Mason Williams, guitarist and head writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, debuted "Classical Gas" on the show and released it in April 1968.

Intended to be fuel for the classic guitar repertoire, the originally named "Classical Gasoline" was inadvertently shorted to "Classical Gas" by a music copyist.

Re-recorded several times by Williams and covered by many other artists, the original 1968 version that we feature won Williams three Grammy Awards in 1969: Best Instrumental Composition; Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental; and Best Instrumental Arrangement. The piece made it to number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and to number one on the US Billboard Easy Listening charts.