# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/41 "2009-08-10T19:06:41Z")
“Deep Purple” went #1 on the pop chart in November, 1963 sung by Nino Tempo & April Stevens. Then it went #14 in March 1976 by Donnie & Marie Osmond. The song was published in 1933. ---
**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, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/42 "2009-08-10T19:26:25Z")
Lest we forget… “Tip Toe Through the Tulips with Me”, performed by Nick Lukas in the 1929 film “Gold Diggers of Broadway”, was a #17 hit for Tiny Tim in 1968. “Tom Dooley”, a chart-topper for the Kingston Trio in 1958, was a traditional song about an 1866 murder; it was first recorded in 1929 (but had presumably been around for awhile at that point). (Admittedly these are “pop” rather than “rock”) ---
**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 10, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/43 "2009-08-10T20:03:53Z")
Harper’s Bizarre had a minor hit with “Chattanooga Choo Choo” from 1941 in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/44 "2009-08-10T20:08:45Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > Eric Clapton recorded Robert Johnson’s [“Crossroads Blues”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Road_Blues) in the same year. Sort of. _Cream_ recorded it under the title “Crossroads.” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/45 "2009-08-10T20:40:31Z")
The '20s were pretty fruitful; in addition to \*Mack the Knife \*and _Tiptoe Through the Tulips_, already mentioned, Freddy “Boom-Boom” Cannon hit #3 on the Billboard chart in early 1960 with _Way Down Yonder in New Orleans_, published in 1922. Lonnie Donegan had a #5 hit in 1958 with his skiffle version of the novelty \*Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s \*[sic] _Flavor (On the Bedpost Over Night)_, first recorded in 1924. (The American version was _Does the Spearmint . . ._; it was changed because of British broadcasting law.) \*See See Rider \*(which has various spellings) is pretty much a traditional blues song, but Ma Rainey copyrighted it in 1924; it has a well-documented use: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Wikipedia** > A doo-wop version was recorded by Sonny Til and The Orioles in 1952. Later rocked-up hit versions were recorded by Chuck Willis (as “_C.C. Rider_”, also a #1 R&B hit as well as a #12 pop hit, in 1957) and LaVern Baker (#9 R&B and #34 pop hit in 1963). Willis’ version gave birth to the dance craze “_The Stroll_”. > > Other popular performances were recorded by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels (as part of a medley entitled “_Jenny Take a Ride_!”, #10 US pop hit in 1965) and The Animals (#10 US pop hit in 1966). ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/46 "2009-08-10T20:44:26Z")
Blue Moon–from Rodgers and Hart ---
**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, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/47 "2009-08-10T21:11:44Z")
Just thought of another - Cannon’s Jug Stompers recorded Walk Right In in 1929, and The Rooftop Singers had a hit with it in 1963. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/48 "2009-08-11T04:37:59Z")
Already mentioned at the beginning of this thread was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Miguel Rios had a hit with “[Song Of Joy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Joy)” in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/49 "2009-08-11T05:07:57Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > I would like to add Black Betty, but that one seems to date to the 18th century and oddly enough is probably about a gun. Which does not disqualify it. Heard a version collected by John Lomax that was insanely rocking, but was just a single singer. If anybody knows it that would save this sinner a lot more fruitless searching. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/50 "2009-08-11T05:09:51Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > 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: Knock yerself out. The OP was intended as a guideline, not a rule. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/51 "2009-08-11T05:12:40Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > Eric Clapton recorded Robert Johnson’s [“Crossroads Blues”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Road_Blues) in the same year. A question regarding Johnson’s actual talent obviously should reside in another thread. Kid was good, but… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/52 "2009-08-11T19:03:58Z")
Muse’s Matt Bellamy loves to lift from the classics. From Rachmaninoff: “Butterflies & Hurricanes” has a piano cadenza which is Matt’s adaptation of Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G. “Space Dementia” cribs its melody in the chorus from Rach’s Piano Conc. No. 2 in Cm. Other songs referencing Rachmaninoff are “Ruled By Secrecy” and “Megalomania,” in which Matt plays a pipe organ. In concert, he’s also been known to use bits of Rachmaninoff as intros and outros for other songs (“Hoodoo,” “Screenager”). Some Musers have spotted Rach-ish stylistic influences in “Endlessly” and “Apocalypse Please,” but that isn’t necessarily quoting or borrowing outright. One Muse fan had this observation about the various versions of “Screenager” and their respective classical influences: “Weird, there seems to be quite a bit of variation between each version of Screenager. The video you linked to (2002 French tour) has an introduction of Rach’s Prelude Op 23 #5. The Origin of Symmetry recording begins with a guitar rhythm that I assume is original. The recording on the second CD of Hullabaloo Soundtrack begins with Rach’s Prelude in C-Sharp Minor Op 3 #2, but only for the first 28 seconds; after that, he changes to what That Little Animal pointed out was Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude. It’s almost as if Bellamy is playing Screenager with a “Choose Your Own Rachmaninoff Adventure” book. I love it.” For now at least, I’ll just have to take his word for it. 😃 This [comparative essay](http://symphonyinj.blogspot.com/2009/04/muse-tracks-use-rach.html) will probably stand as the definitive word on Muse’s use of Rachmaninoff (includes sound clips and exerpts of sheet music). The author is careful to emphasize how the similarities are often very limited, with only a certain aspect – say, the bassline harmonies – being transposed, slowed down by half, and totally recontextualized to a new effect. From other composers: “Soldier’s Poem” quotes Schubert’s Ave Maria (the “no, I don’t think there is…” bit). The [intro to “Unintended”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TqvCMpGPDs&feature=PlayList&p=8ECEC7F0F9429B86&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=32) which Matt played at Wembley (on the _HAARP_ DVD) is taken from the [Simple Etude #6 for Guitar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H1S90K7D-k&feature=related) by the contemporary Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, but I think Matt adapted it slightly even so. “The United States of Eurasia (+ Collateral Damage)” is bookended with Chopin. “Interlude” is supposedly patterned on Adagio for Strings. “Hoodoo” is strongly indebted to a Tchaikovsky piano concerto (dunno which one), but the chord progressions are said to be transposed to variously minor, diminished, and major keys, so it’s hardly a wholesale ripoff. Supposedly, “Blackout” is (patterned on? loosely influenced by?) Schubert, but I don’t have any details. Some Muse fans see a similarity between the harmonic circle of fifths chord progression in “New Born” and those used by some Baroque composers, like Bach. (This one’s a bit beyond my ken to judge, though. Anyway, using similar – even identical – chord progressions isn’t necessarily copying.) Likewise, there’s said to be a similarity in the chord progressions from Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in Dm and “Plug In Baby” – but again, the influence is fairly diffuse. And I personally think that “Take a Bow” is very Philip Glass-esque in the bassline/synth figures, without necessarily ripping off any particular piece of his. (I’d have to revisit the Glass recordings in my collection to even begin to nail this one down.) ---
**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 12, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/53 "2009-08-12T03:33:19Z")
**He’s So Unusual** , which Cindi Lauper recorded in 1984, was originally recorded by Helen Kane in 1929. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/54 "2009-08-12T04:53:26Z")
Okay, this is the most fun (for me) thread I’ve opened in in ages. 😃 A depressing (fun?) thing about “John Barleycorn Must Die” is that I get most of the agricultural terms in it. Had to check with Wife regarding the taxation details, but I have some idea of how to grow barley in saline soil. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/55 "2009-08-12T05:33:12Z")
“Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”, done by The Might Be Giants, was written in 1929 by Irving Berlin. ---
**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 12, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/56 "2009-08-12T18:45:00Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”, done by The Might Be Giants, was written in 1929 by Irving Berlin. Are you sure? According to [Lissauer’s Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America: 1888 To the Present](http://www.amazon.com/Lissauers-Encyclopedia-Popular-Music-America/dp/0816032386/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250102434&sr=1-3) it was written by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon in 1953. [Ascap.com](http://Ascap.com)’s search function confirms this. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815/57 "2009-08-12T19:15:24Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Are you sure? According to [Lissauer’s Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America: 1888 To the Present](http://www.amazon.com/Lissauers-Encyclopedia-Popular-Music-America/dp/0816032386/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250102434&sr=1-3) it was written by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon in 1953. [Ascap.com](http://Ascap.com)’s search function confirms this. :smack: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” is a swing-style song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. The tune is similar to and possibly based on the music for “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, written by Irving Berlin in 1929. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/19th-early-20th-century-songs-that-were-rock-hits/505815.md?page=2)