Pop songs that borrow melodies from classical music or old, public domain songs

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Turnaround, May 23, 2010.

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  1. Jonno

    Jonno Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Bach is in the other channel! You must be only getting one channel for some reason.
     
  2. Andreas

    Andreas Senior Member

    Location:
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Some similarity in the first few notes, but the melody is not borrowed in this case.
     
  3. Jonno

    Jonno Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    ...the first one note!
     
  4. Col Kepper

    Col Kepper Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Texas, Where else?
    Roll Over Beethoven - ELO's version
     
  5. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    The first five chord changes in the chord progression are the same and I think that's what makes people think the pieces are so similar, when they really aren't at all. Both pieces being in C major helps too.
     
  6. Jonno

    Jonno Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    You're right about the chords, but it's a very generic descending progression. Maybe it wasn't generic when Bach did it but there's a million pop songs with those chords!

    Bach's 'Air' is actually in D, I had to pitch-shift it for my little sync-up.
     
  7. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    True, "When A Man Loves A Woman" has almost the same starting progression, for instance.
    Oh, okay. The versions I listened to on YouTube were in C.
     
  8. Jonno

    Jonno Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Ah, from Wikipedia:
     
  9. Mr Sam

    Mr Sam "...don't look so good no more"

    Location:
    France
    not that many, and rarely for his own recordings (the exception being "My Lady Heroine", melody by Ketelbey, and "Initials B.B." where he cites Dvorak)

    Catherine Deneuve / Dépression Au Dessus Du Jardin - Chopin
    Jane Birkin / Jane B. - Chopin
    Jane Birkin / Baby Alone In Babylone - Brahms
    Jane Birkin / Lost Song - Grieg
    Serge + Charlotte Gainsbourg / Lemon Incest - Chopin
    Charlotte Gainsbourg / Charlotte For Ever - Khachaturian
     
  10. His Masters Vice

    His Masters Vice W.C. Fields Forever

    It isn't. John Lennon described it that way - but he must have been joking. Perhaps he had visions of people trying to play Abbey Road backwards in order to hear the resemblance!

    It's slightly reminiscent of Moonlight Sonata, but it's not the same, either forwards or backwards. The chords are also quite different.
     
  11. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Conway Twitty's version of Danny Boy :)
     
  12. Jonno

    Jonno Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I think the 'backwards' element is there, but it's simply the repeated arpeggiated minor chord Mooonlight Sonata begins with. The chord starts on the 5th and goes up to the 3rd. Play that 'backwards' going from the 3rd down to the 5th and you can hear where Because comes from.
     
  13. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    Strangers In Paradise (from Prince Igor, iirc) and much of the other music from Kismet is also based on Borodin, as the show credited.
     
  14. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    You're right that it's not Bach's tune from one of his orchestral suites, but I do recall that the tune is from one of Bach's organ chorales.
     
  15. Mr Sam

    Mr Sam "...don't look so good no more"

    Location:
    France
    Robert Wright & Chet Forrest adapted classical music for many scores: Kismet (Borodin), Song Of Norway (Grieg), Magdalena (Villa-Lobos), The Great Waltz (Strauss) or Anya (Rachmaninoff)
     
  16. Black Elk

    Black Elk Music Lover

    Location:
    Bay Area, U.S.A.
  17. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    Sinatra's first recorded "I Think of You" 15 years earlier, with the Tommy Dorsey band in 1941. His "Full Moon and Empty Arms" (B. Kaye/T. Mossman) from 1945 was also based on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. That makes three such songs that Sinatra sang; he also performed in concert (but never recorded) Eric Carmen's "All By Myself."
     
  18. Obtuse1

    Obtuse1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Has anyone mentioned "A Fifth Of Beethoven"-Walter Murphy?

    I'm reminded of the old TV record offer...."So many of the melodies of well known popular songs were written by the great masters". (or something like that....).

    On edit...here it is!

    http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=2739&p=9&m=record
     
  19. X's True Love Part 2 has quite a lote of things going on, mainly Hunk of Love, some nursery rhymes, Be Bop A Lula, BINGO, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Skip to My Lou, Land of a Thousand Dances, and Black Betty...

    http://www.spike.com/video/x-true-love-part-2/2788574
     
  20. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    Star-Crossed Lovers by Neil Sedaka is another one that uses the chords from Pachelbel's Canon.
     
  21. sparkydog

    sparkydog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    The Cowsill's version of "Hair" borrows from The Star-Spangled Banner (which IIRC the Broadway version did not - it was a replacement for the lyrics about Jesus & Mary)
     
  22. Landis

    Landis Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Boston

    The Beatles “It’s All Too Much” on the fade-out borrows from Jeremiah Clarke's "Prince of Denmark's March". George Harrison talking about "It's All Too Much" on Beatles Guitar Legends

    McCartney adapted a segment of Bourrée as the opening of "Blackbird"
     
  23. Marvin

    Marvin Senior Member

    I guess the question is is this what the OP was asking? In a lot of these and other songs mentioned in this thread, someone may quote a classical or public domain song - often in an introduction - but that's not the same as a song borrowing its melody. For example, A Whiter Shade of Pale's intro/recurring theme is certainly influenced by the Bach Air but the song's actual vocal melody doesn't use it.
     
  24. Correct.

    I'd add in the adapted lyrics from "Golden Slumbers" by The Beatles--Paul could read the words but couldn't read the music when the sheet music was at his dad's house. When his younger sister asked him to play it he improved the music to the lyrics of this tune.

    Let's not forget the bit of "Greensleeves" at the end of "All You Need Is Love" among other tunes.
     
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