This is a disco adaptation of the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The good news: it's very clever. The bad news: it's disco. If you don't like disco, and I confess that I don't, this won't be for you.
Walter Murphy (born 1952) is from New York City. "A Fifth of Beethoven" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over two million copies, and was included on the soundtrack for the movie Saturday Night Fever, which won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978.
Murphy never reached the top forty again but has had a long and very successful career writing music for films and TV shows, including Family Guy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson shows.
(By the way: if you prefer a more rock and roll adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, I recommend Electric Light Orchestra's "Roll Over Beethoven", which combines Beethoven and Chuck Berry.)
Created November 4, 2026.