!! Here's a guy who has gained enormous recognition for the music he's written and performed and, he's self-effacing and having considerable fun with it. This was really enjoyable...!
I never knew Mason Williams also wrote the them for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Thanks. Though I was just a kid in junior high at the time, and didn't understand a lot of the politics that got them kicked off the air, it remember it well. Those guys were so funny. Reminds me up the newer version, The Platowsky Brothers on "That's so Random."
Gosh, I can remember Mason Williams and his music, the Smothers Brothers , Peter, Paul and Mary...from my childhood. Loved this time... some amazing music and humor!! :)
On this day in 1969 {March 23rd} Mason Williams performed "Classical Gas" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'... Eight months earlier on June 22nd, 1968 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #2 {for 2 weeks} and spent 14 weeks on the Top 100... The song won two Grammy Awards in 1968; 'Best Instrumental Theme' and 'Best Instrumental Arrangement'... R.I.P. Mr. Sullivan {1901 - 1974} and Mr. Williams will celebrate his 75th birthday this coming August 24th...
Mason is very good at what he does. I love this song and have heard it a few times and laugh every time. The Smothers Brothers were awesome and had a lot of cool guests. Mason's song hits it right on the head about what happened.
Mason's long time friend and my photography teacher Jerry McMillan, always had us do photographs based on Mason's words in his songs. So I became an even bigger fan.
oh yeah!Classical Gas to Those Were the Days Hes timeless,yes forever young.This version esp now WILL get more play,very applicaple today.Yeah rock on Mason!
Another way to title this could have been: Mason Williams, of "Classical Gas" fame, sings about the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour or Mason Williams (Classical Gas) with his: 'Ode to the Smothers Brothers'.
I was Dick Smothers Realtor in 1996-1998 in Las Vegas NV. Sold him and Denby a home. Sold the house and sold them a new one Very nice guy to work with.
I saw Mason back in '72 at the old Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California. The Bear was a dumpy little place, with sawdust on the floor, just down from the H.B. Pier. It probably didn't hold 150 people but I saw dozens of great performers there from the end of '70 (home from The Nam) until about '73. The Bear is gone now but for awhile it was so much fun.
Little known fact ~ Mason was head writer for Saturday NighT live for one season under Jean Doumanian. Mason wrote last year to say that he was retiring from performing -- although I have a feeling he will still be doing some dates around where he lives in Oregon. Mason has been a friend for many, many years...Also, someone referenced the Mason Williams Reading Matter. That and a follow up book ~ Flavors, although out of print, can often be found online. Just search on google. Mason did several other books including The Mason Williams FCC Report to the Nation and Royal Road Test. Mason gave me a copy of Royal Road test decades ago. I just read recently that it is going for around $1,800 a copy because it is so rare. He did the book with artist, Ed Ruscha. Something else that is noteworthy. Mason's neighbor and good friend was Ken Kesey of the Kool Aid Acid test fame. Ken Kesey often appeared with the Grateful Dead, as did Mason at one show.
looked all over for back story. He was writing comedy for Smothers Brothers, and to have that come from him is amazing story, and to hear it in his own words is great.
To those who complained about the title.. Did it ever occur to you to click on the "show more"? If you had you would have seen that it says he's playing "The Smothers Brothers Theme" and "Those Were The Days". Nowhere in the description does it say about playing "Classical Gas".
Oh, darn it, i got fooled by this again. I thought it was the performance of 'Classical Gas' on the Smothers Brothers show that I saw when I was in high school. But it's not. It's something else and it's a bait-and-switch. No one could post something with a title so misleading by accident -- it must be on purpose. DOWNVOTED
