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From: ZeroRebirthFC187
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  • Takes me back to the days of the radio playing this, in Mom's kitchen, tuned to WPAT out of NYC...it was the Golden Age of being a kid...

  • ...Its like you're dreamily cruising on some fabulous trip through an enchanted wonderland!

  • Put me back in a 409 Chevy cruising Pottstown Listening to this Great song!

  • My dad was a professional violinist and I practically grew up with Henry Mancini. Just hearing all these tunes transports me back into a safer, more civilized place in time, where the martinis were cold, you could smoke, and the music was always wonderful. Hats off too, to Leroy Anderson, who also made that period so very memorable for me. I remember it all.

  • I just can't hear Buddy Cole Play this great Mancini song enough! What a song what a man playing it!

  • I can never hear this enough,love Buddy Coles Hammon B-3 organ playing of this!!

  • Christmas eve 2011 and nothing sounds better then this, a trip back in time!

  • My favorite among the greats of the 60's. They don't make them like that anymore. Nelson Riddle was another.

  • My neighbor's mom used to have a little AM radio playing in the kitchen all day, and even as a young boy I was transfixed by the lush beauty of hearing such songs. It's more magic than music to me.

  • WHAT A song what a show all I can say is Awesome!!! So much better back in the day!!

  • @Kinseydsp life was better back then...

  • Everytime I listen to this it fills my heart with joy and brings back sweet memories! God bless buddy cole for his playing of this!

  • Love this theme... Love all Mancini's themes, actually. We miss him.

  • grande maestro H.Mancini, maravilha de musica como tantas outras que ele nos

    deixou, gravadas para nossas recordações.

  • The subtlety and range of Mr. Cole's playing is what's the most striking. It's jazzy then schmaltzy then something else. It's so confident and full of personality. And the way he works the expression pedal, like a the end of phrases - well, nobody today can do that.

  • Jerry 3136..I hear you..I'm 64..and yes this is great music..i remember going to an Italian resturant , I was maybe 17 had a date and Mr. Lucky theme was playing..it's the real deal

  • too bad for this generation all they have is hip hop and rap..

  • Love this music it is timeless Mr Mancini was the very best of the best! God rest his soul he was an awsome composer The Best as far as I am conserned. Love the show this is my all time favorite song. Enjoyed his music every day of my life and at 64 thats a long time. Thanks for sharing this I will listen offten! David Ziegler

  • Thank you for your lovely comment

  • mr lucky was originally a movie with cary grant and lorraine day i believe. the television show came later. magnificent music. mancini always is!

  • Words don't describe how much I love this song!!!!! First heard it in Music Class Love u for posting this!

  • I now have my Grandmother's Hammond Concorde. Don't make them like this any more.

  • So sad that there isn't music like this today. We lived in a great generation of musical artists back then............

  • My Father, Buddy Cole, played the Hammond B3 organ solo on Henry Mancini's Mr. lucky, as well as keyboards on many other Mancini recordings. As a child I remember him bringing this home and playing it for us. After he died in 1964 I remember walking into a market, hearing it over the speakers and bursting into tears. For years, everytime this happened, in any store or elevator, I would react the same way. This is very nostalgic as it is quintessential Buddy Cole and classic Henry Mancini.

  • @euni1 God rest your father's soul. I was about 8 years old when I first heard this tune and it mightily impressed me. It is beautiful, melodious and elegant. It is one of the best pieces of music ever written and performed. Your dad's organ playing was superb and left the maximum impression on me. It truly is the lead instrument on this tune.

  • @euni1 Your father's contribution to this fantastic tune is amazing. I was a late elem. school kid when P.G aired, and I kept turning around during the action when tunes like "Fallout" would be playing and saying "This music is fantastic!" So as she was always doing, she brought home two 45s from Kroger's of all places! One had the "The Blues" (amazing) backed by something, and "Big Noise from Winnetka" backed by "Mr. Lucky". I wore them out.

  • @euni1 Your Fathers playing is awesome I have loved this song my whole Life and the Hammon B3 is the most wonderful organ ever good old tube power! Even though your Father is gone he still blesses people every time this song is played! I could listen to it endlessly.

  • @Kinseydsp I think it actually was a Thomas organ...probably not made anymore. Anyway, I love the sound. I used to play this great tune often when I was younger (in the '60s and '70s). Mancini did write some beautiful music. It's a shame what's happened to pop music. 30 to 40 years ago, today's stuff would have been derisively laughed at, and dismissed as the empty noise that it is.

  • @proudboomer Hi if you go to page two at bottom you will see a note from a person who's father Buddy Cole played the music for this song for Henry Mancini and they say Mr Cole played it on a Hammon B-3 which was a pure tube Organ. Thomas organs were also very good those days. This music is the music of my life. And you are so right the so called music today is nothing but pure noise! Thank God for this great old music from back in the day! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

  • @euni1 Everytime I hear your Dad play this song on the Hammon B- 3 I thank God for his great talent. I hope you read this as your father is a hero to me May God Always rest and Bless his soul!!!

  • Screw the propaganda ad that precedes this video!!

  • Mr. Mancini is just TOO  damn cool, okay? Yep, the tune is just plain breathtaking. Thanx for posting this gem....

  • I recall this song being the theme for a local late Saturday evening movie each week. But more so, my mother who played this song off of an LP album on a stereo playe. I recall listening to so many of the various songs she played of her record collection. When I listen to this song, it brings back many fond memories of my late mother and those precious times spent with her during my young childhood. Thank you for posting this so I could take a moment to think about those days..

  • The late Buddy Cole on the Hammond B-3 organ.

  • nice and smooth

  • Great theme with the mighty Hammond B3 organ!

  • After not hearing this for a while, it's riveting to hear it. So beautiful it cuts into the soul....beautifully.

  • For some strange reason, I was 2 years old and heard this music at Dodger Stadium in 1959. I was just a baby at a baseball game.

  • @xxchinookxx You couldn't have heard it at Dodger Stadium then,because it wasn't built until 1962.

  • I was a baby to really remember...Remember?

  • too bad all the great composers have passed away, but great their music lives on

  • @LIN11831

    That is for sure.

  • I just hate the term "easy listening." It seems like it's always meant as a put-down. Henry Mancini's melodies are beautiful listening, in my book. He was gifted at capturing a mood, an emotion, a feeling.

  • @LWOPP I don't like the term 'easy listening' either. This is far more profound and beautiful than the things they present as easy listening which to me is just that 'light-weight' so-called jazz. This is too cool and beautiful for me to classify....it just speaks for itself. : )

  • Sounds veeery mid-50s to early 60s. I alwys liked how these compos' organ and winds would mimic the city sounds of car horns, street scenes, and carnival organ rifts. It gives a uniquely New York city flavor of an era that is now bygone.

  • I can actually imagine Fred Estare dancing to this. Mancini new how to set the mood!

  • Thanks for posting this wonderful tune! Mancini...pure genius! I like the theater organ and superb horn section.

  • Just heard this cue being used in HBO's documentary about producer / concert promoter Jerry Weintraub. Alas, too young to remember the TV show...

  • check out the scores at the

    sounds and scores" book

    amazing stuff

  • Another great Mancini number....as good as Peter Gunn!

  • Such a delightful, breezy, swaying, roller skating, piece composed by our dear Henry.....

  • THE BEST OF TV THEME SIONGS

  • @bangfarang Thank You! Coherent and well expressed.There are some individuals who to this very day prefer to goosestep than to waltz in time with normal society. Hmm, what blunders of the 20th century should we refer to? Two examples come to mind, or the more recent fledgling attempts by David Duke to advance with a significant political career. These notions and aspirations are archaic and foolish, jumping affiliations to get his foot in the door and masquerading with legitimacy.

  • My Hammond Organ teacher was pushing this piece on us in the early-sixties, it didnt take then being far too sophisticated for me as a 5to10 year old and I failed to aooreciate this great composition at the immature age. Ironically and tragically our Hammond B3 and "H" burned to ashes in the fire of '93 in Laguna Beach. Iv'e learned to play it now years later and realized it would've been impossible back then anyway. Mancini had large hands. Its really a stretch to cover these chords.

  • Another piece of gorgeous Nelson Riddle music.

  • @beatricebordercollie Mr. Lucky was composed by Henry Mancini, not Nelson Riddle.

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  • @beatricebordercollie - Uhh. . .make that Henry Mancini. But the music is gorgeous!

  • a wonderful piece from the Grand Master himself. The Hammond B-3 organ is the perfect instrument to blend with the orchestra and strings. Class act all the way!

  • jazzbuff, where in today's world did you find a jukebox with such classics, I think I would have probably drank and stayed there for hours, for me a Manhatten soft witha good cigar.

  • Now this is music, it stays with you whever you may go, it wiil never go out of style, thank god for my age of 64 to have lived and still enjoy this music of my life, it's two people at dinner with candlelight, wine, and love in their eyes

  • @jerry3136

    I'm 50, and have dug this kind of music since I was a kid. I was at a cocktail lounge last night, and someone had flooded the jukebox with Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Nat King Cole, Percy Faith, Liberace, Louis Prima, etc. I finally felt like a real grown-up, if you know what I'm saying. The martini I was drinking suddenly seemed less of a prop, and totally proper,

  • @jerry3136 Jerry I totally agree with you this is real music with meaning a special date a special place completely old school, I too am 64 and those were the days. Dave Z

  • This song was my 'bedtime' music. 1958, 1959, somewhere in there. When that TV show came on and I after enjoyed the theme song I was expected to go to bed. As we did back then there was no argument or backtalk. We did what we were told and that was OK. No problems, all was well. I want to go back.

  • The incomparable Buudy Cole on the the Hammond B3.

  • Mr. Mancini = king of coolness

  • Not only beautiful, elegant, and tasteful....but very very classy .

  • I've only ever heard Vince Guaraldi's version of this (which is great, btw), but this version is great.

  • Oh Henry! Mr. Suave & Debonair. Loved this melody from his Greatest Hits 8 track,which I wore out in High School in '73-'75. Man, what talent ! No wonder he's sought to score so many films&TV shows (my favorites Pink Panther & Hatari & Moon River). What would Andy Williams' career have been like without Moon River & Days of Wine&Roses. We all have H.M. to thank for so many hours of entertainment & enjoyment. I read recently that Mr. Mancini played & wrote for Glenn Miller's original band. WOW!

  • 60s movies, in addition to having great actors and plots also had the best music/soundtracks.

  • @macvolkswagon I think most people would agree movies are much better today. For one thing, they are in color (duh) and there's way more action. Have you even seen any of the Pirates of the Carribean or Lord of the Rings films?

    There WERE some good soundtracks in the 60's though. That's why my band decided to update and improve the Mancini's "Theme from Peter Gunn". Check out our new video if you want to try a more modern approach.

  • @number1covers

    First, color movies go back to the 1930's. Second, movies back then didn't have to depend on "action" to make them good. They had excellent actors who loved their craft more than their celebrity and excellent writers and other professional technicians who didn't need to rely upon special effects in order to carry the movie. Yes, movies WERE MUCH BETTER back then than they are today. DUH!!

    You think you can "improve" upon Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn theme? I don't think so!

  • @sandiegutthedog Whew, how do these old people keep getting on youtube? First of all, special effects are what movies worth watching. What would "Transformers" be without crazy huge robots? Hey Pops, you best get with the program and start embracing the technology. We're gonna be wearing space suits soon!

    As for the comment about my band's new "Peter Gunn" video, your're obviously just jealous of the fact that we've got a kick ass band.

  • @vaadaenmacchi Oops, the new Peter Gunn video is at THIS page ("number1saxophone").

  • Henry Mancini was genius......beautful mind.

  • Beautiful and awesome composer, orchestra conductor and arranger. Beautiful arrangements thanks for posting. Awesome organ too!

  • This is Mr. Lucky song I told you about. It's pretty mellow except the organ grinding. Looooooooooooooooooove !

  • @StevieB1362 TOTALLY AGREE...BAN THOSE HAMMOND ORGANS1

  • @txcormorant Y bann hammond organs???...u must xplain...

  • @lanigirod ..PERHAPS NOT A HAMMOND..BUT SOME KIND OF ORGAN INTRUDING A BEAUTIFUL ARRANGEMENT.

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  • That's true, was surprised to hear he played in Glenn Miller's band at first, then started composing for himself. What a genius talent to write so many favorites. Definitely part of America's fabric. So much talent ! My gosh, Moon River alone is a lifetime accomplishment, which helped launch Andy Williams' Billion $ career. But wait, he went on to write Baby Elephant Walk AND the Pink Panther Theme !! WOW !! Long live Henry !

  • I loved this so much when I was a girl that I got the album for my birthday or Christmas when I was in 6th grade. Still love it....it reminds me of when adults were elegant and sophisticated.

  • @evporretta You mean when they actually grew up?  What's wrong with Lindsay & Paris & Brittany & Whitney? Wait a minute. Where did you say we're going & why are we in this hand basket? God help us all.

  • One of the best, and, I feel humbled to say, written for one of my late mother's dearest friend's shows, the late John Vivyan as "Mr. Lucky." He never obtained great stardom, but he was DDG. It boggles my mind when I think of the body of music that the incredible Mr. Mancini has left behind! Can any of us think of one song or soundtrack that hits a bad note? "Moon River," "Peter Gunn," "Pink Panther," "Theme from Romeo and Juliet," and "The Thorn Birds."

  • Anyone know who was the personnel in this magnificent orchestra??? An all-time classic!!! Probably the most elegant music Mr. M. created!!!

  • @chetnet I know that the organist was Buddy Cole.

  • As a kid in the 60s I loved rock but at the same time you couldn't not love Mancini.

    He transended. And still does. Brilliant.

  • @koscina5 I identify with that totally. I was a kid in the 60s and was crazy about other music forms but how could anyone not see the beauty in this?

  • I liked this theme song better than the show. Mancini was the best!

  • great classic 60's song. I enjoyed the music as much as the TV series (maybe more).

  • i firstheard this on a car radio, while driving through a snowy lancaster pa. country side, the music perfectly matched the scenery asonlymancini could do-- i never tireof hearing it, one of my favorites

  • there will never be a henry mancini again.

  • The late great Buddy Cole on Hammond organ.

  • The early 60's was an era completely unknown to most of you, but, remote as it is, this evokes the urbane world wearyness perfectly.

  • Ahh

    I read that book

    Eric and Mocrambe

    British Humour at its best

  • That tune came out in the spring of 1960, and also was the theme song for the TV show, Mr. Lucky during that season.

  • I found a version by Sarah Vaugh on jazzysbag so just put in the search bag

    Mr. Lucky Sarah Vaughan or vice versa. It's really cool and set to a Bossa Nova beat, sounds really 50 and 60 ish. I love Ms. Vaughan whose now passed on. Great singer. So peace and a great week.

  • Lush, full, sophisticated, inspiring. Mancini was incredible.

  • Does anyone know if this has ever been recorded with song and lyrics?

  • @Fanoulita Yes there have been a few people who have sang them that I know of. I also have the lyrics if you would like or look a few pages back and you will find them. I wrote them out to a lady that was just like me long ago, I wanted them until I heard them sang and never ever forget, they are so simple and beautiful. Peace.

  • @9876543217303

    Oh thank you very much! Is it possible to link me to these versions?

    I'd appreciate it if you could also send me the lyrics!

  • @9876543217303 They call me lucky...... you and I Lucky girl, Lucky guy When you hold my hand or touch my cheek..... I know I'm on a lifetime Lucky streak A Lucky rainbow Lights the sky When we kiss When we sigh They call me Lucky Mr. Lucky Guy But darling, so am I I will find the song and link it to you. But aren't those dreamy lyrics? I sing it all the time lol :D
  • This theme just screams early 1960s.

  • This tune somehow expresses much of what I think a life is.

  • YES!

  • I've always loved this song. It's soooo Mancini! Beautiful melody and beautifully arranged. Thanks for posting!

  • I have loved this song since I was a little girl. Henry Mancini was truly gifted as an artist, and composer!

  • Klok How about that organ. Now, that's what it should sound like! My older brother had a triple decker Hammond. Boy, did I love that thing.

  • That's my life right there - the hopes the sadness

  • There's very little in my musical sense, much better than this. Epitome of class, style, cool sophistication. The Hammond sends me....yes it does. Mr. Mancini woos me. I just have to drop in and listen.......

  • Obviously Mancini had more talent in one fingernail than a stadium full of todays composures would.

  • Such glory! Here's a guy, Hauptsturmfuhrer, whose channel trumpets the glory of the white race and who writes "todays composures" here. "And," not but.

    I do a lot of writing about the decline of civilization, but I maintain a healthy respect for people of as many colors as this planet has. There's no need to make enemies on the basis of color. Creed, yes, not color.

  • @bangfarang

    When you grow up you'll learn better,hopefully ;and maybe even be able to write a coherent sentence too.

  • If there's something you don't understand, Haupt, you can ask questions, you know. In the meantime, the civilized of the Earth are not gravitating to David Duke.

    "Learn better"? I'm sorry to say that only the dim are so presumptuous. But this is off the subject of this site, and I will desist.

  • @bangfarang Are you on medication? Dropping acid? Shrooms? What you have written is the most ridiculous BS I have ever read. Why don't you keep a diary, and write how you feel - that way no one else can read your utter nonsense!

  • All innuendo, no detail, Kara. That is not the way intelligence works. If you have something to say, say it. If you care to be influential on a point, don't just gasp about how irrational someone whom you disagree with is.

  • This evokes a time when men wore hats and women wore gloves.

  • some great b-3

  • Just bought the Mr. Lucky Mancini CD from Amazon! Love it so much - Romance comes alive with this music! Makes me want to dance! Thanks for posting!

  • yh i subd ya still abeg u check the new GRIMINAL, MZ BRATT AND LADY L DISS ON MY PAGE ABEG U WATCH IT IN HD ITS VERY HYPE like garage in 2004.

  • I watched Peter Gun and Mr. Lucky just to hear the music.

  • @KLOKFXR - "What you said!"  Amen

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  • Thanks so much for posting this! We played the entire Mr. Lucky theme and all the other music (such as "The March of the Que Balls") in my high school band. I just bought the Peter Gunn CD from Amazon last week, but can't find a Mr. Lucky CD. Thanks again, this is beautiful.

    Fred

  • Where did you find out that Andamo is based on a character Ross played in Peter Gunn?? I never knew that!

  • Feelin' it...

  • Absolutely delish music, nothing compares to it today!!! Classic 50's style!!!

  • I agree with all the comments.

  • The late great Buddy Cole on the Hammond B-3

  • ...Its like they used Spector's "Wall of Sound" technique on this song because its so "Intense"!!!

  • @OlymPigs2010 Spector brought arranging techniques used in "grown up music" to rock-pop, Hell Wagner was writing "wall of sound" operas in the 1800s.

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  • This is beautiful, elegant, tasteful. What we now hear, in 2010, on popular radio seems so uninspired, it's depressing!

  • @zahdio I agree a hundred and one percent. They don't make music like this anymore,

  • @zahdio Exactly. Remember that brash, rough, vulgar Peter Gunn Theme? Even when we got "down & dirty", it was still G-rated.

  • @zahdio Great Jass. Inspiring, not mind numbing.

  • @zahdio I always thought Mancini had a "glowing" sound to his music. Its haunting.

  • @zahdio DONT YOU DARE COMPARE MUSIC BACK THEN TO NOW

  • Flat-out outstanding. Takes me back to cold winter nights as a kid in Ohio. I think the show came on on Saturday nights.

  • French horns. Hammond organ. Strings. Orchestral bells. They just couldn't do it like this again if they tried! How cool.

  • oooo.....so retro...so vintage...so fantastic..=)

  • Suave sophistication written in a time when people appreciated the finer things in music.

  • @amalfi348 so true:)

  • @amalfi348 Yes indeed. Conjures up images of stylish '60s jet setters.

  • @amalfi348 and the blacks knew their place! those were the days!

  • @supdawg9999999 That's a sad statement. I'll only wish the best for you.

  • Just excellent...

  • This is sweet!

    Oranj Syphonette does an absolutely awesome cover too

  • Mancini...huge.

  • @antonietto1 and deep,wide,unlimited!

  • As I listen to this, and "Peter Gunn" from the same period, I have to wonder if Nelson Riddle's fascination with the Hammond organ shortly thereafter wasn't at least partially inspired by what Mancini was doing with it...

  • Have this on tape from 1996

  • Does anyone know the female singer who sang the Mr. Lucky Theme song?

  • @dkriese

    There may have been more than one singer who sang this song but Sarah Vaughn was one of those that sang it. Hope this helps. The lyrics are really pretty too.

  • Where can I get the lyrics sung by Sarah Vaughn? Thanks

  • @dianejahoda They call us lucky, you and I Lucky girl, lucky guy When you take my hands and touch my cheek I know I'm on a lifetime lucky streak A lucky rainbow lights the sky When we kiss, when we sigh They say you're lucky Mr. Lucky guy But darling, so am I *also google up Sarah and put in Mr. Lucky *Aren't those dreamy lyrics!
  • Coolest song ever, when thinking of cool, it is it. Thks. Hank!

  • Have loved this theme for decades! Used to play this on the piano to warm up my fingers. The piano version DOES get your fingers warmed up very quickly!

  • Music wasn't an evolutionary requisite. So we are damned lucky to have it. And then, can you imagine life without Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Hank Mancini? Sometimes, especially when I want to retreat from today's Earthly horrors, I think music IS the world.

    This theme is not only likely the best of Mancini's creations, it may be my favorite of all tunes produced in the United States since 1920 or so. When I wonder what the U.S. will most be remembered for, pieces like this score high

  • Some insightful words. I've always wondered why/how music and rhythm is programmed in us and is now so necessary.

  • ♫...♫♪...♫♪ ♫...♫♪...♫♪...

  • hip, melodic, suave. Mr. Lucky -- the song, the guy. Mancini is brilliant.

  • Hey ronettesloverz-thanks for the reply with the lyrics. Love the song even more now. Berst regards

  • Wonderful!!!

  • Mancini seemed almost to be taken for granted during his lifetime. Perhaps History will be kinder to him.

  • He isn'g forgotten.. I've always loved him. His music was breezy, sweet and brought both joy and a little sadness. That was the beauty and this is definitely my pick. I used to wait for the show to hear this.

  • Nothing like the tv series in this era. Looked forward to this show, Peter Gunn and tv in general for this time. Nothing today comes close to. Great music made for those shows. Thank you so much for posting.

  • Reminds me of the good old days when we used to have a pop/standards station in the San Francicsco bay area.

  • Yup and the station's format wa replaced with AIR AMERICA...a left wing liberal puke spewing embarrassment of a talk radio

  • Oh I remember hearing this as a kid, my late parents had a huge collection of records..they played on the combo color tv/stereo..a huge contraption that about the size of a coffin..anyway.. I love this song...it reminds me of my youth..and makes me realise how much I miss my parents and that era.. Thanks for putting this up.

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