Classical quotes in pop

[Tubby Isaacs]

That cool bit in Boops by Sly and Robbie comes from here:
http://download.yousendit.com/98C08BFF0AC10753

Something called Rondeau by Jean-Joseph Mouret.

Any others?

[Fatter Hipper]

Classical quotes in pop

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath (from the album Black Sabbath) is basically Mars by Holst. Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath appropriates it too.

The Wedding March is used to great effect in 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster's 'Celebrate Your Mother'.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Classical quotes in pop

I thought it was de rigueur in prog rock to insert some rocked-up bit of classical music into your song?

Anyway, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in Spinal Tap's Listen To The Flower People.

[Wyatt Earp]

Classical quotes in pop

Sound warning.

[Wyatt Earp]

Classical quotes in pop

Wyatt Earp wrote:

Sound warning.

Crossed with Stumpy there. The link shows Tap used the idea more than once...

[G-Man]

Classical quotes in pop

The Beatles' "Because" is something by Beethoven backwards. I forget which.

[Fatter Hipper]

Classical quotes in pop

'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' can't be the only piece based on Pachelbel's Canon in D.

[erwin]

Classical quotes in pop

.

The Nice did a cracking take on 'The Karelia Suite'. Then of course there was ELP´s 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.

.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Classical quotes in pop

The bloody Farm used Pachelbel's Canon too, FH, with very different results.

The Spinal Tap solo Wyatt links to is my absolute favourite, and the first one I thought of. It's probably the stupidest thing ever recorded.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Classical quotes in pop

Here's Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band proving disco can get away with anything.

And Puff Daddy proving that he really, really can't.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Classical quotes in pop

Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" was based on a classical piece, wasn't it?

And The Toys' (and lots of other people's) "A Lover's Concerto". Mozart, I think.

Which rapper was it who did a disastrous classical-based album around a decade back? A post-sharkjump Warren G, I seem to recall.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Classical quotes in pop

The Nice did a cracking take on 'The Karelia Suite'.

And an even better one on Mozart's Rondo a la Turque. The Nice boss this category, they also did stripped down versions of the fourth movment of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony and Bach's third Brandenburg Concerto

Vanilla Fudge may be their only true rivals. Their magnificent quaalude soaked version of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, is a really treasure. And the totally shattered reworking of Mozart's Divertimento No. 13 in F Major isn't far behind.

If the Toys count — as they should — don't forget Maureen Evans's Like I Do a pop reworking of Poncielli's Dance of the Hours.

Then there's B.Bumble and The Stingers...

[Alderman Barnes]

Classical quotes in pop

There's a fantastically silly track called Listen To The Sky by the Sands, which Taylor posted up here a while back. It's a piece about the death of a Battle of Britain airman, and it's from the time when mod pop was just mutating into prog rock. Not only do they cleverly recreate the sound of aerial combat solely by the use of electric guitars, but the entire second half of the track is a version of Holst's Mars.

By all accounts they were a couple of years above Brian May at the public school he went to, which might explain it.

[Etienne]

Classical quotes in pop

SR, I thought that Whiter Shade of Pale was based on Bach's Air on a G String, but Wiki says it was merely "influenced" by that and by another Bach work.

[Etienne]

Classical quotes in pop

My dad did a really rather lovely song called You Don't Know How Precious Love Is, to the tune od Fur Elise. It was certainly more succesful than his later attempt to rip off Cornershop.

[adams house cat]

Classical quotes in pop

I think the Toys 'Lovers Concerto' was based on Bach.
Try the Beach Boys 'Lady Lynda'
Bad Manners - 'Can Can'
Love Sculpture - 'Sabre Dance'
and 'Stranger in Paradise' by a lot of people.

[erwin]

Classical quotes in pop

.

And an even better one on Mozart's Rondo a la Turque. The Nice boss this category.

You're right, AdeC - that live 'Rondo' is brilliant.

"Won't you welcome please, a most ... group - from England - The Nice!"

(I was trying to remember the adjective there - what is it? - the album's in a cupboard at my Mum's house ...)

I don't know if 'America' from 'West Side Story' can be classified as classical (modern opera, isn't it?). If it can, then their version of it absolutely rocks, too.

And Yes used 'The Big Country' to excellent effect on 'Time and a Word'.

.

[Guest]

Classical quotes in pop

Lalo Schifrin -- 'Towering Toccata'

[Spearmint Rhino]

Classical quotes in pop

Madness (well, pretty much Mike Barson alone) did a ska version of Swan Lake on the One Step Beyond album.

[Etienne]

Classical quotes in pop

"Beach Boys 'Lady Lynda'"

Oh yeah, I remember being at the funeral of my nonagenarian great aunt when they started playing the original (Chopin? Dvorak?) and being very surprised that such a conservative lady was having the Beach Boys played for her cremation.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Classical quotes in pop

"Won't you welcome please, a most ... group - from England - The Nice!"

Can't help I'm afraid, I saw them perform it on a number of occasions but don't have the live recording. It and America generally bracketed their show.

Another pop version of Swan Lake is Saturday Night at the Duck Pond by The Cougars (US) and The Dakotas(UK) — sans Billy J.

And if you're going to have Edmunds Sabre Dance you gotta have Beck's Bolero.

don't forget Maureen Evans's Like I Do a pop reworking of Poncielli's Dance of the Hours.

Dance of the Hours is also the melody to Allan Sherman's Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Classical quotes in pop

Most of these are "reinterpretations" though, not really quotes. I was thinking more of examples where the classical bit is integrated into an original pop tune. Check out the Sly and Robbie and see what I mean. That's beautifully done.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Classical quotes in pop

There's a couple of disco-fied pieces on record two of Saturday Night Fever -- A Fifth Of Beethoven and Night On Disco Mountain.

[Etienne]

Classical quotes in pop

There's the snippet of La Marseillaise on The Divine Comedy's Frog Princess.

[G-Man]

Classical quotes in pop

'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' can't be the only piece based on Pachelbel's Canon in D.

Indeed. Try this for size, satisfying also Tubby's requirements, I think:

Karma - Pachelbel.mp3