It's no accident that Gleason holds the world's record for the slo-o-o-west version of 'The Third Man Theme' with the track on Movie Themes for Lovers Only.

To today's listener, the ultra-mellow sound makes it seem as if the goal was to get a woman to sleep with you, and I don't mean that to be a euphemism. I want to come.' You'll find no great climaxes on a Gleason album, though. Although it's never been verified, Gleason has been quoted as saying that when he liked to associate his music with a guy looking at a beautiful woman in a nightgown and thinking to himself, 'Mmmm. It doesn't take two guesses to figure out what Music to Change Her Mind intended to change her mind about. Now, there was nothing subtle about the mood he was trying to create. Gleason was consciously trying to create a mood (hence the more appropriate label, mood music). Instead of a big, upfront sound full of instrumentation, you notice the music is subtle, very much in the background. All it takes to hear that is to play a Gleason track back-to-back with one by another big easy listening name, such as Mantovani. What Hackett was crediting was Gleason's sense of restraint, an often neglected attribute among musicians. Into this intensely romantic album, Jackie Gleason has decanted a tranquilizing potion as dreamily hypnotic as a warm breeze caressing a field of poppies.īut the truth is that these are some of the most laid-back easy listening albums ever recorded. To go by the liner notes, such as the following, from Opiate D'Amour, you'd think a Gleason album would be over the top with syrupy strings: Hackett later remarked that 'Jackie Gleason taught me to play,' and it wasn't meant to be sarcastic. Many featured cornetist Bobby Hackett soloing off in a distance, as if in a fog, adding to the 'moodiness' of the music. Gleason released over 20 albums between 19, all on Capitol. Listeners liked how Gleason smoothed down the tunes, making them perfect background music for making out on the couch-but his TV popularity helped, too. As it turned out, the album, Music for Lovers Only, sold over 500,000. He cut a deal with Capitol that put the risk of profit on his back, with the unheard-of break-even number of 60,000 copies sold. He hired his own studio orchestra, pulled some orchestrators together, and began describing what he was looking for, occasionally picking out passages with one finger on the piano. Gleason introduced most of hisĬharacters in skits on this show, including what was spun off as 'The Honeymooners' in 1955.Īlthough Gleason could neither read or write music, he had an idea about recording music that combined popular songs with moody, string-laden orchestrations. He got a part on a very early TV series, 'The Life of Riley,' and then was given his own variety show, 'Cavalcade of Stars,' in 1949. Gleason started as a comedian, working on radio and in movies beginning in the late 1930s.

Born Herbert John Gleason,, Brooklyn, New York.

Jackie gleason romantic moods