"UTTER Lack of Imagination: Direct Rip-Offs of Classical Songs"

[MikeRobinson]

If you have not yet enjoyed Pachelbel Rant, then I am pleased to introduce you to Rob Paravonian's hilarious observation of just how many songs are directly based on the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon in D. (And to the awfulness of the corresponding Cello part, if you are unfortunate enough to play the Cello in your school band ... who the hell plays Cello in a school band?)

 

But, nowadays it's getting worse.  Now, we're seeing popular songs that literally copy the classics, only changing the words.  Recently, I've listened to songs that directly copy Canon, as well as Heart and Soul.{*}  The melodic treatment is exactly the same, but with lyrics.  (And not even good lyrics.)

 

At least when Barry Manilow "borrowed" from Chopin to create Could It Be Magic, he openly acknowledged his source ... and actually did something new and creative with it.  Likewise Eric Carmen, borrowing from Rachmaninoff to create All By Myself.

 

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{*} "BOM ba-ba-ba-ba, BOM ba-ba-ba-ba, BOM ba-ba-ba-ba, BOM ba-ba-ba-ba ..."  Yeah, you know the one.  The song that all of your classmates were playing as a duet until one day you were smart-assed enough to show them that you could play both parts at once. 😃

[GregB]

Hi Mike.  I was brought up with an appreciation of the (popular) classics ... they are seared in memory.  I've occasionally been playing a piece and wondered - "can I fit this into a song"    I certainly prefer good old music to mediocre new music.  What do you think of my use of Bach's "Ave Maria" (much easier to play than Schubert's version!) ... 

 

[MikeRobinson]

I think that what you have done is stunning – including a very strong video montage, right down to the very last "puff."  Furthermore, it's entirely in keeping with the original tune because you are singing to the same "Maria."

 

Yours is the extreme opposite of ... "utter lack of imagination!"

[GregB]

That's nice of you Mike. Thanks.

My song is nevertheless a rip-off, although I'd prefer to call it a 'homage'  

If Bach were alive today I'd no doubt be stripped of my assets in court by his lawyers and then taken outside by the Church and burnt at the stake for sacrilege. Thank goodness we live in (relatively) enlightened times.

[MikeRobinson]

"There are no completely new ideas."  People have been "borrowing" one another's melodies and ideas since music began to be something that you could make a living with.  (Albeit perhaps only in a rich man's noble court ... in which you might be regarded as nothing more than a servant.)

 

What I was "ranting" about are the recently-offered songs which are literally(!) "Pachelbel's Canon," or "Heart and Soul" (the 'piano duet' that drove you crazy in grade school), and nothing more.  The only practice that makes me even-more exasperated is "hip-hop-ifying" a 70's or 80's hit by putting a drum-machine rhythm behind it.  To me, "'creativity' is really not too much to ask of a professional ..."