Pink Panther

Written by Henry Mancini in 1964, The Pink Panther Theme arrived just after Mancini had picked up a bagful of Grammy and Oscar awards for his music for Breakfast at Tiffany's. When Blake Edwards, writer and director of The Pink Panther, brought him into the project, the results were every bit as memorable.

The Panther music went on to score three Grammys, an Oscar nomination, and more than a year and a half on the charts. By sheer repetition, maybe, the Theme became the standout, heard in all but one of the Edwards/Sellers Clousseau sequels as well as the cartoons. With that unforgettable da-dum da-dum opening rhythm, or, as the old joke has it, “dead ant, dead ant”, and its cool, suave sax lead, it is still the piece most closely tied to Mancini’s score.

But there is plenty more to this music than the famous theme. The other cues are just as rewarding, showing off Mancini’s gift for moving effortlessly between velvety 1960s lounge jazz, sleek European-style pop, pretty impressive for someone born in Cleveland, OH, and raised in Pennsylvania, and the occasional touch of more traditional incidental music.

After the title theme, the score’s most successful single was It Had Better Be Tonight. Recorded in several versions, with English lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Mancini’s collaborator on Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany's, the song appears most memorably in one of Blake Edwards’ signature high-life scenes. It would later turn up again in the Edwards/Sellers comedy The Party, where it is performed onscreen by an entertainer.