Television Academy Foundation Interview: Mike Post - 2005 - On "Classical Gas"

Mason Williams brought me this guitar piece and I loved it. We needed a big orchestra for some of the other tunes I was producing for his first album, so I told him that I'd been working on an idea about orchestrated rock n' roll, to put licks from the rhythm section into the strings, winds, and brass. He said great! While working on it, I felt it needed a B section, so I made the decision to insert that, and everyone seemed to like it quite a bit. Not only was it a number one record, but it lead to my first Grammy.
Back in 1968, I wasn't the only guy thinking that this might be a viable idea - there were others, certainly Jimmy Webb being one of them. But truthfully, it has been one of the cornerstones of my career, in that I’ve continued on to have some of the music I make be in the same lane. Most recently, I'm getting ready to release an album I've just completed with Sony Masterworks called Message from the Mountains & Echoes of the Delta. More to come on that very soon.
#classicalgas #grammys #masonwilliams #mikepost

[@bradlafferty6076]

Classical gas was a great instrumental. The first time I heard it was at a Barnes and Noble in Coconut Grove Miami. They had a cd section where you could put on headphones and press in numbers for cd’s in 1996. This Asian woman violinist possibly named Vanessa Mae or Mai played Classical Gas and I said if this is her song she’s set for life. Little did I know the great Mike Post snuck into my music world once again. It’s a brilliant song.

[@bradlafferty6076]

Also having Wichita Lineman Glen Campbell play guitar on your song is a dream, I wouldn’t sleep for a week knowing that.

[@bradlafferty6076]

The Smothers Brothers were not funny in my opinion

[@sirlawrence9161]

Nor mine