In 1942 Aram Khachaturian composed "Sabre Dance" as a movement in the final act of his ballet entitled "Gayane." The song became so popular in the United States that in 1948 it reached number one in the BillBoard Best-Selling Records by Classical Artists charts three times by three different artists.
Over the years, "Sabre Dance" has been covered by a diverse group of musicians from Spike Jones to Punk and Heavy metal bands like UK Subs and Mekong Delta.
In the 1950's the very popular Liberace played "Sabre Dance" live on TV.
But by far my favorite rendition of this classic will always be this manic version by Love Sculpture in 1969 featuring Dave Edmunds on guitar.
Whoa! Never dreamed I'd run into Liberace on this site! But, geez, he was a monster! My dad -- a classically trained pianist himself -- loved Liberace back in the day . . . that is, until he found out ol' Lib was gay. (Oh, Dad! You were otherwise so openminded!)
ReplyDeleteBut, whoooo -- I never knew Dave Edmunds tackled this kind of stuff. Of course, he's an awesome guitarist, but this is out there! Dave, you blow my mind.