Walter Murphy -- Family Guy

 

When it comes to the long-running prime-time animated series "Family Guy", I've been somewhat of an in-betweener fan. I remember catching the early episodes back in the late 1990s and enjoying the show for all of the pop culture references via their famous cutaways and it got to the point that I ended up buying the first seven seasons of "Family Guy" on DVD in Japan. Since then, it's basically been just the cutaways that I've been watching since they've generally been more hilarious than the main story which has often gotten a little too dark for my tastes in recent seasons.

However, one thing that has generally remained the same all these years since 1999 is the opening credit sequence with Peter and Lois Griffin making like Archie and Edith Bunker as they sing on the family piano. Plus, there is that jazzy and snazzy theme song by Walter Murphy that reminds me of another theme song from another much older animated series. Murphy, strangely enough, is someone I've known about since I was a kid (although I didn't know the name at the time) because he was also the fellow behind the disco "A Fifth of Beethoven" all the way back in 1976. 

Well, years later, I see him as the maestro of the swinging jazz orchestra that has often inhabited the soundtrack of "Family Guy", and I've been a big fan of the main theme. In fact, years later, I finally got the album "Family Guy: Live in Vegas" just for a full version of the theme by Murphy, and he, Seth MacFarlane (and his multiple voices), and the rest of the cast don't disappoint. One YouTube commenter said he hoped that this would be the version that would end the entire show once that comes to pass. I wouldn't mind that at all either...having everyone come on stage to do one big brassy take on the theme. Maybe the humour in "Family Guy" is often crass and cruel, but when it comes to the Murphy music, it's all class.

Yup, I know...this is really a Reminiscings of Young Adulthood more than Youth, but I just had to include this one. So, what was being released in Japan when "Family Guy" made its premiere in January 1999?

Kohmi Hirose -- I Wish

Every Little Thing -- Over and Over

Dreams Come True -- Asa ga Mata Kuru （朝がまた来る）

Walter Murphy -- A Fifth of Beethoven

 

For this week's ROY article, it looks like we've got our second "Family Guy" reference for the day following the article on "Bond Street" earlier this afternoon. Years ago, I bought a box set of the first seven seasons of the long-running Fox show and for the Season 5 "Hell Comes to Quahog", the beginning of the episode has Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire and Joe give a brief but tour de force performance of their roller skating skills, and all to the nostalgic disco sounds of "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy.

I'm sure that there was a bit of delightful laughter in production on the episode since Seth MacFarlane didn't need to sort out too much of the difficulties in getting permission to use "A Fifth of Beethoven", simply because the fellow who created the disco ode to ol' Ludwig all the way back then was the same guy who has been creating the music for "Family Guy"...Walter Murphy! I'd forgotten the name of the person behind "Fifth" so it was quite the surprise to find out that Murphy who had been providing some very jazzy and snazzy tunes for the show's characters was arguably the guy who started out all those disco versions of tunes in the 1970s.

Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" of the very early 19th century is absolutely unforgettable due to those opening notes, and the first time that I had ever heard it was through a commercial for some medicine and Lucy Van Pelt's demonstration of Beethoven spray on one of the "Peanuts" specials. However, it was with Murphy's disco version that brought the song from the concert hall onto the dance floor when it was released on May 29 1976 (according to the Wikipedia article for Murphy), and from my memories, it spread like wildfire all over the radio.

Never saw "Soul Train" or "Saturday Night Fever" at the time and obviously at the time, I couldn't get into any discos in Toronto, but I could imagine folks making like John Travolta from that latter movie. Certainly the weekly charts in Canada and the United States reflected the success of "Fifth" with the song hitting No. 1 on RPM and Billboard. Also, as with anything becoming a winner, other musicians decided to see if they could replicate success by putting the disco touch on the themes for "Star Wars", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and even "I Love Lucy" among other tunes. In fact, I have to say that the first time I heard "Star Wars", it wasn't the John Williams original but the disco version by Meco!

So, with that May 29 1976 release date, what kayo was released during that month? Well once again, thanks to the wonders of Showa Pops' charts, here are three singles.

Minako Yoshida -- Yume de Aetara （夢で逢えたら）

Hi-Fi Set -- Tsumetai Ame （冷たい雨）

Mieko Nishijima -- Ikegami Sen （池上線）