What, you want I should play that “Think” music from Jeopardy! for you?
Only of you count the Master of Ceremonies part (or the cave man part.) And the official live release on Exposed doesn’t have the MC part, though I have some on Deluxe reissues that do.
Anyhow, given it was #1 in England for a year it should count - but not in the US.
Sleepwalk makes me weak in the knees. I’m sad it hasn’t been mentioned yet.
I wonder: does Pomp And Circumstance count?
That was my first thought, too. #2 on that blogger’s list as well.
With something like this, I always have to ask: most famous when, exactly?
- The 20th century instrumental that’s best known now?
- The 20th century instrumental that was best known at the end of the 20th century?
- The 20th century instrumental that was most widely known at the time of its greatest popularity?
Another instantly recognised theme: Entrance of the Gladiators / Thunder and Blazes
I was trying to top some of the ones in this thread and couldn’t, but my first thoughts:
Soul Bossa Nova
Sing, Sing, Sing
Love is Blue
Love’s Theme
The Jaws theme.
[quote=“Dropo, post:86, topic:796914”]
“Harlem Nocturne”
[/QUOTE]Maybe not the most famous, but a favorite, for sure. Still gives me goosebumps even after all these years.
How about “The Stripper”? It hit number 1 in 1962.
For most of my life I never quite processed that #37 “Soulful Strut” by Young Holt Unlimited and #26 “The Horse” by Cliff Nobles were two different songs. I had “The Horse” stuck in my head several months ago, and when looking it up was dumbfounded there was no Holt in the artist’s name.
Of all the instrumentals mentioned in this thread, the only one I listen to on a regular basis is Green Onions. I can’t imagine putting Yakkity Sax on a playlist, as much as I love Benny Hill.
Lots of stuff by Henry Mancini. Peter Gunn. Pink Panther. Baby Elephant Walk.
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned the Twilight Zone theme music.
Years ago I ran across an interview with the composer, Marius Constant, who mentioned the tiny royalty checks he occasionally got for the TZ theme. He said they were barely enough to buy cigarettes.
I wanted to address the question “Is it still an instrumental if someone writes lyrics for it?”
I think it helps to distinguish a song - the original composition on paper - from an arrangement or recording made after the fact. If the original composition is an instrumental, it forever remains an instrumental, regardless of how many recordings or arrangements are made featuring lyrics after the fact.
Since the OP uses the word “song” and not “recording” or “arrangement,” in my opinion, it is referring to cases where the original composition was an instrumental. It is not asking about famous recordings or arrangements, but rather famous songs, IMHO.
Now, to throw a monkey wrench into my argument: what if an instrumental is written, which only ever becomes famous because of a new arrangement with lyrics? I don’t have a good answer for that. Are there any famous cases where this has happened?
Many jazz standards had lyrics written sometime after the original music. Many of Duke Ellington’s works are like this, including Take the A Train, Mood Indigo, Don’t Get Around Much Any More, Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me.
Irving Mills was Duke Ellington’s manager and music publisher. Mills would often write lyrics to Ellington’s pieces to give himself songwriting credit and the share of the royalties that came with this. In most cases these lyrics weren’t sung on the original recordings, and in many cases they weren’t ever recorded.
Mitchell Parish was a lyricist who seemed to specialize in writing words for instrumental pieces after they’d become popular. He did this with Stardust, Sleigh Ride, Sophisticated Lady and Moonlight Serenade.
Love Is Blue was originally written as a song with lyrics, but one of the best-known recordings has no vocal.
Given that many instrumental pieces have had lyrics written for them, and that it’s possible to perform any piece of music without a vocal, I’d say that an instrumental is a type of performance, not a type of composition. A famous instrumental is a vocal-free performance that’s known by many people.
You might want to check your use of the word “song” there, if you’re being pedantic. “Tune” sounds more like what you’re looking for. Note also that the OP considers “In the Mood” a reasonable answer for his topic, which does have lyrics to it, so I don’t think it was the OP’s intent to exclude instrumental versions of songs.
Good point.
Another good point. So the OP is really after famous instrumental recordings.
I’m not adding anything useful to the conversation, am I? 
I was sure “Lily Was Here” was going to be on the list somewhere, but wiki-ing it I see it was of Dutch origin and only hit 11 on the American top 40 charts. And I’m obviously too much a child of the eighties/nineties.
-DF
On the other hand, what if there’s no one definitive recording of a particular song, but it’s been performed by many different artists, and listened to and known by a very large number of people? That wouldn’t be a famous recording, but it would be a famous instrumental.