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Musicians have always lifted tunes from each other. Stravinsky borrowed from Tchaikovsky, who rearranged Mozart, who stole from Beethoven, who took local folk songs and made them his own, and on down the line.
Of course, these composers were always pretty creative when it came to thievery. Here are six recent(ish) pop songs that were either influenced by famous classical melodies, or sample actual tunes and use them in the fabric of the song. I leave it up to you to judge whether or not they do justice to the originals.
1. “Someone to Call My Lover” by Janet Jackson
Released: on the album All for You (2001)
Stolen from: Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie
More specifically: Notice how the songwriters took the original tune in 3/4 and rejiggered it to fit the standard 4/4 beat of a pop song.
Janet Jackson version:
Satie version:
Fast Fact:Janet Jackson is the only performer to be nominated for the Grammy in Pop, Rock, Dance, Rap and R&B.
2. “Road to Joy” by Bright Eyes
Released: on the album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005)
Stolen from: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
More specifically: the “Ode to Joy” tune, based on the poem by German writer Friedrich Schiller. (Road/Ode, get it?)
Bright Eyes version:
Beethoven version:
Fast Fact: Beethoven wasn’t the only composer who went deaf. Here are 5 others you should know about.
3. “Symphony in X Major” by Xzibit
Released: on the album Man vs. Machine (2002)
Stolen from: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major
More specifically: the first movement, entitled Allegro
Xzibit version:
Bach version:
Fast Fact: Bach used his name as a musical theme in one of his greatest works, The Art of the Fugue. In the German system of notation, ‘B’ is Bb and ‘H’ is B natural, so he was able to use this tune: Bb, A, C, B.
4. “Coming 2 America” by Ludacris
Released: on the album Word of Mouf (2001)
Stolen from: Mozart’s Requiem
And also: Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9
More specifically: Mozart’s Dies irae; Dvorak: 4th movement (Allegro con fuoco)
Ludacris version:
Dvorak version:
Mozart version:
Fast Fact: Ludacris’ real name is Chris Bridges.
5. “I Can” by Nas
Released: on the album God’s Son (2003)
Stolen from: Beethoven’s Für Elise
Nas version:
Beethoven version:
Fast Fact: The Beethoven piece is actually called Bagatelle in A Minor. But he dedicated it to a certain Elise, which is where the more popular title comes from.
6. “They” by Jem
Released: on the debut album Finally Woken (2005)
Stolen from: Bach’s Prelude in F minor from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier
More specifically: the Swingle Singers 1963 adaptation
Jem version:
Bach version:
Fast Fact: Jem is short for Jemma Griffiths.
Check out past On Music posts here >>
Comments (35)
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What about older ones, lie ‘A Lover’s Concerto?’
posted by BassMan on 1-26-2009 at 8:14 am
a fifth of beethoven?
hook by blues traveler?
posted by giles on 1-26-2009 at 8:29 am
I was going to say “Because” by The Beatles and “Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig van Beethoven, but that’s kind of pushing it.
posted by Jake Le Master on 1-26-2009 at 8:34 am
What about that Vitamin C song that came out around 2000? It was my graduation song.
posted by Leo on 1-26-2009 at 9:03 am
Haydn’s “Das Lied der Deutschland” (The German National Anthem) and Elvis Costello’s “Little Atoms”
posted by Nathan on 1-26-2009 at 9:04 am
There’s Eric Carmen’s All By Myself, too, based on a concerto by Rachmaninoff.
YouTube has a clip of a comedian playing a ton of songs based on Pachelbel’s Canon in D…it’s worth a look, but I can’t remember the guy’s name. That would probably help, huh?
posted by Adam on 1-26-2009 at 9:05 am
Adam, the comedian you’re talking about is Rob Paravonian, and he has another similar musicomedy rant floating about on YouTube, too.
posted by Dave on 1-26-2009 at 9:18 am
Let’s not forget “A Groovy Kind of Love”, covered by the Mindbenders and Phil Collins, et. al, is a direct copy (no hiding here) of a Sonatina by Muzio Clementi.
Also the Billy Joel song “This Night” from the album “An Innocent Man” is taken from Beethoven’s “Symphonie Pathetique”. No stealing here, though. LvB is given a writing credit in the song listings.
posted by GoTerriers on 1-26-2009 at 9:52 am
What about “Could It Be Magic” By Barry Manilow this song was based on Frédéric Chopin’s Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28. I still have the 1977 8 track of Barry Manilow Live.
posted by Don on 1-26-2009 at 9:55 am
I always thought that Janet Jackson song was sampling Ventura Highway, but perhaps now Ventura Highway was ripping off Satie
posted by Laura on 1-26-2009 at 11:04 am
The Beatles stole from Beethoven’s moonlight sonata (backwards) and Billy Joel’s ‘This Night’ is a direct ripoff.
And please, don’t forget about the great John Williams. There are strong similarities between Holst’s The Planets and Star Wars. Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite sounds a lot like the ‘death fight’ song from the original Star Trek.
posted by CM on 1-26-2009 at 11:10 am
Oh, some good ones here I’d forgotten and not known of.
I think it’s kinda cool this is done.
posted by BassMan on 1-26-2009 at 11:14 am
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention one of the most BLATANT “quotations” from the classical genre that has been NOTE FOR NOTE “reinterpreted” as pop:
Dave Matthews and Santana “Love of my life” from the Santana Supernatural album and Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3, movt. 3. Check it out- this kind of sampling is ridiculous!
posted by Ashley on 1-26-2009 at 11:26 am
Elvis’ “It’s Now or Never” = “O Sole Mio.”
posted by Tim Harrod on 1-26-2009 at 11:44 am
Again with the Elvis, Love Me Tender is Aura Lee
posted by Cynthia on 1-26-2009 at 12:02 pm
Sting’s “Russians” is almost exactly Prokofiev’s “Romance” from Lieutenant Kijé.
Also, Muse’s “Butterflies and Hurricanes” has a distinctly Rachmaninoff-esque piano interlude… I’m not sure if it’s an actual composition by Rachmaninoff thrown in for good measure, but I’ve heard that rumor too.
posted by Justine on 1-26-2009 at 12:02 pm
Well, as a composer myself I find that it can be difficult to strip away all of the musical influences heard throughout a lifetime. I guess Willie Nelson said it best: “He stole from me, but I steal from everybody!”
posted by Ophelia on 1-26-2009 at 12:11 pm
Fur Elise was actually more likely dedicated to someone called Therese, but Beethoven wasn’t exactly clear in his writing. See the wikipedia page (”cos my piano teacher said so” is perhaps a less reliable source).
posted by Matt on 1-26-2009 at 12:13 pm
Evanesence is probably considered rock, not pop, but their song “Lacrymosa” comes directly from Mozart’s “Requiem” as well. It’s also one of my faorites
posted by BustyMcLeod on 1-26-2009 at 1:11 pm
Is it correct that Mozart stole from Beethoven? Beethoven was only 21 when Mozart died so there wasn’t much to steal from, so I think the description is wrong.
Another rip off of Dvorak’s 9th symphony is the Jaws theme. It’s not quite “pop”, but still rather blatant.
posted by Sarah on 1-26-2009 at 1:37 pm
I am reminded of a scene from “The Committments” where one of the characters in the band plays the organ in church and is talking to another band member who is commenting on what he is playing.
It’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” by Percy Sledge, who, as the organist says, stole it from Bach (but he doesn’t say which piece of music), which is why he can get away with playing a pop tune in a Catholic Church service!
One other note: Two of the greatest words in musical composition are: public domain.
Let’s not forget that these contemporary musicians aren’t really stealing from earlier musical geniuses. The fact that we can go to a symphony performance and sing along to the instrumental compositions is just an added bonus (and a tribute to our broad musical tastes, no?).
posted by Carolyn on 1-26-2009 at 1:42 pm
What about the pop song from late mid 90’s that uses Sibelius fifth symphony directly!!
Problem is….i cant remeber it only the tune (obviously!)
posted by Shane on 1-26-2009 at 2:11 pm
We can’t leave out the ending of Tubthumping by Chumbawumba!
posted by Brian K on 1-26-2009 at 3:20 pm
Hellogoodbye has a song called “I saw it on your keyboard” and it matches up with Ode to Joy but I think they did it intentionally.
posted by Lindsey on 1-26-2009 at 3:32 pm
Lacrymosa by Evanescence which incorporates the Lacrimosa sequence from Mozart’s Requiem throughout the song .
posted by Lisa on 1-26-2009 at 4:32 pm
I was also going to mention “Because” – which actually is a good song (IMO) and is not (contrary to popular myth) -exactly- “Moonlight Sonata” backwards.
John Lennon was inspired to write it when he heard Yoko playing MS on the piano and then asked her to play part of it backwards. He then reworked it to make the melody for Because.
Also, yes, composers have borrowed from others but they would do “variations”. At least there was some originality.
Not just slapping a lifted melody into a pop song with a different time signature. Or chanting narcissistic, vacuous words over a chorus singing Dies Irae.
Where is the talent there?
Sorry, just my opinion.
posted by Nerak on 1-26-2009 at 5:05 pm
Apollo 100’s “Joy” in the early 1970’s was a direct adaptation of “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring”
Emerson, Lake & Palmer’ “Hoedown” was from Aaron Copland’s “rodeo, and they did an album of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” Emerson also turned Alberto Ginastera’s “Piano Concerto, 4th Movement” into “Toccata”- which Ginastera absolutely loved – if you listen to it bear in mind that Emerson only had monophonic synthesizers to work with.
Electric Light Orchestra used quite a bit a classical music, most notably “On the Third Day” for Peer Gynt.
A group doing absolutely amazing versions of classical music – my best description would be classical-techno-dance – is bond (not to be confused with Bond).
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 1-26-2009 at 8:58 pm
How could I forget “Nut Rocker” by B Bumble and the Stingers, it went to #1 in the UK in 1962
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 1-26-2009 at 9:42 pm
I didn’t hear the Janet Jackson/Satie similarity, but I did catch the Ventura Highway riff.
posted by shawn on 1-27-2009 at 1:49 pm
Whenever I hear that Janet Jackson song all hear is the opening guitar riff from America’s “Ventura Highway”.
posted by Amanda on 3-13-2009 at 2:42 am
For those with access to CBC, Randy Bachman on his show Vinyl Tap recently did a whole show on this topic. The show site is cbc dot ca slash vinyltap. You might be able to find a podcast of it or catch a rerun on CBC (maybe NPR?)
posted by steven on 4-27-2009 at 9:32 am
more on Randy Bachman;
I should have checked, but on the website for the show you can see a listing of all the composers and influenced/”ripped-off” songs on the Feb 21 show listing. Just follow the links.
posted by steven on 4-27-2009 at 9:36 am
Sting credits the origin of that piece in the album credits.
Try to recite the alphabet without ripping off Mozart (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star too).
posted by Robert Holdridge on 9-15-2009 at 2:13 pm
“All By Myself” (Celine Dion did it, but she wasn’t the first – I forget who was) directly rips off Rachmaninoff (I think it is).
posted by Bob on 10-20-2009 at 1:19 pm
The baseline to “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers is a note-for-note match for Ode to Joy.
posted by Ken on 10-27-2009 at 3:41 am