List of popular songs based on classical music
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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This is a list of examples of popular songs that are arrangements of, or otherwise make use of, works of classical music.
- Tags used below
- [I] instrumental pieces
- [i] quasi-instrumental pieces including non-lyrics voice samples
The practice of adapting classical compositions is associated with various popular genres, including Tin Pan Alley, progressive rock, and heavy metal.
Contents |
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1890s
- (1891) "O Promise Me" by Reginald DeKoven & Smith, from the musical Robin Hood -- based on Musica proibita, the name popularly given to an aria in the 1888 Italian opera Mala Pasqua by Stanislao Gastaldon.
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1910s
- (1913) "Hungarian Rag" by Julius Lenzberg - based on the Second Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt.
- (1918) "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" by Joseph McCarthy and Harry Carroll - based on the Fantasie Impromptu in C Sharp Minor by Frédéric Chopin.
- (1919) "The Marine Hymn" by L. Z. Philips - based on the Gendarmes' Duet from Jacques Offenbach's opera Genevieve de Brabant
- (1919) "Peter Gink" by George L. Cobb - based on the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg.
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1920s
- (1922) "Goin' Home" popularized by Paul Robeson - based on the "Largo" from Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
- (1928) "Lover, come back to me" in The New Moon by Sigmund Romberg - the middle section is based on "June: Barcarolle" from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, opus 37b.
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1930s
- (1930) "In an Eighteenth-Century Drawing Room" by Raymond Scott - based on Mozart's Piano Sonata, K. 545
- (1937) "Song of India", arr. Tommy Dorsey - based on "The Song of the Indian Guest" from Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko.
- (1938) "My Reverie" by Larry Clinton - based on Debussy's Rêverie
- (1939) "The Lamp is Low" - Peter DeRose and Bert Shefter - based on Maurice Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte
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1940s
- (1941) "Tonight We Love", by Freddy Martin, Bobby Worth and Ray Austin - based on Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op.23
- (1942) "If You Are But a Dream", by Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton, and Nat Bonx - based on Anton Rubinstein's "Romance in E flat, Op. 44,No. 1"
- (1945) "Full Moon and Empty Arms", by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman - based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.
- (1945) "Till the End of Time," words by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman, popularized by, among others, Perry Como - based on Frédéric Chopin's "Polonaise In A Flat"
- (1946) "Summer Moon" by Klenner, sung by Lauritz Melchior - based on Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird (Ronde des princesses)
- (1949) "There's No Tomorrow," lyrics by Al Hoffman, Leo Corday and Leon Carr, popularized by Tony Martin, based on O Sole Mio by Eduardo di Capua.
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1950s
- (1952) "The Bigger The Figure", by Louis Prima - based on Rossini's Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville.
- (1953) "Stranger in Paradise" by George Forrest and Robert Wright, in the Broadway musical Kismet - based on a theme from Alexander Borodin's Polovetsian Dances. Also in Kismet, the second movement of Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 which became "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads".
- (1956) "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)" by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning - based on a theme from Chabrier España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
- (1958) "Catch a Falling Star" by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance - based on a theme from Brahms' Academic Festival Overture
- (1959) "Once Upon a Dream" in the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty - based upon a waltz in Tchaikovsky's ballet Sleeping Beauty.
- (1959) "Don't You Know" by Della Reese - based on "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's La Boheme
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1960s
- (1960) "It's Now Or Never" by Elvis Presley - also based on 'O Sole Mio.
- (1962) "Nut Rocker" by B. Bumble and the Stingers, based on Tchaikovsky's "March of the Wooden Soldiers" from his ballet The Nutcracker.
- (1963) "Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter From Camp)" by Allan Sherman - based on Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda.
- (1965) "A Lover's Concerto" by The Toys - based on J.S. Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach".
- (1965) Diane and Annita's "A Groovy Kind of Love" is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5 by Muzio Clementi.
- (1967) "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum - (loosely) based on J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, Air (commonly known as Air on a G String) and Cantata 140 "Sleepers Awake".
- (1967) "Schroeder" in the stage musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - based on Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".
- (1967) "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" by Frank Zappa on Side 1 of his album Absolutely Free quotes from "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" by Gustav Holst from his suite "The Planets".
- (1968) "Rain and Tears" by Aphrodite's Child based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major. Featured in the 2005 movie Three Times.
- (1969) "Mars: The Bringer of War" by King Crimson on Epitaph - a progressive rock arrangement of Mars, from the The Planets suite by Gustav Holst
- (1969) "Bourée" by Jethro Tull (band), a progressive rock arrangement of Bourrée in E minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
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1970s
- (1972) "Also Sprach Zarathustra" [I] by Deodato - a funk arrangement of Richard Strauss' composition of the same name
- (1972) "Joy" by Apollo 100 - based on J.S. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
- (1972) Pictures at an Exhibition by Emerson, Lake and Palmer - entire album based on the work by Modest Mussorgsky, with two original pieces ("The Sage" and "The Curse of Baba Yaga"), and a live cover of "Nut Rocker" featuring Clavinet
- (1973) Joybringer by Manfred Mann's Earth Band - based on Gustav Holst's Jupiter
- (1973) "American Tune" by Paul Simon -- based on Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
- (1974) "I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield -- The instrumental riff between verses comes from the "Troika" portion of Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite written for a 1934 Soviet film, Poruchik Kizhe.
- (1975) "Take my heart" by Jacky James -- romantic pop, huge success in Brazil, based on "In a Persian Market" by Albert Ketelbey.
- (1975) "All by Myself" by Eric Carmen - borrows heavily from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Same year, Carmen's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" borrows from the Adagio of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2
- (1975) "Could It Be Magic" by Barry Manilow - inspired by Chopin's Prelude In C Minor (Prelude #20: Largo)
- (1976) "A Fifth of Beethoven" [I] by Walter Murphy - disco version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, featured in Saturday Night Fever
- (1976) "Night on Disco Mountain" by David Shire - disco version of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, featured in Saturday Night Fever
- (1977) If I Had Words by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley - based on Saint-Saens Symphony No.3 in C minor (Organ Symphony)
- (1979) Lady Lynda by Alan Jardine and Ron Altbach for The Beach Boys - based on Johann Sebastian Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
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1980s
- (1981) "Difficult to Cure" by Rainbow - uses Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
- (1981) "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg - uses Peter Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
- (1982) "Midnight Blue (Louise Tucker song)" by Louise Tucker and Charlie Skarbek - uses Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata
- (1983) "This Night" by Billy Joel - uses Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata as the basis for the chorus
- (1985) "Russians" by Sting - arrangement of the Romance in Lieutenant Kijé from Sergei Prokofiev
- (1986) "Mars" by Emerson, Lake & Powell - arrangement of Mars: Bringer of War from Holst's The Planets
- (1986) "Crimes of Passion" by Rick Wakeman (film soundtrack) - utilizes multiple themes from Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 (For the New World)
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1990s
- (1990) "All Together Now" by The Farm uses the chord progression from Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major
- (1991) "Mea Culpa (Part II)" by Enigma samples the Kyrie eleison from Mass XI (Orbis Factor) in the Liber usualis.
- (1991) "World in Union", the official theme song of the Rugby (Union) World Cup, based on a segment of "Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity" from Holst's The Planets
- (1993) "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys, emphasised the original 1979 Village People version's chord progression from Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major
- (1994) Hook (song) by Blues Traveler. The chord progression is loosely based on Pachelbel's Canon in D.
- (1994) "Basket Case" by Green Day
- (1995) "Memory" by Savatage - uses Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
- (1996) "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis - chorus chord progression borrows from Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
- (1997) "C U When U Get There" by Coolio - based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
- (1997) "Exit Music (For a Film) " by Radiohead - though claimed, is not based on Fryderyk Chopin 's 'Prelude no. 4 in E minor.
- (1997) The start of "Temporal Insanity" by Cypress Hill starts with a looped theme of the prelude in c minor for Lute by Johann Sebastian Bach.
- (1998) "Prince Igor" by Warren G feat. Sissel - based on Alexander Borodin's 'Polovtsian dances' from the opera 'Prince Igor' (1890).
- (1998) "Christmas Canon" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
- (1998) "Ocean of Light" by In-mood feat. Juliette - based on 'Morning' from the Peer Gynt suite by Grieg.
- (1998) "The elephant never forgets" by Jean-Jacques Perrey - based on Beethoven's Die Ruinen von Athen.
- (1998) "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" by Sweetbox - based on Bach's Air on the G string.
- (1999) "Barber's Adagio for Strings" by William Orbit - a techno/electronic version of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings"
- (1999) "Love of My Life" by Dave Matthews and Carlos Santana on the Supernatural album. Main theme is a nearly literal quotation of a theme in the 3rd symphony of Johannes Brahms, with some rhythmic changes.
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2000s
- (2000) "Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C - based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
- (2000) Beethoven's Last Night by Trans-Siberian Orchestra - based on classical music, in particular, Beethoven.
- (2001) "Yatta" by Happa-tai - based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
- (2001) "Loving You Girl" by Norwegian band Opus X - based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
- (2001) "Crack City Rockers" by Leftöver Crack - features a keyboard intro/interlude from previous track (Stop the Insanity) of Johann Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major" and it's chord structure is loosely based on the melody.
- (2002) "Remember" by S.H.E - based on Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
- (2003) "I Can" by Nas - samples the theme from Ludwig van Beethoven's Für Elise.
- (2005) "They" by Jem is based on Bach's Prelude in F minor (BWV 881).
- (2005) "Adagio for Strings" by Tiësto is a trance arrangement of "Adagio for Strings".
- (2005) "Road to Joy" by Bright Eyes is based on the melody of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
- (2006) "Lacrymosa" by Evanescence is based on the Lacrimosa movement from Mozart's Requiem.
- (2007) "Grace Kelly" by Mika - Mika has admitted that he borrowed the main harmony from Figaro's famous aria Largo al factotum in the opera The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini.
- (2007) "The Second Coming" by Juelz Santana - samples the Gregorian chant Dies Irae.
- (2008) "River of Dreams" by Hayley Westenra is based on the second movement (Largo) of Vivaldi's "Concerto No. 4 in F minor - Winter".
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2010s
- (2012) "Ti penso e cambia il mondo" by Adriano Celentano, based on Chopin's Prelude Op. 28 No. 20
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See also
- Sweetbox - a band performing mostly classical-based covers
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See also
- Horror films and classical music
- List of popular songs based on classical music
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