Create Song Styles
Yamaha Styles by Country => English => English - W => Topic started by: admin on June 19, 2017, 09:59:38 AM
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Walter Anthony Murphy, Jr. (born December 19, 1952) is an American composer, arranger, pianist, musician, songwriter, and record producer.
He is best known for the instrumental "A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which topped the charts in 1976 and was featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Further classical–disco fusions followed, such as "Flight '76", "Rhapsody in Blue", "Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor", "Bolero", and "Mostly Mozart", but were not as successful.
In a career spanning nearly five decades, Murphy has written music for numerous films and TV shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Savage Bees, Stingray, Wiseguy, The Commish, Profit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Looney Tunes, and How Murray Saved Christmas.
He has had a long-running partnership with Seth MacFarlane, composing music for his films and TV shows such as Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad!, Ted, and Ted 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MFbn8EbB4k
"A Fifth of Beethoven" is a disco instrumental recorded by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band, adapted from the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The record was produced by noted production music and sound effects recording producer Thomas J. Valentino. The "Fifth" in the song's title is a pun, referencing a liquid measure approximately equal to one-fifth of a gallon, a popular size for bottles containing hard liquor, as well as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony from which the song was adapted.
Released as a single by Private Stock Records in 1976, the song debuted at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and climbed to number 1 within 19 weeks, remaining there for one week.
In 1977, it was licensed to RSO Records for inclusion on the best-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The song is one of Murphy's few Top 40 hits, and is considered one of the most popular pieces of music from the disco era.