I just discovered that the melody of The Toys’ 1965 song “A Lover Concerto” is from a Bach* piece, Minuet in G major!
What are some other examples?
I’m sure there are several threads about this topic but I haven’t found them.
- it may not be by Bach.
This very recent thread is related:
Are great melodies universal, or limited to their genre?
What instantly popped into my mind:
Malcolm McLaren - Madame Butterfly
Hook, by Blues Traveller.
It’s Pachebel’s Canon. Once you hear it you can’t unhear it. And they’ve never even tried to cover it up. Given the content of the song it’s hilarious.
Yes - Cans and Brahms, from the third movement of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony in E minor
and with classical influence:
Electric Light Orchestra - Roll Over Beethoven
Carol King - Tapestry
Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
The Who- Tommy
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
Saturday Night Fever - Fifth of Beethoven
Eric Carmen, “All by Myself” - lifted from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor.
This comedian demonstrates about 14 different pop/rock songs that use Pachebel’s Canon.
And his followup single, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” – based on the main theme of the slow movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2
There’s been a long argument over whether Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” actually used a Bach melody or just sounded like it did. Wikipedia says sounded like.
In the 1970s, Michael Kamen, a classically trained rocker who had been with the New York Roll & Roll Ensemble, and before he became a big name in Hollywood, performed a rock ballet with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. As far as I know it was never done again, never recorded, and I can’t even find a reference to it on the web. Granting that I didn’t hallucinate the whole thing, it was the best rock/classical fusion piece I’ve ever heard.
If anybody else knows of any reference to this I’d love to know more about it.
Sting’s Russians.
I used to know 4 or 5, I’ll rack my brain.
One I do know is, on Barry Manilow’s song “Could it be the magic”, it states on the label the intro was inspired by “Prelude in C Minor, Chopin”.
I just remembered another one;
Copied from Wikipedia;
“A Groovy Kind of Love” is a pop song written by Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager for the Screen Gems music publishing company. It is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5[1] by Muzio Clementi. The song was released first by Diane & Annita in 1965, and several covers have since appeared on worldwide music charts.
The Nice would often interpolate classical melodies into their songs, and, of course, Emerson Lake and Palmer did “Pictures at an Exhibition.” I wouldn’t be surprised if Emerson put classical riffs on their albums and one of their biggest concert hits was “Hoedown” by Aaron Copland.
Blood, Sweat and Tears started out their second album with a song based upon “Tres Gymnopedies” by Edgar Varese.
Frank Zappa often quoted from Igor Stravinsky.
The first half-dozen albums by Renaissance all featured songs that lifted from classical music.
Tomita
More Emerson Lake and Palmer: Nutrocker.
A hit first by … I kid you not … B. Bumble and the Stingers. First recorded by Jack B. Nimble and the Quicks. And people say that The Beatles didn’t rescue rock ‘n’ roll.
Even more astounding: it wasn’t a ripoff of Tchaikovsky, but done legally, with copyright permission.
The strange story is on Wikipedia.
Whoa, that’s really interesting. Apparently, following the Wikipedia links, it was established in the 70s that “Minuet in G” was written by Christian Petzold. None of my sheet music ever reflected this. I had no idea.
It’s well known that the Beatles song *Blackbird *owes a lot to Bach’s Bourrée in E minor (Wiki) (you especially notice it when you play them both on the guitar). However, that isn’t the only Bach piece that Paul McCartney took a cue from. See if Bach’s *Arisoso *(from BWV 156) reminds you of anything.
How about Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven,” which is a reworking of the first movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
Also by Murphy, “Flight '76,” which was based on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee.”