# 19th/early 20th century songs that were rock hits. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815 "2009-08-09T05:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/21 "2009-08-09T15:02:50Z")
House Of The Rising Sun. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/22 "2009-08-09T16:00:31Z")
Credence Clearwater Revival recorded [Midnight Special](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Special_(song)#History) in 1969. Eric Clapton recorded Robert Johnson’s [“Crossroads Blues”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Road_Blues) in the same year. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/23 "2009-08-09T16:13:47Z")
Sting had a UK hit with “Spread a Little Happiness”, from a 1929 musical. I’m not sure that songs based, to varying degrees, on classical tunes are what the OP is after. But if so, there’s also: “Could It Be Magic” - Barry Manilow (Chopin: Prelude in C minor) “A Groovy Kind Of Love” - Phil Collins (Clementi: Sonatine in G) “All Together Now” - The Farm (Pachelbel: Canon) “Song Sung Blue” - Neil Diamond (Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21, second movement) “Russians” - Sting (Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé) and the possibly accidental similarity of Strawberry Switchblade’s “Since Yesterday” to part of Sibelius’s Symphony no.5. Then there’s the Beatles’ “Because”, supposedly inspired by reversing the chords of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/24 "2009-08-09T16:26:44Z")
Not sure if any of these were hits, but Wikipedia shows the following artists have recorded “Greensleeves” (1580): Odetta: 1957 album At the Gate of Horn John Coltrane: 1961 album Africa/Brass Vince Guaraldi Trio: 1965 soundtrack A Charlie Brown Christmas Elvis Presley: 1968 retitled as “Stay Away” B-side of “U.S. Male”; featured in film Stay Away, Joe James Taylor: 1968 debut album James Taylor Jeff Beck: 1968 album Truth Glen Campbell: 1972 album The Artistry of Glen Campbell Leonard Cohen: 1974 album New Skin for the Old Ceremony Flanders and Swann: The Greensleeves Monologue Annotated Olivia Newton-John: 1976 album Come on Over Mason Williams with Mannheim Steamroller: 1987 album Classical Gas Loreena McKennitt: 1991 album The Visit Timo Tolkki: 1994 album Classical Variations and Themes Blackmore’s Night: 1997 debut album Shadow of the Moon Vanessa Carlton: 2002 album Maybe This Christmas Ensemble Planeta: 2003 album étoile Jethro Tull: 2003 album The Jethro Tull Christmas Album David Nevue: 2004 album Sweet Dreams and Starlight Kevin Max: 2005 album Holy Night Derek Trucks Band: 2006 DVD Songlines Live The King’s Singers: 2008 album Simple Gifts Daniel Kobialka: “Greensleeves Fantasy”; 2009 album Musical Inspirations Series: Peace ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/25 "2009-08-09T16:28:19Z")
Paul McCartney wrote the tune, but the lyrics to “Golden Slumbers” are taken from a poem by Thomas Dekker written in the 1600s. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/26 "2009-08-09T16:30:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not sure that songs based, to varying degrees, on classical tunes are what the OP is after. But if so, there’s also: > > “Could It Be Magic” - Barry Manilow (Chopin: Prelude in C minor) > “A Groovy Kind Of Love” - Phil Collins (Clementi: Sonatine in G) > “All Together Now” - The Farm (Pachelbel: Canon) > “Song Sung Blue” - Neil Diamond (Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21, second movement) > “Russians” - Sting (Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé) Also, [Nut Rocker](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ePAvhUCZDk) ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/27 "2009-08-09T16:46:49Z")
Bryan Ferry had a minor 1974 hit with “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” by Jerome Kern from the 1933 musical _Roberta_. Also famously recorded by The Platters in the late fifties, but I don’t know if you’d consider them ‘rock’. (Similarly, does Bobby Darrin’s huge recording of the Brecht/Weill 1929 song “Mack the Knife” count as rock? Certainly pop.) ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/28 "2009-08-09T17:17:21Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Not sure if any of these were hits, but Wikipedia shows the following artists have recorded “Greensleeves” (1580):Michael Hedges also recorded a version of “Greensleeves” on his album [“Oracle” (although he titles it “What Child is This”)](http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Michael-Hedges/dp/B000000NLT/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1249836843&sr=8-9) **NDP** mentioned Traffic’s version of “John Barleycorn Must Die”, which was also done by Jethro Tull on their album [“A Little Light Music”](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Light-Music-Jethro-Tull/dp/B000GIWRI4/ref=sr_1_47?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1249837566&sr=1-47) (very good version, btw). Then, of course, there’s Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, who used lots of classical music references in their work (not to mention pre-ELP Emerson when he played with The Nice…as well, now that I think of it…as second generation-ELP Emerson who did “Mars, the Bringer of War” on the Emerson, Lake, and Powell album). Also, a sort of German version of ELP called [Triumvirat](http://www.amazon.com/Triumvirat/e/B000AP7E04/ref=sr_tc_img_2_0) started out with a suite based on excerpts from Motzart. My favorite: “Powerhouse” by Raymond Scott co-opted by Alex Lifeson and riffed on in the classic RUSH instrumental “La Villa Strangiato.” ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/29 "2009-08-09T17:19:04Z")
Spelled “Mozart”, but pronounced “Throatwarbler Mangrove.” ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/30 "2009-08-09T17:22:24Z")
“Just A Gigolo”, a big hit for David Lee Roth in the mid-1980s, was a pretty faithful cover of Louis Prima’s recording of it (including pairing it with “Ain’t Got Nobody”) from 1956, which was itself an innovative cover in its own time of the 1929 song, which was a Tin Pan Alley translation into English of the [original Austrian song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkIxPCXrcH4) (in German). ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/31 "2009-08-09T17:25:34Z")
Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of _The Star-Spangled Banner_ may not have been a chart hit, but it was certainly iconic. The tune was taken from [The Anacreontic Song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacreontic_Song), written in the late 1770s. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/32 "2009-08-09T18:44:57Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Along the same lines, and fitting the definition, Sergei Rachmaninoff wrpote his Piano Concerto No. 2 between 1900 and 1902; the theme from the adagio final movement was adapted to serve as the basis for Eric Carmen’s 1976 “All by Myself.” I’m sure you meant the second movement. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/33 "2009-08-09T18:53:02Z")
It wasn’t a hit, unfortuneately, but the Doors covered “The Whiskey Song” by Weill/Brecht. It’s my understanding that the Four Seasons hit “Oh, What a Night” was originally about the repeal of Prohibition in 1933; someone just changed some of the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/34 "2009-08-09T21:46:49Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Along the same lines, and fitting the definition, Sergei Rachmaninoff wrpote his Piano Concerto No. 2 between 1900 and 1902; the theme from the adagio final movement was adapted to serve as the basis for Eric Carmen’s 1976 “All by Myself.” And Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” is an adaptation of the adagio of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony #2. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/35 "2009-08-09T22:20:45Z")
Both Willie Nelson and Ray Charles had hits with [Georgia on My Mind](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_on_My_Mind#Versions) (1930). ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/36 "2009-08-10T16:13:11Z")
“Mule Skinner Blues”, originally “Blue Yodel #8” by Jimmie Rodgers (1930), was a #5 hit for the Fendermen in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/37 "2009-08-10T16:20:28Z")
The tune of Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne” is Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture, Op. 49” (1880) played downtempo. Also, Jethro Tull’s instrumental “Bouree” is a modern interpretation of J.S. Bach’s “Suite in E minor for Lute” (fifth movement). ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/38 "2009-08-10T16:22:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Henery_the_Eighth,_I_Am) was written in 1910, but was a big hit for Hermans Hermits in 1965. Herman’s Hermits also had a #7 hit with “Leaning on a Lamp Post”, originally performed by George Formby Jr. in “Me and My Girl” 1937. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/39 "2009-08-10T17:10:45Z")
> [@choie](#): > > (Similarly, does Bobby Darrin’s huge recording of the Brecht/Weill 1929 song “Mack the Knife” count as rock? Certainly pop.) There’s also Weill’s _September Song_. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/40 "2009-08-10T18:50:46Z")
[Can’t Help Falling in Love](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can%27t_Help_Falling_in_Love) (a hit for Elvis) was based on the French song [Plaisir d’Amour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaisir_d%27amour), which was written in 1780. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815.md?page=3)