Top Ten Instrumentals: A Fifth of Beethoven (#6)

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So far, no good in looking for a good weather day next week to go to Cincinnati with my niece. I’ll keep looking. And speaking of “next,” next month with be three top tens, including a personal one cheering my ten favorite songs of the 21st century thus far. The other two are requests. Here’s a request: get up and dance to this one! #6: A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band It’s hard to call this guy a “one hit wonder,” because every week millions of people listen to his music. Walter Murphy is the music conductor/arranger on Family Guy. Long before that, however, kids, Walter Murphy had a whopping one top 40 hit. This. AND, it went to #1. A simple idea, actually: take a well-known classical piece and update it to modern sounds. If you’re of a certain age you may remember those commercials about popular songs based on classical pieces (“I’m sure you recognize this lovely melody as ‘Stranger in Paradise’ [no, I didn’t ]. But did you know that it’s based on a work by [Alexander] Borodin?”). If you’re not, wow, you’re lucky. But Murphy realized that the fledgling disco craze could use a classical kick in the butt, so he did this. It was not only one of the 25 #1 instrumental hits in Billboard history, it found second life in the film Saturday Night Fever. Murphy didn’t really care if he had another hit after the royalties from those two breaks. Now, for some fun: the record label thought the song needed a “band” name, so the released it as “Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band.” After it was released, the label discovered, to their horror, that there was already another “Big Apple Band” in existence. No problem, the “other” Big Apple Band changed their name. Good thing they did: you know them as Chic. Isn’t that Le Freak! While this was Murphy’s only visit to the Billboard chart, you can tune in anytime and hear him on Family Guy. A Fifth of Beethoven Written by Walter Murphy, originally composed by Ludwig van Beethoven Recorded by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band Released as a single, 1976 Another instrumental we can all sing along with: Da-da-da DUH….