| "Yakety Sax" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Boots Randolph | |
| from the album Yakety Sax! | |
| B-side | "I Really Don't Want to Know" |
| Released | 1963 |
| Studio | Phillips Recording, Nashville, Tennessee [1] |
| Genre | Novelty, pop |
| Length | 2:00 |
| Label | Monument Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Spider Rich Boots Randolph |
| Producer(s) | Fred Foster |
| Music video | |
| Boots Randolph - Yakety Sax (Audio) on YouTube | |
"Yakety Sax" is a pop novelty instrumental jointly composed by James Q. "Spider" Rich and Boots Randolph. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Saxophonist Randolph popularized the selection in his 1963 recording, which reached number 35 on the pop charts. [6] Comedian Benny Hill later made it more widely known as the closing theme music of The Benny Hill Show . The piece is considered Randolph's signature work. [7]
The selection includes pieces of assorted fiddle tunes and was originally composed by Rich for a performance at a venue called The Armory in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The piece also quotes two bars each of "Entrance of the Gladiators" and "The Girl I Left Behind".
Randolph's take on the piece was inspired by the saxophone solo played by King Curtis on The Coasters' 1958 recording of the Leiber and Stoller song "Yakety Yak". [8] The tunes are similar, and both feature the "yakety" saxophone sound. Randolph first recorded "Yakety Sax" that year for RCA Victor, but it did not become a hit until he re-recorded it for Monument Records in 1963; this version reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"Yakety Sax" is often used in television and film as a soundtrack for outlandishly humorous situations. It was frequently used to accompany comedic sketches, particularly the time-lapse, rapidly-paced silent chase skit that came at the end of almost every episode of The Benny Hill Show . [17] Because of this, "Yakety Sax" is so closely linked to the series that it is also known as "The Benny Hill Theme". From 1983 on, the music was performed by Ronnie Aldrich and his orchestra.
This use of the piece, and the chase scenes themselves, have been parodied in many other films and TV shows, including Get a Life , [18] the 2006 film V for Vendetta , in the 2015 Doctor Who episode "The Girl Who Died" (with a character referring to the song as the "Benny Hill Theme") and the animated TV shows The Simpsons , Family Guy , South Park , multiple episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic , [19] [20] and "The Prime Minister Has No Clothes" episode of Time Squad . The stop motion animated sketch comedy series Robot Chicken featured a brief sketch depicting Benny Hill's funeral (using dolls) where the attendees have a Benny Hill Show-type chase scene with many of the usual gags and a song similar to "Yakety Sax". The theme was used during the 2012 Olympics beach volleyball event between sets (where rakers must rush to smooth out the court). [21]
On 7 July 2022, the tune was played outside the Houses of Parliament, by anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray, upon the announcement by Boris Johnson that he was resigning as Prime Minister. This was suggested by actor Hugh Grant. [22] [23] [24]
Chester Burton Atkins, also known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music style which expanded its appeal to adult pop music fans. He was primarily a guitarist, but he also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele, and occasionally sang.
Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit "Yakety Sax" (which became the signature tune of the The Benny Hill Show. Randolph was a prolific session musician and member of the Nashville A-Team, performing on numerous notable recordings by artists including Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee, and Al Hirt. During the span of his more than forty-year music career, Randolph performed in hundreds of venues alongside many artists in pop, rock, jazz, and country music.
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The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and double entendre.
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Top 100 pop list. This song was one of a string of singles released by the Coasters between 1957 and 1959 that dominated the charts, making them one of the biggest performing acts of the rock and roll era.
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More of That Guitar Country is the twenty-seventh studio album by US country musician Chet Atkins. It is a follow-up to his Guitar Country release and was more successful. His rendition of "Yakety Sax" by Boots Randolph earned Atkins a hit on the country singles charts. A mix of traditional fingerpicking, country-flavored pop and traditional country, the album peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Country charts.
Chet, Floyd & Boots is a studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, pianist Floyd Cramer and saxophone player Boots Randolph. Boots had a novelty hit with Yakety Sax which Chet covered, playing the saxophone lead on guitar, as Yakety Axe - which also became a hit. Cramer was a regular session musician at the Nashville studios, playing with a multitude of artists including Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee, helping to define the "Nashville Sound" that Atkins had also helped develop. The trio briefly toured together.
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The Essential Chet Atkins is a two-disc compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 2007 on the Legacy label.
After the Riot at Newport is an album by the Nashville All-Stars, which was recorded live after the cancellation of their appearance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival.
The Best of Chet Atkins & Friends is a compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1976. It peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Country Albums charts in 1977.
The Best of Chet Atkins, Vol. 2 is a compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins.
"I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" is a song written by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira (sometimes credited as Paul Mertz) first published in 1941. It has become a jazz and pop standard.
The Highliners is a British rock and roll / psychobilly band known for the hit singles “Henry The Wasp” and “The Benny Hill Boogie”, antics include dressing in pink doctor martens boots, black capes and driving a pink van with a skeleton surfing on the roof.
And Then Came Chet Atkins is a live album by guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1979.
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