28 Songs That Are Based On Classical Music 

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Inerestingly, Billy Joel actually credits Beethoven on the original album notes. Great show of respect.

That's why The Beatles wrote Get Bach.

It's hard to believe that this set doesn't include probably the bigest copy of classical music I know: "All by myself" - this whole song (whole!) is based on the leitmotif from the 2nd part of the 2nd piano concerto by Rachmaninov.

Also the song "All by myself" by Eric Carmen is based on Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto no. 2 in C minor, opus 18

As a Disney historian, I was reminded of the quote by a Disney composer from the 1950s: "We've been stealing from Tchaikovsky for years."

What I've learnt from this is that Gustav Holst is directly responsible for the invention of heavy metal...

Amazing that you did not mention Emerson, Lake and Palmer who based so many of their songs on Classics, Sometimes note-for-note, "Barbarian' (Bartok's "Allegro Barbarro"), "Knife-Edge" (Janáček's "Sinfonietta" and Bach), "The Only Way" (Bach), "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Mussorgsky), "Nut-rocker" (Tchaikovsky), "Hoedown" (Copland), "Toccata" (Ginastera's 1st piano concerto), "Fanfare for the Common Man" (Copland),...

5:45 "consciously or not, he might've been inspired by Bach" I think that's really important to remember, that people get subconsciously inspiration too. I feel like many people that often say "oh they just completely stole it from this and that," especially when 'stealing' from classical music but also in pop songs, don't realize this. It's so easy to get a tune or melody stuck in your head, and to write a song with it. It's very easy to pick this up from anywhere really, even subconsciously.

"These songs aren't protected from copyright" RU-vid: *I'll fix it don't worry*

Bach, the real rock star

Makes sense now why a lot of rock music fans like listening to classical music. A lot of it is influenced from it. I really appreciate such great musicianship. Its really a testament to their craft.

As for Procol Harum the Hammond organ line of “A Whiter Shade of Pale (1967)” was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's “Sleepers, Wake!” and “Air on the G String” 🙂

I love it when people say they don't like classical music. I tell them you do, you just don't know it.

When I was in college, a friend borrowed my STYX music book cz she was a music major and said that she was sick of playing Bach. She gave me the book back and annoyingly said ‘It’s Bach’

I really like it when modern songwriters / composers borrow form classical pieces . In many case people become curious about the source and start to appreciate classical music more

I'm sorry, but listening to Tubular Bells, now 50 years after I first heard it, STILL gives me the chills. Same chills I had as a teenager.

best part of lifting inspiration from classical songs is you don’t get sued by marvin gaye’s family

These are all the songs he mentions in this video: This Night - Billy Joel (2nd Movement Sonata Pathetique - Ludwig van Beethoven) Blackbird - The Beatles (Bourrée in e minor - JS Bach) Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin (Bourrée in e minor - JSNBach) Bourrée - Jethro Toll (Bourrée in e minor - JSNBach) Friends - Led Zeppelin (Mars - Gustav Holst) Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Mars - Gustav Holst) The Last Battle - John Williams (Mars - Gustav Holst) Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes (Symphony No.5 in Bflat major - Anton Bruckner) Light My Fire - The Doors (Invention no. 8 - JS Bach) Penny Lane - The Beatles (Brandenburg Concerto No.2 - JS Bach) Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield (Toccata and Fugue in D minor - JS Bach) Plug in Baby - Muse (Toccata and Fugue in D minor - JS Bach) Jane Seymour - Rick Wakeman (Toccata and Fugue in D minor - JS Bach) Brainless - Eminem (Toccata and Fugue in D minor - JS Bach) The Real Thing - 2 Unlimited (Toccata and Fugue in D minor - JS Bach) Russians - Sting (Romance Theme - Sergei Prokofiev) Party Like a Russian - Robbie Williams (Dance of the Knights - Sergei Prokofiev) Somewhere - Leonard Bernstein (Piano Concerto No. 5 mvmt. 2 - Beethoven & Swan Theme - Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky) Annie's Song - John Denver (5th Symphony in E minor, 2nd mvmt - Pytor Illych Tchaikovsky) Because - The Beatles (Moonlight Sonata mvmt. 2 - Ludwig van Beethoven) Better Than Yourself - Lukas Graham (Moonlight Sonata mvmt. 2 - Ludwig van Beethoven) Neon Gravestones - 21 Pilots (Moonlight Sonata mvmt. 2 - Ludwig van Beethoven) Could it be Magic - Barry Manilow (Prelude in C minor - Frederic Chopin) The Globalist - Muse (Nimrod Theme - Edward Elgar) Tous Les Maux D'Amour - Norma Ray (Pavane in Fsharp minor - Gabriel Fauré) Natural - S Club 7 (Pavane in Fsharp minor - Gabriel Fauré) Little Me - Little Mix (Pavane in Fsharp minor - Gabriel Fauré) A Groovy Kind of Love - Phil Collins (Sonatina No.5 - Musio Clementi) I Need You to Turn to - Elton John ( The Greatest Discovery - Elton John ( Breathe Me - Cia (Metamorphosis no.1 - Philip Glass)

The melody in Bach's bourree is almost exactly the melody for Jack's Lament from Nightmare Before Christmas. Can't believe that's a coincidence.

One composer/artist you neglected to mention led me years ago into a much greater understanding of both classical and jazz and that is Frank Zappa who used short clips of excerpts of Holst's "The Planets" woven directly into his compositions. That is only one example among many. He also on the Mothers of Invention's first album listed names of the people who had influenced him, stating "Please don't hold it against them". As I was a fan of his, I followed his advice, and looked them up. I've been grateful to him ever since.

Watching your videos feels like I'm failing a class but enjoy attending

Can we take a moment to appreciate the fact that Billy Joel credited Beethoven for “This Night”. Even though it was already public domain. Pretty admirable, in my opinion.

Hats off to you, Master Bennett, for identifying so many borrowed melodies and demonstrating them in both written and audio formats.

I know nothing about music, and am a thrash metal fan, but classical music has always fascinated me. This is a great video and makes me realize how timeless it is.

George Martin was truly the fifth Beatle. Not only did he translate classical music into Rock music for them. He also played different instruments on some tracts.

Another good example is “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen, which is a carbon copy of Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto in C# minor, the second movement!

Thank you so much - I've been loving Light My Fire for 25 years, and never heard Ray Manzarek's explanation of where it came from, and the circle of fifths graphic makes it so clear. Really nice to learn something new about a song I love 🙂

" smoke on the water " according to Ritchie Blackmore is Beethovens 5th done in the style of a medieval tune done in 4ths, all will be revealed if you search it.

As we say in the Netherlands "Better stolen well than conceived badly"

I wish there were more 'rip-offs' of "Swan Lake." That is my favorite classical song.

the effort you put into creating these contents are impressing and greatly appreciated

It is so much work preparing these videos! Thank you effort and the great result associated.

You know the best part of this video? You spliced in interviews with basic analysis and commentary. It flowed wonderfully, and was enjoyable to watch. I am terrible at theory, and a lot of what you included made so much more sense. Thanks for making such a wonderful video!

Mars, Bringer of War is also immediately apparent in: - Children of the Grave - Black Sabbath - Call Me - Blondie - Am I Evil - Diamondhead (maybe more famously covered by Metallica)

The Knight Rider theme song is partly based on part of Léo Delibes' "Procession of Bacchus" from the ballet Sylvia.

One of the more obvious influences was Procol Harems Whiter Shade of Pale which took from Bach’s Sleepers Awake and Air on G String.

I listen to classical music on my car radio and my daughter would borrowed my car on some days to drive to college. She would usually change the radio station, but one time she didn’t. When asked why she left the radio on classical; she told me she found it to be relaxing and did not encourage speeding. I considered her to be another convert and a personal victory for me.

Absolutely loved this video. Way to go David.

Lots of old pop songs are based on classical music. “My Reverie” (1938) is based on Debussy. “Till the End of Time” (1940s) is based on Chopin. “Full Moon and Empty Arms” (1940s) is based on Rachmaninov. “Stranger in Paradise” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” (1950) are based on Borodin. These are just a few examples.

One of your most delightful videos David!

I always thought Sting's Russians sounded like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". It was even a hit around Christmas time!

Anyone else notice that the Prokofiev/Sting piece sounds like “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen”?

Thank you for your excellent and forensic look into music. I learned a lot which is always a great thing to experience.

Oh, John Williams swiped from a lot of different classical bits -- Zimmer's soundtrack for Gladiator is a pretty heavy swipe from Holst's Mars. Elvis's song Its Now or Never is O Solo Mio, and I Can't Help Fallig in Love is a direct use of Martini's Piacer d'amor

Jimmy Page: "Stairway is inspired by Bach" SPIRIT HAS ENTERED THE CHAT

This has sort of slo-mo blown my mind. I think of pop and rock artists as organic, starting in their garages with their mates. It never dawned on me that so many of them have strong classical foundations.

You're right, Jack White was indeed a classically inclined musician. I've longed to see him in the Phantom of the Opera.

This is amazing. I played Swan Lake as my wife and I were working last night and told her that the exact passage you mentioned always reminded me of Somewhere, from WWS. To hear you confirm my connection one night later is incredible. Also, there are enough examples to do a second part, such as Procol Harem's A Whiter Shade of Pale. Thanks for you dedication to music!

I know it’s not really pop, but king crimson’s the Devil’s Triangle is heavily influenced by Gustav Holst’s Mars.

Barry Manilow practices Chopin, drinks some wine and writes one of the most dramatic songs. It was nice to hear his honesty. So it's a great song.

Excellent and enlightening work, enjoyed it!!

Jimmy Page almost always directly quoted a couple lines from Bach's Bourree at the end of of the Heartbreaker guitar solo when performing live with Zeppelin. Page also recorded an adaptation of Chopin's Prelude, Op. 28, No. 4 in E Minor (titled simply "Prelude") for the soundtrack to the Deathwish II movie and performed it frequently as a solo artist in the 1980s.

"Moonlight Sonata" was also the basis for "Schroeder" in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." And Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu became "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" in 1917, which has been recorded many times by many artists over the years, Judy Garland among them.

If you play a rock song backwards your more likely to get a classical tune than a message.

Absolutely amazing video! Thank you so much!!!

As a musician it's not a big surprise to know that many modern musician have taken some ideas from old great masters. At the end it is something it doesn't happen only now a days. it has happened always in the evolution of music production. Basically we don't create "new music", we just discover new ones that are coming from a big and more advanced mind called universe.

Paul Simon's "American Tune" takes the tune from a Bach piece that Bach stole from someone before him.

As a classically trained composer and guitarist, I truly enjoyed this video.

Really interesting and enjoyable video. SO many songs with classical influences or direct copies!

Kudos for an excellent presentation on an intriguing topic. This brings me more up-to-date on popular music swiped from classical composers. Like beyond A Lover's Concerto (Minuet in G Major, Christian Petzold, probably).

I swear, you are absolutely brilliant at this "explaining music" thing.

Hats off to those who identify these songs and also to the performers who acknowledge the contribution and not least to David Bennett for making these videos.

Once again, you have given me a deeper appreciation of music. Thank you.

A very, very interesting video! Thank for sharing your musical knowledge.

You've probably mentioned this one in other videos, but "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum, based on a Bach Air, is one of my favorites.

And now we know why metal and symphonic work so well together.

Paul Simon's, "American Tune" a personal favorite, is based on Bach's hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” from his St. Matthew Passion. I got busted when I began humming the lyrics at a classical concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Beautiful comparisons❤ brillant 💡 idea, very well done.❤ thanks a lot ❤

I’ll take a wild guess before watching and assume pachabel is going to be half the video

King Crimson's "The Devil's Triangle" (one of the scariest pieces of music ever written, if you ask me) was heavily inspired by Holst's "Mars" as well. It actually started as a cover of the classical piece they would do in live shows. I have heard that this particular version of "Mars" played by King Crimson around 1969-70 was also the main inspiration for Black Sabbath's eponymous song.

I'd like to add "Joybringer" (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) to the list please. An absolutely beautiful pop version of Holst's Jupiter, one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, and the words do full justice to the theme too. A truly up-beat feel-good anthem of a song!

Barry Mannilow -- "I steal the songs, I steal the songs...". Gosh what genius..😃

"Bum Bum Tam Tam" uses the Bach Partita in A Minor for solo flute. After the intro (which is faithful to the original piece), it is turned into a shorter original melody with a few sampled intervals from the piece.

6:10 this invention by Bach is played incidentally on another Beatles song: All You Need Is Love

Diamond Head's "Am I Evil" is another song with Holtz's "Mars" melody. Thank you for all your videos!

While it was actually more of a Belgian act, as a Dutch 90's kid I feel a certain pride you're featuring 2 Unlimited in one of your awesome videos 😁 I believe my first cassette tape was from them, my second being a copy made from my dad's Beatles records. Now I finally see the link ♥😃

Im so glad you brought up Mars and Star Wars, I have been sitting on that knolwedge for so long im glad its finally seen the light of day

The first song that came to my mind was "Memories" by Maroon 5. Edit: And basically any song that uses Canon's chords lol

Just found your channel, will watch all the vids, great stuff

Nice analyse! 70s rockers were inspired by their parent's playlist!

Don't forget the Eric Carmen's song "All by Myself" based on the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, by Sergei Rachmaninoff...

It’s nice to be featured!

You are impressive, so well rounded with different music styles, well done! you even mention Rick Wakeman and I had the same idea about his work on Seymour, thanks for the video

Wonderful video. I have to mention my favourite examples .Eric Carmen’s two hits ALL BY MYSELF & NEVER GOING TO FALL IN LOVE AGAIN. Based on beautiful works of Rachmaninov who was given co-writing credits.

Always wanted a comprehensive list somewhere on the internet. But now you’ve made this, and I’m so happy!! Thanks!

4:46 I swear I could hear the Death Star exploding

I always love listening to anything DBP presents. So pleasant to listen to. So intelligent. We learn so much from him.

This is an Outstanding video. Well done!

A huge amount of work to put this together, thanks very much! Some of those comparisons are a bit of a stretch, but it does serve to demonstrate that good music can appear and be interpreted in different ways. "Whiter Shade of Pale" and "All By Myself" are two that I was previously aware of, but I see both have been covered by other comments.

This is awesome! Thank you so much - so well researched - love how eclectic your taste is.

Super high quality work, so much archive work and background study! I feel that You could actually have 3-4 channels, as You have several major fortes at Your side. This is like musical history documentary, then You have soothing voice, distinguished but pleasant facial features + search engine said that You play also

Great & interesting video. More please! I found this video well produced and though out. A big thank you. I hope you do more songs like The Beach Boys 'Lady Lynda' and the brilliant 60's song The Toys 'A lovers concerto' oh and Manfred Mann's song 'Joybringer'... We could go on and on and on... 👍👍

Jimmy Page plays Bourrée in some Live versions of the heartbreaker solo

Thank youfor this!! I love that there are still people who listen to and know about music!!

I just came across your channel the other day and started watching some other videos and your videos are actually very interesting

Excellent work on this video!

The old masters would be proud to have their music copied, interpreted, and remixed. That was how they learned - by copying masters. It was understood that you should use and remix great art. It's only recently that we are hyper-focussed on originality and not taking from the masters that went before us, and became litigious through copyright. IMO, creativity has suffered because of this.

"A Groovy Kind of Love" Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. Pretty famous back then.

I’m 1:27 minutes into this video and can I just say, it’s super intelligent how you structured this information for us to understand. It’s sharpened the way I listen to classical music.