If I ever travel to New York, I want this music played at the east end of the Lincoln tunnel, when I cross the finish line, to me that is celebratory music.
I have wondered for years why they don't cut the show early enough to play the song to its climax. So many good memories associated with the close over the years. Now, it's all about the guest (who's already had the whole damned show...what's the point of owning the close too?). The SNL band doesn't have the clout that it did in the early days under G.E. Smith. I expect he had everything to do with the longer Waltz in A closes of the 70's and 80's.
This must be played at the end of my funeral. I have told people this for years. Lenny Pickett’s sax just gets me in some kind of way. Brings me to tears how great he is.
I want to thank Lorne and the cast for having me on this week. It’s been an incredible experience. Let’s give it up to our musical guest THE ROOTS! And TOM HANKS for stopping by!! GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY!!!
This song is such a genuine part of the American experience. It's how we officially end the week, it's almost meditative. Time seems to stand still when it plays, you just stop, listen and watch the credits roll and breathe in the transition. When you hear this you reflect on your last week and look forward to what the brand new week will bring because neither you nor SNL have any idea what will happen but we'll all get through it together and joke about it and celebrate it next Saturday. God bless America, am I right?
Yes...it's like you live Monday-Friday...just to hear and reflect on life for this song...and Sunday comes to begin the Monday-Friday...and Repeat! Love it!
Finally after lamenting over this solo for 4 years and daily blowing scales and blowing and blowing. I can voice these notes on my tenor..... Granted it still sounds awful at the top end.... Finally I'm hitting those notes consistently and on purpose. Thanks Lenny for being an inspiration. Hopefully next year I'll be able to nail it on stage.
More important IMO is the note choice - creating that tension/resolve between changes - rather than just hitting high notes for the sake of hitting them. Lenny does both, however (0:55). My god. Chills. Even his lows are incredible. That low A on the downbeat of the main section is so beautiful. And at 2:20 all is right in the world.
@@mikerudick54 now it’s literally just the first altissimo g struggle on everything before or after is gravy now and can play ballads in the 4 or 5 th octaves. The amount of tone you get training for those higher notes can only be achieved by time.
When the comedy ends and you're left to fill the silence with the lack of laughter - you can fall back into this slick, sexy, uplifting tune and just end the night with a smile! Awesome. Awesome.
SNL is on my bucket list. But not necessarily for the comedy. I would sit through an awful show until 1am just so I could hear this piece of music live. Lenny Pickett is on my short list for favorite musicians in the world. Every note he plays - from his earliest days with Tower of Power to this day - is from the bottom of his soul.
Go to a dress rehearsal. It ends sooner, you get to hear the music, and watch sketches that don't make it to the air. It's also much easier to get in than the live show.
Yeah man! TOP baby! So glad that I've got to see Lenny Pickett live a few with TOP back in the day and more recently at the TOP 50th Anniversary concert in Oakland. LP and Tommy P together. The DVD is still being edited. A must have for any TOP fan.
I remember The Weekend Tonight Show, Starring Johnny Carson was in this Saturday night time-slot on NBC and then one night I tuned in and discovered SNL. I was so blown away that on the following Monday at school I couldn't stop talking about this new TV show I had watched. The Not Ready for Prime Time Players as they called themselves were such a breath of fresh air. I tried to describe Andy Kaufman and his Mighty Mouse record skit: no one was amused but I loved it. Lenny Pickett, saxophonist with Tower of Power closed out the show every week with his amazing solos. Television was awesome back then. Lots of great memories.
Lenny goes down and hits that low E Flat and bounces back from every altisimo note to down in the regular treble clef and it makes every hair stand on end...makes me glad i switched to blues harp from sax....cuz there ain't no way i could pull that off....i just sit here dumbfounded not wanting it to end
From.an old.SNL.fan , thanks for this , I've been looking for this , couldn't record from live show because they always cut it short. Now I can.roll one , sit back and enjoy this at my leisure. Some of my best memories are of watching this show , smoking and enjoying this song. You've made an 70 yr old very happy !.
I hope that it has been 70 years well spent. I am a sucker for stories, grew up in an elderly community, where people would go through their life with me telling me about the good times and the bad. And in all most of the people that I meet wouldn't change a thing. I guess by that time you realize you are who you are and don't give two fucks what others think. Lol
Cajunman Dick this is me right now. Smoking a bowl, thinking about Hartman, Spade, Farley, Belushi, Ferrell, Sandler... how much happiness it’s all brought to me. I can bring it all back with this song.
I went to music school to "master my instrument" .... Lenny is one of my favorites and no one has ever even come close to his mastery of the tenor sax. Not even close. (Chops wise / altissimo) He is the upper register high note KING.
I've always thought that this ending was a stroke of genius and the music never gets old. It's in the same league as the theme for the new year. And I love how it is cut off but doesn't end... Just masterful!
it's like they're playing the last song of the world..."o.k. it's ending....roll the credits" and everyone's throwing their hats up on stage. and these cats are ripping it up digging down into their souls
Yeah, last song of the world..great choice of words that covers it. I always felt some strange emotions listening to this end music on SNL in the old days, like a beautiful sadness it was over the Saturday night was done (though we may have stayed up later watching bad scifi and horror movies). The ascending diminished chords and the gospel/old style R&B style...true greatness
I thought I was the only one who this meant so much to emotionally. It's definitely what SNL represents to culture. Possibly the second most important television franchise of all time after Star Trek 💯
Thank you Lorne and the Cast for this experience of a lifetime ! Give it up for Micheal Jackson and Prince ! Live from New York this was Saturday Night !!!!! Have a good one THANK YOU !
I don;t know how long I've searched for a decent recording of this. Thank you so much for posting, and thank you AmazingLSB for the amazing sound quality. Not everyone bothers, But where good music is concerned, sound quality counts for everything. So, thank you.
this is ridiculous... unreal.. what a version of the song.. thank you for sharing this.. i can hear this everyday of my life... i want it played at my funeral.. shouts, screaming, and cheers... and all... you may weep for i won't be there .. ill be where ever this song takes me...
It's got a reach out and touch somebody's hand vibe!!!!.... I've always loved this music. I think that's what it is. It's a benediction. 😄😄😄..... Soulfully done. 😎
Makes me want to tell everybody what a great week it's been, what an amazing cast this is, then thank the audience, say, "Good night!" and take a bow. And then, it would be so cool to hear Don Pardo telling everyone who would be on the show next week, then wrap it up by saying, "This is Don Pardo, saying 'This is Don Pardo, saying good night.'"
This reminds me of when I was a kid and we drove across America in the '70s and '80s to go see my grandma and stopping in different cities, driving across open deserts and coastlines and admiring the scenery, picking up memories along the way. It reminds me of a big old school car cruising down an open highway just floating along. The sax section reminds me of the horn being blown on those big old cars.
Justin Timberlake: Uh -- Thank you to Jay-Z, Dan Aykroyd, Alec Baldwin, Candace Bergen, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Andy Samberg, Martin Short and Paul Simon! What a showwwww!!
Thats a saxaphone played to the bleeding edge. A true Master class in the instrument, and a song that evokes such powerful memories. I can only imagine for cast members hearing this after decades being away from the show must make you all kinds of emotional.
Thank You! Everyone loves a waltz, but I never realized this was a waltz. This is just beyond fabulous. Have heard this extraordinary closing theme with Lenny Pickett for I think 20 years or more. And it's different every time.
great memories....thanks for uploading. this was back in the day when once SNL went off wasnt nothing on TV but infomercials.... im gonna play this the day i retire from my job...
I love this closing theme. I hope someday he makes an album. I fall deep asleep during Saturday Night Live but automatically wake up when the Song Comes I DVR it though. I get Chills from the song! Just love it!
ABSOLUTELY THE BEST!!! Has been forever, and I watch for the ending every week, every year, just to hear this fantastic "Waltz" played by this Fantastic group of musicians ~ especially Mystro Lenny!!! Absolutely the BEST! (Good on You, Lorne, for keeping it around.)
I feel like the notes are telling a story. I only wish I knew what it was saying. Maybe I'm trippin but yeah a ton of emotion in this. Doesn't surprise me.... SNL is a staple of so many generations of comedians Through all the turbulences, we as a whole get to sit back and laugh, often at the hot mess we are.This sums it all up for me kinda. Ups and downs of life. A beautiful symphony but all good things come to an end. A tragic comedy right?! LOL...Ty and God Bless
Unbelievable tenor sax!! SNL is NOT SNL without this closing theme song. Essential as Pete, Lenny, Kenan, Michael, Colin, Cecily, Kate, Melissa, and many more over the decades ... for telling the truth about our society!! Thank you, Lorne Michaels!!
Thank you seems a bit inadequate for such a large favor...hearing this brings back memories of friends who have passed and knowing that the world is much poorer now that they are gone,,,
YES! It's actually here. I love this. I always say that this is where the inspiration for Mariah Carey's "If It's Over" came from. Carole King wrote it, but it sounds very, very similar to the SNL theme.
I always think deeply about seeing the empty stage at the end of each SNL at home episode with this theme playing in the background. It makes me think “how did things change so much, so fast?” But I realize that the changes that we have made are for the better. And eventually, I, as well as many others, will be able to see our favorite celebs up on that iconic stage once again. It might be a while, but that still image of the empty stage gives me hope that things will return to normal and we can leave this pandemic life behind us.
Exactly! That is what I've been saying for awhile now, to me it's the perfect song to play at the end of my funeral too! Love this song so much, it beings back so many good memories! ❤
