Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue (1967)

Paul Mauriat (1925-2006) was born in Marseille, France. He began playing music at the age of four and, by his twenties, began a dance band that toured throughout Europe during World War II. In the 1950s, Mauriat was the musical director for Charles Aznavour and Maruice Chevalier, whom he toured with, separately. He released his first album in 1957 and would release well over one hundred more in his lifetime. Interestingly, depending on the motif of his most-current album, he would choose a pseudonym to release the album under which he felt most matched the music. Examples of pseudonyms he used include Richard Audrey, Nico Papadopoulos, Eduardo Ruo, and Willy Twist. Using the pseudonym “Del Roma,” Mauriat co-composed the song “Chariot” which would later be adapted to English and taken to number one spot on the charts in 1963 as “I Will Follow Him” by Little Peggy March.

Seeing another artist take one of his songs to the top of the charts wasn’t the only time Mauriat would find himself in the number one spot. In 1967, Mauriat recorded and released a cover of André Popp’s “L'amour est bleu,” heard below. The song spent five weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968, the first instrumental to achieve the number one spot since The Tornados' “Telstar” in 1962. The only instrumental to hold the top spot of the Hot 100 longer was Percy Faith’s “Theme from a Summer Place.”



Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue (1967)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)

The Mystic Moods Orchestra - Maria Elena (1967)

Brad Miller’s passion in life was recording sounds as accurately as possible. In the 1950s, he recorded some of the USA’s last steam locomotives, as well as thunderstorms, crowds of people, and other various sounds he thought were unique or pleasant. In an effort to sell his work, Miller created Mobile Fidelity and experienced a moderate level of success. One night, in the mid-‘60s, a disc-jockey in the San Francisco, California area took one of Miller’s recordings and thought it would be interesting to play it on top of some easy listening music. Listeners loved it. The DJ told Miller about his discovery, and soon, Miller was working with musical arranger and composer Don Ralke to create their own version of the DJ’s idea. What resulted was the first Mystic Moods Orchestra album, One Stormy Night, in 1965. Usually, original music tracks such as the ones on One Stormy Night continued throughout the ‘60s until the orchestra moved to the Warner Bros. label in the ‘70s. Then, rather than original music, the sounds of nature and people were generally put over contemporary pop instrumentals. Around this same time, the albums began to feature erotic pictures of couples on the cover, marketing them to adults as “mood music.” Unfortunately for Miller, the societal switch from vinyl albums to CDs didn’t work out in his favor. Miller himself passed away in 1998 and his business, which had been struggling for years, collapsed the following year.

This track comes from the Mystic Moods Orchestra’s fourth album, titled Mexican Trip. Released in 1967, each song on the album was laid on top of sounds of the ocean, children playing, trains, people cheering, etc. in the usual Mystic Mood fashion. This song in particular appears as the album’s seventh track. The original song was written in 1932 by Lorenzo Barcelata, who dedicated the song to the wife of Mexican President Emilio Portes Gil, María Elena. Although the song had accompanying words available in both Spanish and English, this particular version replaced the words with sounds of the ocean.



The Mystic Moods Orchestra - Maria Elena (1967)

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(instrumental)

The Cyrkle - Walter's Riff (1967)

This band, previously featured on our site, is primarily remembered for their hit song, “Red Rubber Ball,” released in 1966 and heard previously on A Bit Like You And Me. Being the band’s first single, the song appeared to be what the group needed to start off on a successful career. Their next single release, “Turn Down Day,” although not as popular as their first hit, was still a success. Their next three singles along with their second album, Neon, were unfortunately overlooked by listeners and had the band on the brink of collapse. Wanting to give it one last shot, the band agreed to perform the soundtrack for an upcoming movie, The Minx.

Trying to pass as a “Rated X” movie when the fad to do so was occurring, The Minx movie completely bombed. Although I’ve never seen it, there isn’t a single positive review to be found in my searching. It appears that the biggest highlight of the film was indeed the soundtrack provided by this band. This particular song was recorded, with all the others for the film, in 1967. It sounds as if it could have been recorded for a Spaghetti Western and appeared as the eleventh song on the movie’s soundtrack. Entirely instrumental, the song is only one minute and twelve seconds long. The film, The Minx was released in 1969.



The Cyrkle - Walter's Riff (1967)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians - Auld Lang Syne (1947)

Born Gaetano Alberto Lombardo in Ontario 1902, this Canadian-American was a largely successful bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane speedboat racer. Coming from Italian parents who had moved to Canada, Guy and his brothers had always been singing since a very young age. Guy himself put on his first vocal performance at the age of twelve, and was recording in studios by twenty-one. He formed The Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, Victor, and other friends from his hometown and led them to international success through the late ‘20s and 1930s. At the time of the band’s success, many jazz and big-band purists had found their music to corny. Fortunately for them, the general public loved it.

Lombardo and his band would also go on to be associated with New Year’s Eve, as they played on the radio (and later television) each New Year’s Eve from 1928 until 1976. This song, now associated with the New Year’s Eve celebration and New Year’s Day itself, was popularized by Lombardo and his band when they began playing it each year starting in 1929. This particular version of the song was recorded on September 29, 1947 and was published by Decca Records as a single. Although Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve would eventually become popular with younger viewers, Lombardo’s New Year’s Specials remained popular with older viewers. Traditionally, Lombardo's version of the song is the first song played after the ball has dropped on midnight in Time Square, New York.

Also, see what other New Year's Eve related music we have.



Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians - Auld Lang Syne (1947)

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Lyrics:

Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And days of lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet
For auld lang syne

Mason Williams - Classical Gas (1970)

Born in 1938, this man has been a comedy writer for both The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Saturday Night Live (briefly in 1980). He is also a noted poet, a lyricist, and most popularly remembered for his hit instrumental track heard below. He wrote songs for The Kingston Trio, released an album with Mannheim Steamroller, and “discovered” comedian Steve Martin by hiring him (and paying him out of his own pocket) as a writer for the Smothers Brothers’ show.

Originally released in 1968 on The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, this song won three Grammy Awards in 1969. It was often played by Williams on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which contributed to its popularity. Since, it has been re-recorded and re-released many times over the years. This particular version of the song was re-constructed by Williams to be a solo acoustic guitar piece and appeared on his 1970 album Handmade. Personally, I prefer this acoustic guitar version over the original.



Mason Williams - Classical Gas (1970)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - Ladyfingers (1965)

A recording industry executive, painter, philanthropist, and accomplished musician, this man had five number one hits, won eight Grammy’s, had fifteen gold albums, and fourteen platinum albums. He and his backing band, The Tijuana Brass, were filling homes with beautiful jazz, Latin, and easy listening music from 1962 until he disbanded them in 1969. In 1966, during the height of The Beatles popularity, this artist sold over thirteen million recordings, outselling The Beatles for that year.

This song was originally written and performed by the Belgian jazz legend Toots Thielemans. It appears on the 1965 album, Whipped Cream and Other Delights, which featured the beautiful Dolores Erickson on a risqué album cover where she was covered in whipped cream (it was actually shaving cream and a white blanket, with the only real whipped cream being on her head).



Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - Ladyfingers (1965)

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(instrumental)

Percy Faith - Theme from a Summer Place (1960)

This man went from playing violin and piano to conducting after his hands were badly burnt in a fire. He has the honor of being credited with the creation of “easy listening” and “mood music,” which he achieved by increasing the size of his band’s string section and balancing out the heavy brass section which was heavily favored by others at the time.

This song, which originally had lyrics, was written for the film A Summer Place. This particular version heard below used no lyrics and went to number one in the US for nine weeks, a record still held today for an instrumental song. It reached number two in the UK and number one in Italy.



Percy Faith - Theme from A Summer Place (1960)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)

George Harrison - Red Lady Too (1968)

The lead guitarist of The Beatles, George Harrison is often credited for introducing the Western world to the music of the east, and is the primary force of the sitar being used in popular music in the '60s. He is also credited as holding the first-ever charity concert, The Concert for Bangladesh, in 1971. He reached major success with The Beatles, but also as a solo artist as well as with the supergroup he formed, The Traveling Wilburys, with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne.

This song is taken from Wonderwall Music, the soundtrack to the film Wonderwall. The album was entirely composed by Harrison, who used pseudonyms, and only gave himself credit by name as the producer, arranger, and writer. It marks the first time a Beatle released solo work and was almost entirely instrumental. It was also the very first release by the newly formed Apple Records.



George Harrison - Red Lady Too (1968)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)