Henry Mancini - 'Pink Panther Theme Song' (1963)

"The Pink Panther Theme" is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film The Pink Panther and subsequently nominated for the 1964 Academy Award for Original Music Score. The cartoon character created for the opening credits of the movie by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune. The soloist of this song was Plas Johnson.


RCA Records released the tune as a single in 1964; it reached the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards.


It was featured in the opening credits of all The Pink Panther films, with the exception of A Shot in the Dark, and Inspector Clouseau.

Gipsy Kings - Djobi Djoba (1988)

"Djobi Djoba" is a hit song by the Gipsy Kings, a French-Calé Rumba Flamenca band, from their 1988 self-titled album. Along with other hits from the same album such as "Bamboleo" and "Un Amor", Djobi Djoba helped rocket the Gipsy Kings to European popularity, before gaining popularity in America in 1989. In 1989, Gipsy Kings was released in the US and it spent 40 weeks on the charts, one of very few Spanish Language albums to do so.

The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, France, who perform in Spanish with accent from Andalucía. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War, with the exception of Chico Bouchikhi who is of Moroccan and Algerian descent. They are known for bringing Rumba Catalana, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences. Their music has a particular Rumba Flamenca style, with pop influences; many songs of the Gipsy Kings fit social dances, such as Salsa and Rumba. Their music has been described as a place where "Spanish flamenco and Romani rhapsody meet salsa funk".

The Gipsy Kings are largely responsible for bringing the sounds of progressive pop-oriented flamenco to the world. The band started out in Arles, a town in southern France, during the 1970s, when brothers Nicolas and Andre Reyes, the sons of renowned flamenco artist Jose Reyes, teamed up with their cousins Jacques, Maurice, and Tonino Baliardo, whose father is Manitas de Plata. They originally called themselves Los Reyes and started out as a Gypsy band traveling about playing weddings, festivals, and in the streets. Because they lived so much like Gypsies, the band adopted the name the Gipsy Kings. Later, they were hired to add color to posh parties in St. Tropez. Popularity did not come to Los Reyes right away, and their first two albums attracted little notice. At this point, the Gipsies played traditional flamenco music punctuated by Tonino's precise guitar playing and Nicolas' exceptional voice. Though they had devoted fans, they still had yet to gain wider recognition until 1986 when they hooked up with visionary producer Claude Martinez, who could see that the Kings had the makings of a world-class band.

The California Ramblers - "At Sundown" (1927)

Please wait until the lyrics begin. Nice flashback tune from the 20's. The California Ramblers were a popular and prolific jazz group from the 1920s, that recorded hundreds of songs under many different record labels throughout the 1920s. Three of the members of the band, Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, and Tommy Dorsey, would go on to front big bands in later decades.


The original bandmembers were from Ohio, but chose the name California Ramblers because they thought people would be less inclined to listen to a jazz band from the Midwest. The "Ramblers Inn was named after the band and was inPelham, New York]. The band was instantly successful, and would remain well-known throughout the decade. They were one of the most prolific recording groups in the 1920s, the Ramblers recorded originally for Vocallion Records In November of 1921. In Early 1922 The front man for the California Ramblers Violinist Oscar Addler told Their Manager Ed Kirkeby that He Addler was going to take over as the bands manager and booking agent. Ed Kirkeby who had a lot of pull in the New York Music Scean had the B. F. Keath Cercut Bar the Ramblers from playing in any of their restaurants dance halls or theaters. By the end of March 1922 the Original band broke up.They made their last recording on March 16,1922 for Arto Records. The Banjo player and founder of the Ramblers Ray Kitchingman ask Kirkeby if the band could be reformed and suggested a band playing at Shanlee's dance hall whitch was led by Violinist Arthur Hand. Kirkeby said yes and the this new band of California Ramblers made their first recording on April 3, 1922 for the Emerson Record Company. In late 1924 the Ramblers signed a contract with Columbia Records and then, in conjunction with their manager Ed Kirkeby, agreed to waive all royalties to Columbia for the right to record for other companies under different names. They recorded for nearly every independent label in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., using over 100 unique aliases. List of pseudonyms


They weren't from Ohio necessarily, some were, but also from Pennsylvania. They played at Shanleys Dance Hall, The Monte Carlo and the California Ramblers Inn and in 1928 at the McAlpine Hotel although they were not the first mixed band to record (the first was Jimmy Durante's Original New Orleana jazz Band In 1918 with light skinned black clairnetist Achelle Baquet),they were an early intagrated band with light skind black trumpeter Bill Moore in the band from 1922 - March 1925 when he was replaced by Red Nichols. Bill Moore was billed as The Hot Hawiian during his time with the California Ramblers. == The California Ramblers were the first group to record the classic song "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?", in 1925, and many people in or associated with the band - Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Elwood Madeo Jr., and manager Ed Kirkeby - became some of the most famous and influential figures of the Big band era.

Roxy Music - "Dance Away" (1979)

"Dance Away" is a song by the British rock band Roxy Music. Released in April 1979, it was the second single to be taken from their album Manifesto, and became one of the band's most famous songs, reaching Number 2 in the UK and spending a total of 14 weeks on the charts, the longest chart residency of a Roxy Music single. Although it didn't make number 1, it became the 9th biggest selling single in the UK in 1979.


"Dance Away" was originally written by Bryan Ferry for his 1977 solo album In Your Mind, but did not make the final track listing. It was then planned for inclusion on his 1978 album The Bride Stripped Bare, but again was not included. It was finally completed and released on Roxy Music's Manifesto, the band's first studio album in four years.


The single version was a different mix compared to the original album version. As with their next single "Angel Eyes", the single version of "Dance Away" later replaced the album version for subsequent releases, and was included on the band's 1995 box set The Thrill Of It All. While the 1999 re-mastered version of the Manifesto album restored the original version of "Angel Eyes", it still retained the single mix of "Dance Away" in place of the original, making the The Thrill of It All boxset the only place in which the original album version of the song can now be found.

John Williams and Itzak Perlman - "Schindler's List Theme Song" (1993)

Schindler's List is the original soundtrack, on the MCA label, of the 1993 film Schindler's List starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and Caroline Goodall.


The original score and songs were composed by John Williams, and features violin player Itzhak Perlman.


The album won the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award for "Best Original Score" and the Grammy Award for "Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television". It was also nominated for a Golden Globe.

Vladimir Cosma, composer - "Sentimental Walk" (1981)

This is one of my favorite instrumental tunes. It's so soothing to the mind. It's from a scene in a French film known as "DIVA" (which is quite an exciting/adventurous film). "DIVA" was a 1981 film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, adapted from a novel of the same name by Daniel Odier (under the pseudonym Delacorta). It is one of the first French films to let go of the realist, harsh mood of 1970s French cinema and return to a colourful, melodic style, called cinema du look. The film made a muted debut in France in 1981, but had success in the United States the next year. The film became a cult classic and was internationally acclaimed.


Vladimir Cosma was born April 13, 1940 in Bucarest, Romania, into a family of musicians. His father, Teodor Cosma, is a pianist and conductor, his mother a writer-composer, his uncle, Edgar Cosma, composer and conductor, and one of his grandmothers, a pianist. Vladimir received two César Awards for the best movie score, for "DIVA".

Herbie Hancock - Rockit (1983)

"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.

Constructed and composed during the recording process at various studios, including Martin Bisi's in Brooklyn NY, "Rockit" was perhaps the first popular single to feature scratching and other turntablist techniques, performed by GrandMixer D.ST - an influential DJ in the early years of turntablism - using turntables as a musical instrument. Later turntablists, such as DJ Qbert and Mix Master Mike, cited "Rockit" as revelatory in the documentary film Scratch, inspiring their interest in the instrument. The record GrandMixer D.ST. used for scratching in Rockit was the B-side of Change The Beat by Fab Five Freddy, released in 1982 on Celluloid Records.

The single was a major radio hit in the United Kingdom and a popular dance club song in the United States. The music video, directed by duo Godley & Creme and featuring robot-like sculptures (by Jim Whiting) moving in time to the music, was among the earliest videos to feature African Americans on MTV and garnered five MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, including Best Concept Video and Best Special Effects. Hancock himself appears and plays keyboard only as an image on a television, which is smashed on the pavement in the closing shot.

Manfred Mann - Blinded by the Light (1977)

"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen, although it is mostly known by its 1977 #1 hit version recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

The Earth Band's recording of the song features several changed lyrics. The most prominent change is in the chorus, where Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced with "revved up like a deuce."

This is commonly misheard as "wrapped up like a douche." Springsteen himself has joked about the controversy, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a "feminine hygiene product" that it became popular.

Carter Burwell - Way Out There (1987)

The theme to the movie 'Raising Arizona'.

The song borrows elements from "Goofing Off Suite", originally recorded by Pete Seeger in 1955, and also includes an excerpt from the "Chorale" movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9".

Ludwig Van Beethoven - For Elise (1867)

Play this tune for a few hours in your home and feel your mood, mind and spirit improve for the better. Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (English: "For Elise"), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most popular compositions.


It is not certain who "Elise" was. Max Unger suggested that Ludwig Nohl may have transcribed the title incorrectly and the original work may have been named "Für Therese", a reference to Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza (1792–1851). She was a friend and student of Beethoven's to whom he proposed in 1810, though she turned him down to marry the Austrian nobleman and state official Wilhelm von Droßdik in 1816.


According to a recent study by Klaus Martin Kopitz, there is flimsy evidence that the piece was written for the German soprano singer Elisabeth Röckel (1793–1883), later the wife of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. "Elise", as she was called by a parish priest (she always called herself "Maria Eva" or "Betty"), had been a friend of Beethoven's since 1808. In the meantime it has been proven that Rudolf Schachner, who in 1851 inherited Therese von Droßdik's musical scores, was a relative of Babette Bredl who in 1865 let Nohl copy the autograph in her possession. Thus Kopitz's hypothesis is definitely refuted.


The pianist and musicologist Luca Chiantore argued in his doctoral thesis and his recent book "Beethoven al piano" that Beethoven might not have been the person who gave the piece the form that we know today. Chiantore suggested that the original signed manuscript, upon which Ludwig Nohl claimed to base his transcription, may never have existed. On the other hand, the musicologist Barry Cooper stated, in a 1984 essay in the Musical Times, that one of two surviving sketches closely resembles the published version. It has also been suggested that Elise simply refers to a term at this point in history which simply meant 'sweetheart', therefore suggesting this piece was written for Elise (Theresa Malfatti).

Irving Aaronson - Let's Misbehave (1928)

"Let's Misbehave" is a famous song written by Cole Porter in 1927, originally intended for the female lead of his first major production, Paris. Although it was discarded before the Broadway opening in favor of Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love, the star of the Broadway production, Irene Bordoni, did a phonograph recording of it which was labelled as from the production of Paris.

This rendition of the song is performed wonderfully by Irving Aaronson and His Commanders who were an American big band active in New York in the mid-twenties.

War - H2Overture (1973)

"H2Overture" was released on the album 'Deliver the Word' by 'War' in 1973 on United Artists Records. The album featured two singles, "Gypsy Man" backed with "Deliver the Word" (US #8), and "Me and Baby Brother" backed with "In Your Eyes" (US #15).

"H2Overture" was a hidden little gem that was perhaps the best song on the album, but never gained much popularity.

I like to close my eyes and have the flute take me to a higher state.

Enoch Light Singers - My Way of Life (1968)

Better known for their hit 'It Must Be Him', not much is known about the Enoch Light Singers. Never put into the limelight, they released a few vinyl singles and disappeared. Bert Kaempfert, however, was a staple of orchestral compositions of the late 60s and went on to do many great works. 'My Way of Life' truly melts the ears with an eerie glow. Somehow light and dark at the same time. I love it!

The Moog Machine - Aquarius (1969) & The Avalanches - Close to You (2000)

This song has been sampled in so many electronic songs, the original must be paid tribute! From 1969, this marks the beginning of electronic music.

The Moog is actually a synthesizer dating back to 1967, and as you can imagine, is the instrument of choice for The Moog Machine.

The Avalanches, a somewhat one-hit-album group, created an entire set from old samples. They sampled The Moog Machine better than any song by far in my opinion. You can hear Aquarius sampled in their 2000 composition Close to You: