Classics in Pop Music
Dave
There is the quote of Bach's 2-Part Invention No. 8 (played on the
trumpet)
and Greensleeves at the end of The Beatles' "All you need is love".
And I just came across a site which addresses this "rip-off" issue (as
they
call it) - and takes much of the fun from compiling a list through
this
newsgroup. Anyway, these lists are not comprehensive, since some of
the
contributions posted until now are not included. Here they go:
<start>
Classics stolen by pop hits
Many singles have hit the charts despite, or because of, 'borrowing' a
well-
known classical theme.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Classics stolen by pop hits
JS Bach: Minuet in G minor, BWV114 / The Toys: Lovers' Concerto -
(5/65)
JS Bach: Air on the G string, BWV1068 / Sweetbox: Everything's gonna
be all
right - (?/98)
JS Bach: Air on the G string, BWV1068 / According to legend, Procul
Harum: A
whiter shade of pale - (1/67), though the resemblance is very tenuous
JS Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, BWV147 / Beach Boys: Lady Lynda
-
(6/79)
JS Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, BWV147 / The Byrds: She Don't
Care
About Time - (?)
JS Bach: French Suites / The Nice: America - (21/68)
JS Bach: St Matthew Passion - O sacred head / Paul Simon: America -
(25/77)
JS Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring / Ralph McTell: Dreams of you -
(36/75)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / The Seekers: Emerald city - (50/67)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - fourth movement / Miguel Rios: Song of joy
-
(16/70)
Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata / Cindy and Saffrons: Past, present and
future -
(56/83)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 - first movement / Electric Light Orchestra:
Roll
over Beethoven - (6/73)
Bernstein: America / The Nice: America - (21/68)
Borodin: Polovtsian Dances / Tony Bennett: Stranger in paradise -
(1/55)
Borodin: Prince Igor / Warren G and Sissel (?98?)
Chabrier: España / Perry Como: Hot Diggity - (4/56)
Chopin: Etude in E major / Ken Dodd: So deep is the night - (31/64)
Chopin: Prelude in C minor / Donna Summer: Could it be magic - (40/76)
Chopin: Prelude in C minor / Barry Manilow: Could it be magic -
(25/78)
Chopin: Prelude in C minor / Take That: Could it be magic - (3/93)
Clementi: Sonatine in G / Mindbenders: Groovy kind of love - (2/66)
Dvorak: New World Symphony - second movement / The Nice: America -
(21/68)
Dvorak: New World Symphony - second movement / Tony Capstick: Capstick
comes
home - (3/81)
Dvorak: New World Symphony - second movement / New Generation: Smokey
blues
away - (38/68)
Grieg: Norwegian Dance No. 2 / La Belle Epoque: Black is black -
(2/77)
Handel: Messiah / Holly Johnson: The Hollyleujah Chorus - (?/90)
Holst: Planets Suite - "Jupiter" / Manfred Mann's Earth Band:
Joybringer -
(9/73)
Leoncavallo: La Mattinata / Keely Smith: You're Breaking My Heart
(?/67)
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto - second movement / Petula Clarke: I
Don't Know
How to Love Him (?/72)
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 - third movement / Wombles: Minuetto
allegretto -
(16/74)
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 - second movement / Neil Diamond: Song
sung
blue - (14/72)
Offenbach: Tales of Hoffman - Barcarolle / Donald Peers: Please don't
go -
(3/68)
Pachelbel: Canon / Aphrodite's Child: Rain and tears - (30/68)
Pachelbel: Canon / The Farm: Altogether now - (?/90)
Pachelbel: Canon / Coolio: C U when U get there, or however it was
spelt oh
so trendily - (1/97)
Ponchielli: Dance of the hours / Alan Sherman: Hello Muddah, hello
Faddah -
(14/63)
Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours / Linda Scott: I've told every little
star -
(7/61)
Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé Suite - Troika / Greg Lake: I believe in
Father
Christmas - (2/75)
Puccini: Madame Butterfly - "Un bel di Vedremo" / Electric Light
Orchestra:
Rockaria - (9/77)
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Eric Carmen: All by myself -
(12/76)
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 / The Korgis: If I had you - (13/79)
Rossini: William Tell - Overture / Piltdown Men: Piltdown Man rides
again -
(14/61)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 - final movement / Scott Fitzgerald and
Yvonne
Keeley:If I had words - (3/78)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 - finale fanfare / Strawberry Switchblade:
Beach
Baby - (?/74)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 - finale fanfare / First Class: Since
Yesterday -
(?/85)
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite - March / B Bumble and the Stingers: Nut
Rocker - (1/62)
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet - Fantasy Overture / Lou Christie:
Rhapsody in
the rain - (37/66)
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture / The Move: Night of fear - (2/67)
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 / Jackie Wilson: Alone at last -
(50/60)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / The Cougars: Saturday nite at the duckpond -
(33/63)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / La Cross 98: Save Me - (?/98)
Wagner: Tannhäuser - Overture / Dr Strangelove (Peter Sellers): A hard
day's
night - (14/65)
Classics in pop and rock
In the 1970, borrowing classics to use in rock albums was virtually an
industry. Emerson, Lake and Palmer and The Nice - each having Keith
Emerson
on keyboards - habitually treated classical music in a variety of
ways: ELP
even released an relatively "straight" album of Mussorgsky's Pictures
at an
Exhibition. Progressive rock was not the only culprit. Wright and
Forrest's
purloining of Borodin's music for their musical Kismet was many years
earlier - in fact, almost the instant that Borodin's music went out of
copyright. The Beatles, as ever, were innovators in the field:
"Because", on
their 1968 Abbey Road album, uses a theme from Beethoven's Moonlight
Sonata - backwards.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Classics in pop and rock albums
Albinoni: Adagio / Renaissance: So cold is being lonely
JS Bach: St Matthew Passion / Simon and Garfunkel: American tune
JS Bach: French Suite in D minor / Emerson, Lake and Palmer: The
Barbarian
JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 / The Nice: Five bridges
JS Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D mino / Ekseption: Various
Bartók: Allegro barbaro / Emerson, Lake and Palmer: The Barbarian
Beethoven: Pathétique Sonata - Adagio / Billy Joel: This night
Beethoven: Für Elise / Accept: Metal Heart
Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata (backwards) / Beatles: Because
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 / Ekseption: Various
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - fourth movement / Rainbow: Difficult to
cure
Borodin: Prince Igor / Wright and Forrest: Kismet
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 - third movement / Yes: Cans and Brahms
Chopin: Revolutionary Study in C minor / Renaissance: Prologue
Copland: Rodeo - "Hoedown" / Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Hoedown
Debussy: Préludes, Book 1 - "La cathédrale engloutie" / Renaissance:
At the
harbour
Dvorak: String Quintet, Op. 97 / Bing Crosby: Country style
Dvorak: Humoresque / Inkspots: I'd climb the highest mountain
Elgar: Enigma Variations - "Nimrod" / The Enid: The Enid
Ginastera: Piano Concerto No. 1 - fourth movement / Emerson, Lake and
Palmer: Toccata
Grieg: Peer Gynt - "In the Hall of the Mountain King" - Rick Wakeman:
Journey to the centre of the Earth
Handel: Messiah / Carpenters: Another Song
Haydn: (attrib.) St Antoni Chorale / Focus: Hamburger Concerto
Holst: Planets Suite - "Mars" / King Crimson: Devil's Triangle
Holst: Planets Suite - "Mars" / Emerson, Lake and Powell: Mars
Janacek: Sinfonietta / Emerson, Lake and Palmer: The Barbarian
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Emerson, Lake and Palmer:
Pictures
at an Exhibition
Parry: Jerusalem / Emerson, Lake and Palmer: In concert
Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé / Sting: Russians
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite - second movement / Emerson, Lake and
Palmer: In
concert
Ravel: Boléro / Emerson, Lake and Palmer: In concert
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherezade - "Sultan's Theme" / Renaissance:
Sheherezade
Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble-Bee / Ekseption: Various
Saint-Saëns: My heart at thy sweet voice / Jackie Wilson: Night
Schubert: Ave Maria D839 / Nina Hagen: My Way
Sibelius: Karelia Suite / The Nice: Five bridges
Smetana: Vltava / Ekseption: Various
Stravinsky: Firebird - Suite / Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Starbird
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 - first movement / Pink Floyd: Wish You
Were
Here (snatch in 'radio' section)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 - third movement / The Nice: Five bridges
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / Madness: One Step Beyond
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves / Emerson, Lake and Powell:
Touch
and go
Verdi: Requiem - Dies irae / Pandora's Box: Requiem Metal
Not to mention... Hooked on Classics, which put wall-to-wall classical
themes to a disco beat; James Last and his easy-listening classics;
John
Williams's Sky, who arranged many well-known masterpieces; Van Dyke
Parks,
who did a two-minute version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; The Doors,
who
had a crack at Albinoni's Adagio; Gary Numan, who "did" the Satie
Gymnopédies; Wolf Hoffmann (Accept) who did versions of loads of
classical
standards; Nash the Slash who performed Prokofiev's Peter and the
Wolf;
Mekong Delta's performance of Baba Yaga from Mussorgsky's Pictures;
Malcolm
MacLaren, who was responsible for a version of Puccini's Madame
Butterfly;
Elvis Presley, who parodied Offenbach's "Barcarolle" and Johann
Strauss's
Tales from the Vienna Woods (in Tonight's all right for love); Andrew
Lloyd
Webber's Variations that put Paganini's Caprice No. 24 through the
mill of
1970s rock styles; and many more. Returning the compliment, pianists
Rostal
and Schaeffer turned some Beatles songs into a "Beatles Concerto" with
the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Al Jolson's 1920 hit Avalon sounded so
much
like Puccini's aria "E lucevan le stelle" from Act 3 of Tosca that his
company was sued - and had to pay $25,000 compensation.
<end>
Bjørn Are
> This is cut and pasted from a 1999 usenet post.
>
> There is the quote of Bach's 2-Part Invention No. 8 (played on the
> trumpet)
> and Greensleeves at the end of The Beatles' "All you need is love".
>
> And I just came across a site which addresses this "rip-off" issue (as
> they
> call it) - and takes much of the fun from compiling a list through
> this
> newsgroup. Anyway, these lists are not comprehensive, since some of
> the
> contributions posted until now are not included. Here they go:
>
> <start>
> Classics stolen by pop hits
If you're into kinds like this, no "pop" mucisian has ha more
knowledge of classical music than Keith Emerson, He has done some
interewsting (and some not so) interpretaions of classical music and
even composed some himself (e.g. his first piano concerto).
There's an EXTENSIVE list ogf his musical quotes (usual during various
piano or organ solos, though also as main themes or reinterpreations)
at http://www.brain-salad.com/Emerson/quote-list.txt
And in case anyone hasn't heard it yet, he is performing this October
in the UK with his 60's group The Nice:
2nd October - Wolverhampton Civic Hall: ? 552121
3rd October - Newcastle - New Tyne Theatre & Opera House: 0191 232
0899
4th October - Glasgow - Royal Concert Hall: 0141 353 8000
6th October - London - Royal Festival Hall: 020 7960 4242
The tour will be with the bands trio line-up; Keith Emerson
(keyboards), Lee Jackson (bass) and Brian Blinky Davison (drum).
There is a possibility that a guest guitarist (possibly David
Kilminster) will join the band on stage for some numbers.
The set list will feature the bands best known material, including
their once controversial interpretation of Bernsteins America. The
tour will also showcase Emerson in a solo spot in which the keyboard
virtuoso will play a selection from his recent piano solo CD (Emerson
Plays Emerson, released April 2002 on the EMI Classics label).
Yours
Bjørn Are
notrump15-17
melodies in J. Strauss, Jr's. "Morning Papers" waltz. IIRC, Marie Osmond
recorded the pop tune in the late 70s; it was previously done in the 50s
(possibly by Gogi Grant?).
"Dave" <nosuc...@nosuchisp.com> wrote in message
news:1i5nnuodg8gu4ts9s...@4ax.com...