Yakety Sax

"Yakety Sax"
Single by Boots Randolph
from the album Yakety Sax!
B-side	"I Really Don't Want to Know"
Released	1963
Format	7" (45 rpm)
Genre	Zydeco
Length	2:00
Label	Monument Records
Writer(s)	Spider Rich Boots Randolph
Producer(s)	Fred Foster

"Yakety Sax" is a pop-jazz instrumental jointly composed by James Q. "Spider" Rich and Boots Randolph. Boots Randolph, a saxophonist, popularized the selection in his 1963 recording. UK comedian Benny Hill later made it more widely known as the theme music of The Benny Hill Show.

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. Two bars of "Entrance of the Gladiators" and "The Girl I Left Behind" are also worked into it.

Randolph's take on the piece was inspired by a sax solo in the Leiber and Stoller song "Yakety Yak," recorded in 1958 by The Coasters. The tunes are similar, and both feature the "yakety sax" sound. Randolph first recorded "Yakety Sax" that year for RCA Victor, but it did not become a hit till he re-recorded it for Monument Records in 1963; this version reached #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 in the Thames Television comedy program The Benny Hill Show, where it accompanied otherwise silent, rapidly paced comedy sequences that typically involved a farcical chase scene. Indeed, thanks to Hill, "Yakety Sax" is so closely linked to the show that it is also known as "The Benny Hill Theme." On The Benny Hill Show, the music was performed by Ronnie Aldrich and His Orchestra.

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Wikipedia